Hello!

l hope this newsletter finds you well! I thrilled to share with you that earlier today (Dec 4) our first group of DPI STEAM Fellows met online for our first monthly meeting.

Who Are The Fellows?

Over 170 educators and librarians applied for this program! With only 18 positions available, the decision making process was incredibly difficult as there were so many well-qualified candidates. While we couldn't offer everyone a position, we consider everyone to be a critical part of the STEAM infrastructure in Wisconsin. Our hope is that this Fellowship is just the beginning of our work in this area. In addition to the work that will be done by the Fellows, we plan to recreate the DPI STEM website to reflect our new STEAM philosophy while including resources, lesson plans, and other tools to help at the local level. We have site visits planned in order to highlight and share great models from across the state. We are the beginning stages of planning a Makerspace Summit, STEAM Program Reflection Tool, and STEAM Externship Program. All of this would not be possible if not for the support of the leadership at DPI.

Special Message From Dr. Underly Regarding STEAM:

In a recorded welcome message to the STEAM Fellows, Dr. Underly stated, "The A in STEAM– the arts– is not just another letter in the acronym, but an important key to help students see STEAM as part of their identity, their culture, their community, and a way of expressing themselves. The creative and human connection created through art helps us engage learners in exploring new connections and finding new applications for student STEAM learning." We are grateful to the leadership at DPI for their encouragement and support of this work.

2024-25 DPI STEAM Fellows

Abigail Forst- Racine Unified School District, K-12 Science/STEAM and Planetarium Coordinator

Anne Bryan- School District of Shell Lake, STEAM Educator

Dantri Woods- Racine Unified School District, STEAM Educator

David Jacob- Thoreau Elementary School/MPS, Music Educator

Dustin Anderson- WI Rapids School District, Art Eudcator

Elizabeth Winkler- Green Bay School District, Technology Integrator

Jennifer Collier- Harborside Academy/Kenosha Unified School District, Physics Educator

Jennifer Handrick- Chippewa Falls HS, Art Educator

Karie Huttner- Verona Area School District, Design Thinking and Technology Teacher

Katelyn Makina- South Milwaukee High School, Science/Biology Educator

Kelley Schmidt- Mosinee School District, Art Specialist and Technology Integration Coach

Kirsten Caldwell- LaCrosse County-Holmen Library,Library Media Specialist

Lisbeth Langer- Beloit Turner School District, Library Media Specialist

Mary LeMaster- School District of Crandon, District Media Specialist

Natalie Langmeier- Platteville Public Library,Library Media Specialist

Rosalind Davis- Audubon/MPS, Technology Educator

Veronica Woodward- School District of Shiocton, Library Media Specialist

Wendy Fuller- Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School, Science Educator

Stay Connected:

Updates and information regarding our progress and ways to get involved with these projects will be shared in this newsletter and on the website. Many thanks to all that applied. More to come!

The 2024 Wisconsin Arts Celebration Project is just a few weeks old and is already generating excitement as folks begin to dive into the resources, free music, videos, and more. This year we have asked folks accessing the materials to consider registering with us so we can better gauge impact. MANY THANKS to the following schools for your interest and support.

Madison Country Day School

Glenwood City

Kaukauna High School Band

New Glarus School District

Watertown High School

Woodlands school state street

Baldwin-Woodville Schools

Hartford Joint #1 School District

Northland Pines School District (Choir and Band)

Turtle Lake School

Glenwood Elementary-School District of Greenfield

Menomonie Middle School

Lake Mills High school

Milwaukee Public School

Augusta High School

Glacier Creek Middle School

Brookfield Central High School

Wild Rose School District

Riverview Middle School

Shawano Community Middle School

New Holstein High School

Madison Metropolitan School District

Theisen Middle School

Woodworth Middle School

University of New Hampshire

Port Edwards

Wisconsin Hills Middle School

Elmbrook School District

TJ Walker Middle School

Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Middle/High School

Monona Grove High School

Black Creek Elementary Middle School

Riverside Middle School

Chequamegon School District

Stormonth Elementary School

St. Joseph Academy

Glacier Creek Middle School

Mellen School

Brookwood Middle School

Riverview Middle School

Kohler Public Schools

Join us!! Here's the link to the project!

Did you have an imaginary friend as a child? What if you could bring that character to life as an adult? Animation and game design students at UW-Stout met with local children recently to bring their characters and creatures to life using 3D software.

