IIC is a process to identify, recognize, research, and share information on communities where schools & community organizations work well together to provide imaginative learning opportunities for students. The innovative project is a partnership between MAAE, the Maine Department of Education, and the Maine Arts Commission. In 2010 and 2011, seven communities  (Arundel, Blue Hill, Camden-Rockport, Deer Isle-Stonington, North Haven, The Telling Room, and York) were chosen as Imagination Intensive Communities and received statewide recognition for their achievements, including a dedicated website where each IIC is profiled, and you can see inspiring examples of ways Maine communities strengthen arts education.
www.imaginationintensivecommunities.org
 Our Imagination Intensive Communities (IIC) project was one of 9 projects in the country that received a Best Practice award from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The award was presented recently at the Partnership's National Summit in Washington, DC. IIC is a process to identify, recognize, research, and share information on communities where schools & community organizations work well together to provide imaginative learning opportunities for students. The innovative project is a partnership between MAAE, the Maine Department of Education, and the Maine Arts Commission.
From 2009 to 2011, funding for the IIC initiative came from the Kennedy Center, Bangor Savings Bank, the Betterment Fund, the Maine Department of Education, and the Maine Arts Commission.
Need for IIC continues
During 2012, MAAE and its IIC partners are evaluating the project to determine the best and most sustainable way to encourage, celebrate, and award Maine communities that provide innovative, rich, and coordinated programs and opportunities for the creative development of young people.
Evidence of the value of the IIC initiative abounds. Recently, Kate Smith, a teacher in South Berwick, wrote an email to us that eloquently sums up the need for IIC to continue: “When budgets are tight, these are the programs we need the most. When we informally sat down to brainstorm the school programs and non-profit groups, we came up with a list of 52. 52! The community knows we have a strong athletic program. They know about our high test scores. But do they realize how the entire community works together to support 21st century skills in our students through arts integration? And as the inevitable budget cut conversation comes around, do the tax payers realize they are supporting a strong network of ties that goes well beyond the school walls? Your IIC initiative offers such wonderful (and needed) focus and reflection on the Arts.”
Maine's Arts Education Census Results
The search for Imagination Intensive Communities grew out of Maine's Arts Education Census, a statewide survey of that documented that children’s access to education in music, visual art, dance and theater is not equal throughout the state. The census raised the question, “Where are the communities, which, even in hard times, use their available resources to support the development of young people’s creativity and innovation?” (Note that we surveyed opportunities rather than quality of programs in this project.)
In November 2009, MAAE published results from the census, which continue to inform MAAE’s advocacy and policy initiatives, are well worth reading.
Opportunities to Learn in the Arts in Maine (Executive Summary)
Opportunities to Learn in the Arts in Maine (Full report) |
