>>> VIEW THE WEBINAR RECORDING

Art is a language—in fact it’s children’s first written language and the only universal language that communicates across the globe, regardless of what tongue people speak. Today we live in the “visual age.” Art and design are even more important skills to develop than ever before, as we prepare students to communicate in all sorts of new media. Art-infused education helps students visually communicate thoughts and feelings. This edWeb.net webinar for the Champion Creativity community explored how we can become effective art advocates. Cheri Sterman, Crayola Director of Education, helped attendees craft concise art advocacy messages; build effective collaborations; gather compelling evidence on benefits of arts education; and communicate “why art in education matters.” Participants brainstormed “What if…” possibilities. For example, “What if teacher leaders and principals formed Creative Leadership Teams that built the creative capacity of colleagues?” “What if they submitted Creative Leadership grant proposals to Crayola to be funded?”

View this webinar recording to:

• Explore the role of art in communication and why in this visual era, art-infused education is key to preparing 21st century learners;
• Address what is essential for advocacy efforts to be effective;
• Generate concise belief statements that articulate “why art in education matters” and then brainstorm “What if…” statements that address the opportunity to build creative capacity school-wide; and
• Be inspired to submit a Creative Leadership Grant Proposal to Crayola. Twenty grant winning elementary schools receive $2,500 and $1,000 of Crayola products.

Special Invitation: As a special gift, educators who share their art advocacy belief statements and “what if…” statements (after the live broadcast) will receive a complimentary gift from Crayola. Fifty members of the Champion Creativity community who upload their statements to the Discussion Forum, “Communication and Art Advocacy,” will be chosen to receive one box of Crayola Window Crayons and the Champion Creativity journals. The Discussion Forum is only accessible to members of the free Champion Creativity community, and the deadline to upload your statements is Friday, May 29, 2015. While we’d love to hear from everyone—wherever you live, shipping this gift is only applicable for members in the U.S. and Canada.

Earn your CE Certificate for viewing this recording: Join the free Champion Creativity: The Power of Art-Infused Education community on edWeb.net and take a quiz to receive a CE Certificate for viewing this webinar. Past webinars, presentation slides, and CE quizzes are available in the Webinar Archives folder of the Community Toolbox.

Champion Creativity: The Power of Art-Infused Education is a free professional learning community (PLC) that helps principals, art teachers and other teacher leaders build creative capacity schoolwide. The online community hosts interactive professional development so educators can be inspired by others’ promising practices and share ideas as they explore the power of art to transform a school. This program is sponsored by Crayola.

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