Section Navigation

Resources

Companion Documents for South Carolina Media Arts Standards

Fine Arts Careers

In May 2005, Gov. Mark Sanford signed the Education and Economic Development Act — legislation intended to give students in South Carolina the education tools they need to build prosperous, successful futures. The initiative's programs are to provide all public school students with a more focused curriculum and the flexibility to choose coursework and job training opportunities aligned with their individual aspirations and abilities.

In an effort to ensure that knowledge of the diverse career opportunities in the arts is available to students and parents, the SCAAE has partnered with the SC Department of Education in producing the document Fine Arts Careers. Providing an overview for each of the arts areas (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts), the document provides snapshots of various careers including descriptions, education and skills needed, salary, prospects and related careers. Additionally, charts have been included that provide career cluster possibilities for each of the described careers.

The Personal Pathways to Success of the EEDA seeks to enhance students’ opportunities to build real-life skills, producing a more versatile and technologically sophisticated labor force better prepared for the increasingly competitive global economy. In such an environment, training in the arts can help to develop the unique skills that workers in the future will need to be successful in such an environment.

Download the Document

Teaching Standards-based Creativity in the Arts

While creativity is inherent in the arts and in the South Carolina Visual and Performing Arts Academic Standards (SCVPAAS), it is the intention of this document, Teaching Standards-based Creativity in the Arts, to enable teachers to foster a heightened creative experience for their students. Much is currently being written about the importance of creativity in our lives. This document emphasizes the importance of this concept. Richard Florida, Daniel Pink, and Thomas Freeman have brought the notion of creativity to the attention of constituents not only in the arts however, throughout all areas our existence.

Issued jointly by the South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education and the Office of Academic Standards of the South Carolina Department of Education, Teaching Standards-based Creativity in the Arts is aligned with each of the SCVPAAS content standards and their indicators. Strategies are given for the teacher to use to enable students to foster their creativity through activities in each of the four arts forms. In addition, resources are provided to give teachers further information to research concerning the implementation of the standards via creativity.

This document also provides readers with an Annotated Bibliography of Creativity compile by Kristy Callaway. Twenty-two different titles are provided with a description about the publication’s content. This will help readers investigate further study of creativity. Dr. Nancy Breard has provided an essay titled Why Creativity?. Dr. Breard defines creativity and addresses various levels of creative process. Dr. Seymour Simmons has provided a comprehensive overview of creativity in his article Cultivating Creativity in Arts Education: Myths, Misconceptions, and Practical Procedures. His article presents topics of interest that reflect the various nuances that comprise our creativity.

Download the Document

South Carolina Arts Education Summit 2007

On March 22-23, the SCAAE, working with the SC State Department of Education, held the South Carolina Arts Education Summit 2007. Held at the Columbia Museum of Art, the two-day event brought together recognized leaders in arts education representing schools, organizations, and agencies from across the state. Using the results of the arts education survey administered by the SCAAE in February, the group began a dialogue discussing the current conditions of arts education initiatives in the state.

Early in the process, the decision was made to review the report issued by the Transition Leadership Team of Jim Rex, the new State Superintendent of Education for South Carolina. Committees were formed to examine the five areas identified in the report as being crucial to improving South Carolina’s schools. These were accelerating innovation; reforming accountability to ensure success; expanding choices for parents and students; promoting fair and equitable school funding; and elevating and reinvigorating the teaching profession. Before the conclusion of the summit, each committee reported the results of their preliminary work with comments and suggestions then being made by the entire group. At the close, each committee was given the charge to continue work on their focus, formulating a strategic plan that can be of use to the arts education community of South Carolina in working together to ensure that all South Carolinians will have access to a comprehensive education, in and through the arts, that develops creativity and prepares them to be innovative contributors to the global society.

Download the 2007 Report

Download the Choice March 2009 Update

Download the Fair Funding March 2009 Update

Download the Teaching Profession March 2009 Update

Essential Elements of a Quality Visual and Performing Arts Program

Developed by the South Carolina District Arts Coordinators (SCDAC), a committee of the South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education, with support from and in collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Education

The South Carolina Department of Education recognizes the importance of the visual and performing arts in the development of all students. The Essential Elements of a Quality Visual and Performing Arts Program serves as a recommended model for a quality, standards-based arts education program. The accompanying checklist is a diagnostic tool for evaluating and improving school and district programs.

Endorsed by:

  • South Carolina Department of Education
  • South Carolina Arts Alliance
  • South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education
  • South Carolina Art Education Association
  • South Carolina Dance Education Organization
  • South Carolina Music Educators Association
  • South Carolina Theatre Association

Visual and performing arts instruction reaches students in innovative ways by energizing, educating, and introducing them to a variety of content. Curricular balance is achieved through creative problem-solving strategies, higher order thinking skills, and differentiated learning styles that are inherent in the arts. By learning in and through the arts, both the “group” and the “individual” are emphasized. Support of these essential guidelines will ensure a thorough and creative learning experience for all South Carolina students.

  • A comprehensive, sequential, standards-based visual and performing arts program is defined as an instructional program in dance, vocal and instrumental music, theatre arts, and visual arts, providing for every student in traditional and non-traditional schools (including but not limited to charter, virtual, magnet, and other schools of choice).
  • An arts coordinator will be established as a district-level position. The coordinator will be a certified arts instructor. The responsibilities will include but not be limited to:
    • leadership of arts personnel
    • research and grant writing
    • coordinate arts purchasing
    • intricately involved with the selection of arts educators and scheduling of arts classes
    • attend local/state meetings for all arts disciplines
    • inform district as well as arts educators about legislature relating to the arts
    • serve as liaison between the community, the arts, and the district.

Download the Essential Elements Document

Strategic Plans

The South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education Strategic Plan
The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network Strategic Plan

  1. Introduction
  2. Action Plan

South Carolina Arts-focused Schools Directory

Download the Directory