The activity, called the Creature Collaboration, brought to life all kinds of funky creatures. From a purple and red butterfly to a red-eyed princess in a red ballgown, a fox holding an orange, a rainbow bunny-like creature, a kitty with a pink collar, a green monster with sweeping arms, a dragon-dog-unicorn, a brown bear, a vampire holding a flower, and the warden from Minecraft.

Read More Here

PBS Wisconsin Education and Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) have expanded their Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin classroom media collection to include Mariachi Monarcas de Milwaukee.

Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin is a multimedia resource designed to help general music educators and learners in grades 4-8 explore the connections between music, culture and emotion. The collection features culture-bearers of music from Wisconsin, as they share a composition and discuss their musicianship, culture and identity. It includes video interviews and performances; audio tracks; and educator engagement guides featuring learning outcomes, strategies, assessments and aligned standards.

Mariachi Monarcas de Milwaukee is a group of young musicians who add their flair to traditional mariachi songs that evoke emotions and pride in Mexican culture, and connect people across time and place. In their interview video, Francisco Hernandez, the director, vocalist and vihuela player; and Marianna Tellez, a violinist and vocalist in Mariachi Monarcas, share the origins of mariachi, instruments that make up the group, traditional attire and the sense of identity that comes with being part of the group.

Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin is available for free online access at pbswisconsineducation.org/resound.

Dance Wisconsin’s Nutcracker Ballet is the only local performance that includes dancers, a live orchestra (the Dance Wisconsin Orchestra), and the magical vocals of the Monona Grove High School Singers. The cast includes members of the Dance Wisconsin Company and additional dancers from all over south central Wisconsin including the counties of Dane, Green, Rock, Iowa, Waukesha and Sauk.

The first concept of what is now Dance Wisconsin, began in 1976 as Madison Youth Ballet with a production of the Nutcracker at West High School. Madison Youth Ballet transformed into Wisconsin Dance Ensemble and a partnership was formed with the Madison Civic Center in 1981. Ms. Retrum worked very closely with David Lew Crosby, then Director of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and The Nutcracker Ballet was accompanied by live orchestra music. In 1999 Wisconsin Dance Ensemble made another transformation to Dance Wisconsin and the home of its productions moved to the Wisconsin Union Theater and Taras Nahriniak formed the Dance Wisconsin Orchestra.

This 47 year strong production is excited to debut new costumes, updated choreography, and more importantly bring holiday joy to the Madison community for another year. Join us on December 21 & 22, 2024 at the Wisconsin Union Theater for Dance Wisconsin’s production of The Nutcracker Ballet.

Read More Here

The Green Bay Packers Foundation announced this week it has distributed $1.5 million in annual grants to 398 civic and charitable groups throughout the state of Wisconsin in its annual distribution of grants. Wilson Jones, chairperson of the Foundation, made the announcement, honoring and recognizing the outstanding efforts and services performed by each of the organizations.

This year's grant cycle focused on organizations that will direct the funds toward the need areas of arts and culture, athletics and education. Grants were awarded to organizations located in 55 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, with 143 grants going to arts and culture, 66 to athletics and 189 to education.

Read More Here

STEVENS POINT — The Stevens Point Area Public School District has received a $100,000 donation from the Copernicus Cultural Foundation, which will be used to purchase, replace, and repair musical instruments and related equipment for its students.

The foundation, known for supporting young musicians through scholarships and maintaining valuable string instruments, has expanded its mission to include music education for junior high and middle school students. In September, foundation board members John Kolinski and Tom Mrozinski met with Kurt Van Tiem, the district’s music coordinator, to explore music programs at P.J. Jacobs Junior High, Ben Franklin Junior High, and Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH).

“Music has the power to inspire and transform young lives,” Van Tiem said. “We are incredibly grateful to the Copernicus Cultural Foundation for this generous gift, which will help ensure that our students have access to quality instruments and resources. This investment will foster the growth of our music programs and support students in exploring and developing their musical talents.”

Read More Here

The Wisconsin Northwest Heritage Passage (WNHP), a nonprofit 501©(3) arts advocacy organization, is proud to announce the recipients of its 2024 grant program aimed at supporting art teachers in northwest Wisconsin. This initiative, which will provide five $500 grants for the spring 2025 semester, is designed to help local educators enhance their art programs by supplementing their supply budgets.

