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 New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
Catherine O'Brian, AIE Coordinator
Three Year Arts Plan: A Guide
A plan is a critical factor in developing a comprehensive arts program - it is the blueprint from which you will construct a strong foundation to support your arts education goals, activities, and efforts for years to come. The plan states what you will be striving to accomplish, why the goals are important, and how your goals will be reached. The purpose of creating a plan is to gain consensus on the arts goals your school or district wants to attain and to focus everyone's efforts on reaching these goals. This is a powerful advocacy tool.
The plan should be written to help you be clear about your goals and steps for reaching them. A written plan compels you to allocate your resources. And, most importantly, a written plan helps you to gain supporters who know where you are going and how success may be attained.
Each school's or district's plan will be unique: there is no such thing as "one right plan." A plan is right if it provides the steps to better arts education for your students. Your plan will outline how you will make decisions about curriculum, program assessment, administration, staff development, evaluation, and committee functions and selection. While the plan is written, it is not written in stone. The plan is a fluid blueprint: it guides the builders of your arts program. The plan to reach the goals can change, even the goals can change as new circumstances arise. But knowing what you're changing from not only helps you clarify what you're changing to, it also helps you to develop a stronger, more functional plan. Clarity is essential in reaching your goals.
What is a plan? Every plan must answer these five questions:
- What needs to be done?
- Why does it need to be done?
- How shall it be done?
- Who should do it?
- When should it be done?
These five components are interrelated and all are critical to the plan as a whole. If even one is missing, there is no plan.
For more information regarding the creation of a sequential, conceptual, grade-level arts curriculum contact:
Catherine O'Brian, Arts in Education Coordinator NH State Council on the Arts
40 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301
603/271-2789 fax: 603/271-3584
TTY/TTD 800/735-2964
email: cobrian@nharts.state.nh.us
www.state.nh.us/nharts
Elements of a Comprehensive Arts Plan
New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
Catherine O'Brian, AIE Coordinator
Elements of a Comprehensive Arts Plan
As you develop your arts plan, keep in mind that it will be unique to your school's situation. However, there are some basic elements to consider in order to make your individual plan a unique one
A successful plan
- Is oriented to the future. You need to decide what must be done for the future in order to be in a strong position one year or five years from now. Resist the impulse to apply quick-fix solutions by planning short-term projects...look at the long-range needs and plan for them.
- Is attainable. If goals are not attainable within the existing situation, then the plan becomes a source of frustration and ultimately will not come to fruition. Success is built upon the attainment of realistic goals. Creating a realistic timeline is a key element.
- Is written clearly. The arts plan should be written so that everyone involved, such as teachers, administrators, parents, local artists and community members, will know what is taking place and how it is being accomplished. Five years from today, if a new committee member or principal were to read the plan for the first time, there should be as clear an understanding of the objectives and procedures that are to be implemented.
- Is results oriented. Plans should focus on the real issue of "What change took place in the school as a result of the arts programming or activities?" rather than "What kinds of activities shall we carry out?" When developing arts curriculum, the question to raise is "What should the learner know, understand, and value?"
- Benefits the users. Your arts plan should focus on the major needs in all the arts, at all the grade levels. Remember, it is not for one teacher or group of students, but for everyone. By developing a written, comprehensive arts plan, everyone benefits. Teachers expand their knowledge and skills, and are involved in setting the direction of quality of arts programming for all the students in their school. The ultimate beneficiaries should be the students and teachers.
- Is on-going. Your arts plan should not be developed in isolation, nor should it be static. Its goals and strategies must be continuous, reviewed periodically during the year, reassessed each year, and redefined. Without evaluation, it is impossible to determine whether objectives have been achieved... evaluation is the first step to good planning.
- Stimulates commitment. The most important product of the arts planning process is not the plan itself, it is the commitment of dedicated administrators, arts specialists, teachers, parents, and community members to a rational, attainable, innovative plan for educational improvement. Everyone should be involved in or affected by the planning, everyone should have ownership. The commitment of staff and community is the best guarantee of success.
For more information regarding the creation of a sequential, conceptual, grade-level arts curriculum contact:
Catherine O'Brian, Arts in Education Coordinator
NH State Council on the Arts
40 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301
603/271-2789 fax: 603/271-3584
TTY/TTD 800/735-2964
email: cobrian@nharts.state.nh.us
www.state.nh.us/nharts
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