Read more Here

New, improved, and ready for students to take their learning experience to new levels. Nicolet's Performing Arts Center is being compared to the highest industry standards in theater, music, and film. The center features a 1,700-square-foot band room, state-of-the-art rehearsal spaces, a renovated theater, a set design space, and an ultimate green room. Students now have access to these elevated opportunities while pursuing a rewarding performing arts curriculum.

Read More Here

Send your local arts news to Chris Gleason - christopher.gleason@dpi.wi.gov

The WSMA Student Composition Project encourages and recognizes the efforts of Wisconsin’s student composers. The program provides student composers in grades 4-12 the opportunity to receive written feedback from a Wisconsin composer regarding the positive qualities of their piece as well as provide ways to improve as a composer in the future.

Students may submit multiple compositions between now and December 20, 2024 and February 1 and April 16, 2025. Feedback will be returned within 4-6 weeks of submission. Each participating student will receive a certificate from WSMA recognizing their achievement.

Read More Here

The Visual Arts Classic (VAC) is a competition for art students in grades 9-12. The competition features studio categories involving a long-term project and an onsite short-term team project.

The theme for the 2024-2025 school year is "ART & SPACE." ​

• ​Students are involved in in-depth research on about a dozen selected artists whose work relates to the theme.
• Scores are earned both individually and as a team.
• Students have the opportunity to create artwork in response to a prompt as a “long-term” project.
• Students also participate in a challenge to create artwork in response to a prompt as an “on-site” project.
• Teams compete in a “Critical Thinking” team project as well as an “Art History Quiz Bowl” relating to the selected theme and artists.
• There are both a Regional and State competitions.

Read More Here

Wisconsin Public Radio will air full concerts on Sunday, December 29 beginning at 2 p.m. More info

available here. Watch the complete 2024 High School State Honors concerts in their entirety here.

PBS Wisconsin will be airing a one hour broadcast of highlights from the 2024 High School State Honors concerts. The broadcast will be aired on Monday, December 16, at 8 p.m. An encore broadcast will be aired on Wednesday, December 25 at 10 p.m. and Sunday, December 31 at 5 p.m. Please check local listings for public television stations and schedules in your area.

National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) Call for Conference Session Proposals

We invite all dance educators to submit your unique ideas and experiences for presentations at the 2025 NDEO Conference, “The Power of Movement: Dance Education Traditions and Innovations”, taking place on Saturday October 4, 2025 - Monday October 6, 2025. We will come together in Detroit, Michigan to cultivate hope, build connections, share ideas, and remind ourselves exactly why we do what we do.

Session proposals submission deadline: February 3, 2025.

See website for details.

Do you have wisdom that might benefit other colleagues working in the arts and culture sector? As part of its realignment process, Americans for the Arts (AFTA) is looking for breakout session proposals for the 2025 AFTACON! AFTA identified five pathways for you to focus your proposals on: cultural, economic, educational, social and future.

Proposals are due Jan. 6 2025.

I hope this email finds you well. Many of you I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with through Crayola, Arts Education Partnership or National Art Education Association. For those of you that I’ve not met, I’m James Wells and I serve as the Education Content Manager for Crayola. My work with the company is aimed at getting free resources to educators that has reached over 6.5 million students across the globe this year. I am reaching out to invite you to participate in our flagship program, Crayola Creativity Week. This free program aims to nurture creativity in children while weaving in standards based, cross curricular content in the Core Arts Standards, ELA, Next Gen Science Standards, SEL, STEAM, etc. Crayola Creativity Week occurs Jan 27- Feb 1 and features a full week of video content and downloadable resources. Participants will have an opportunity to hear stories and inspirational messages from celebrity authors and illustrators including, Matthew McConaughey, Henry Winkler, Phillipa Soo, Mo Willems and more. Our goal is to reach 8.5 million students across the globe and invite you to sign up your school, district and organization to participate. Feel free to share with anyone in your network using the attachment.

Madison Jazz Society (MJS) will award grants to Wisconsin schools to enhance their jazz education programs. Applicants can submit requests to purchase sheet music, instrument purchase/repair equipment or computer items and, to a lesser extent, support for clinics and hiring guest artists. Awards will be paid by the end of February.

Grant requests must be limited to $500 per project to help MJS assist as many schools and projects as possible. Schools may join together to submit a joint application for funding. Final selection will be based partly on which proposals provide as much of the information requested on the application as possible.

Application deadline: December 20

Learn more and apply for a grant by visiting the MJS website here.

Applications are now open for NEA Big Read grants to support community-wide reading programs between September 2025 and June 2026 under the new theme, “Our Nature: How Our Physical Environment Can Lead Us to Seek Hope, Courage, and Connection.” An initiative of the NEA in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read supports a range of events and activities designed around a single NEA Big Read book. Applications are now available on the Arts Midwest website.

Each quarter, our friends at the Guitar Center Music Foundation award $100,000 in musical instruments and equipment in-kind to public schools and music programs in need.

The deadline for this quarter's grants is coming up soon, so we wanted to send you a friendly reminder to take a moment to apply for a grant for your music programs.

Instrument grants range from up to $1,000 to $5,000 based on need, and the application is quick and easy.

To qualify, eligible programs must fit one of the categories below:

• In-school music classes in which the students make music
• After-school music programs that are not run by the school
• Community music programs which offer music instruction to the community
• Music therapy programs in which the participants actively make music

Additional conditions apply, so be sure to visit the grants page to see if your program qualifies.

Apply for a grant now

The Les Paul Foundation aims to inspire innovative and creative thinking by sharing the legacy of Les Paul through support of music education, recording, innovation, exhibits about Les Paul, and medical research related to hearing.

The foundation invites applications for grants to support programs and projects that encourage innovation in music production and/or performance and innovative STEM or STEAM programs for students and others in challenging situations. Proposals for medical research related to curing tinnitus and other hearing impairment issues are considered. All organizations must describe how Les Paul’s story will be shared.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Les Paul Foundation website.

Wisconsin’s Own Screenwriting Competition is open to anyone born in Wisconsin or current state resident, former state resident for one or more years, Wisconsin’s First Nation’s members, and students or alumni of any UW system school or Wisconsin college or university.

Grand Prize Winning script will be announced during the Wisconsin Film Festival at the Wisconsin Screenwriting Symposium and will be performed at a Live Table Read with actors on the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus.

Read More Here

The Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge, an initiative of the NEA in partnership with the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, is now accepting submissions for the 2024-25 program, an opportunity for high school students to develop and showcase musical compositions that could be a part of a musical theater production. Students will have access to the Writing is ReWriting Resource Center, workshops, and constructive critique opportunities to cultivate their songwriting skills throughout the submission window, which ends January 31, 2025. More details and information on how to register at namt.org/challenge. Read the full announcement »

Schools and Organizations Invited to Host Their Own Poetry Out Loud Competition

The 2024-2025 school year marks the 20th anniversary of Poetry Out Loud®, an arts education program and dynamic poetry recitation competition for high school students that lifts poetry off the page, creating community and connection. A partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Poetry Foundation, and state and jurisdictional arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud takes place in all 50 states, American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Schools and organizations are encouraged to contact their Poetry Out Loud state coordinator to get involved in this year’s competition.

Learn More

Inspire your students with a lesson on Hip Hop, the newest launch from Music Workshop! Music Workshop’s free classroom curriculum is available to all K-8 teachers via online portal. Create an account, choose a course, and you’re ready to start teaching.

Try out some cross content media and literary arts integration! Participate in the Hour of Code with Indigitize by guiding students to collaboratively create a poem, applying coding concepts like loops, conditionals, and sequencing. This activity will have your class work on their teamwork, creativity, and computational thinking, resulting in a collective piece of art. The activity lesson plan and accompanying slides can be found here

National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has developed a Careers in Music resource to help introduce students to music careers! Check out video interviews from folks in the music industry who encompass a diverse range of creative roles.

Thalia Goldstein has produced a Toolkit for Teachers to accompany her book “Why Theatre Education Matters”. Try out the free exercises to help develop your student’s skills in metacognition, flexibility, collaboration, and more!

Dain Olsen, president and CEO of the National Association for Media Arts Education, just published his book, Media Arts Education! The book introduces the discipline of media arts education and explains how it can be a transformative tool for education. This resource is an essential companion for media arts educators at all levels. As it covers integration across a variety of contexts, and can benefit educators in the fields of visual and performing arts, career technical education, media studies, computer science, and STEM and STEAM education.

Check out Full Steam Ahead in California School Boards Association's latest magazine edition. The article looks at how districts across California are working to create STEAM programs that prepare students for careers and higher education. The article includes quotes and interviews from California education leaders and experts from the STEAM field, including AEP Assistant Director, Mary Dell'Erba.

The article explains: "There isn’t one right path to authentically incorporating STEAM in a way that’s responsive to the needs and the interests of students, Dell’Erba said, but no matter how an LEA chooses to move forward, 'a really solid way to do that is to equip the adults who work with young people with the resources and support to do it well."

The Arts Education Partnership’s Data Working Group published its Arts Education Data and Reporting Initiatives 2024 report. This report outlines questions, data and reporting sources, and gaps and potential barriers related to data.

Access to arts education is an issue of equity; arts education can improve the quality of life and chances for success for children, no matter where they live. Better and more coordinated collection and reporting of arts education data — including gaps in access, participation and quality — is vital to ensure that all young people have access to excellent arts learning opportunities.

In November 2023, Creative Forces hosted the first State of the Science Summit, “Advancing Creative Arts Therapies Research for Military-Connected Populations,” at the (External link)Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. This two-day hybrid event brought more than 100 clinicians and researchers together to focus on the state of creative arts therapies research for military and veteran populations.

Read More Here

This hands-on workshop presents the Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance (CMP) model of music teaching and performance. Participants will explore the points of the model (selection, analysis, strategies, outcomes, and/or assessment), participate in demonstration rehearsals using CMP, and will explore teaching plans implementing these points in a music classroom. Learn more and register here.

Register to attend the 5th Annual Hip-Hop Pedagogy Virtual Music Educator Workshop, which includes power-packed sessions for band, choir, orchestra and general music. Learn more and register here.

Join WSMA and PBS Wisconsin Re/sound: Songs of Wisconsin curriculum writer, Natasha Verhulst, as she shares insight, lesson ideas and additional resources on the student-led performing groups chosen for one of this year’s new lessons – First Nations drumming and singing with Mashkiiziibii Youth Singers. Come share your ideas and resources as we learn together about cultures from our state. Learn more and register here.

Participate in a musical activity highlighting innovative work in middle school music, be provided with a structure and templates for engaging all teachers, review a powerful example of action research in a middle school exploratory music classroom and participate in discussion of how paying deliberate attention to all content areas can enrich professional learning. Learn more and register here.

Luna Dance & Creativity is hosting two workshops in December for dance educators working with young children.

Dance & Social Emotional Learning: Taught through a culturally responsive lens, this interactive workshop centers around cultivating belonging, inclusion, and community through creative dance play.

Family Dance: Social justice workers, early education teachers, dance artists, therapists and parents learn to engage families in relationship-enhancing dance experiences.

• 2024 Adding Voices Conference | Adding Voices, Nov. 8–10, Philadelphia, PA
• ABLE Conversation Symposium | Berklee College of Music, Nov. 23, Boston, MA
• 2025 ASTA National Conference | American String Teachers Association, March 19-22, Atlanta, GA
• Create Wisconsin Day March 24, Madison, WI
• ABLE Assembly | Berklee College of Music, April 11-13, 2025, Boston, MA
• AFTACON 2025 Americans for the Arts June 11 - 14 | Cincinnati, OH
• 2025 National Arts Integration and STEAM Conference | The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM, July 8-9, 2025, Baltimore, MD

Pyramids, cathedrals, and rockets exist not because of geometry, theories of structures, or thermodynamics, but because they were first a picture-- literally a vision--in the minds of those who built them. Society is where it is today because people had the perception; the images and the imagination; the creativity that the Arts provide, to make the world the place we live in today."

–Eugene Ferguson, Historian

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Arts & Creativity Education Consultant

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

This publication and previous issues are available from: Division of Academic Excellence> Teaching and Learning Team> Arts and Creativity. https://dpi.wi.gov/fine-arts/newsletter

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, creed, age, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, marital status or parental status, sexual orientation, or ability.

Disclaimer: Links to third-party websites do not constitute an endorsement by DPI of the content, viewpoint, accuracy, opinions, policies, products, services, or accessibility of the sites.

Email: christopher.gleason@dpi.wi.gov
Website: https://dpi.wi.gov/fine-arts
Location: 201 W. Washington Ave, Madison, WI 53707
Phone: 608-264-9554