Thoughts: Face to Face 2010 Conference

Last week I attended my fourth Face to Face conference, presented by the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable at the Park Avenue Armory. The Armory is a tremendously wonderful venue and was a great host. Some might recall the enormous Lincoln Center production of Zimmerman's Die Soldaten there, in 2008.

I must begin by saying that, for the most part, I love arts education conferences. I believe that while good learning can be done at a desk or in the field, the most stimulating, encouraging professional growth can come from these gatherings. To me, this year's conference focus seemed different. The attendance was a bit younger, the sessions were a bit more engaging and the overall energy was, in a sense, louder - in a good way. In addition to the keynote and plenary discussions, I attended three sessions: Out of the Office and into the Field, Young Educators in the Arts and Building Quality Partnerships.

Out of the Office discussed, what they called, intervisitation: "A visit to a previously unfamiliar arts organization's programs, generally in collaboration with conversations with a program officer from that organization. These visits are often reciprocal, and may involve multiple site visits." This session was great and had us pair up with other individuals to discuss how this might work for us. It was an example of pulling us out of our comfort zones to see the potential of exploring unknown territory. I hope to participate with this concept as the session leaders build the initiative and look forward to sharing more information.

Young Educators in the Arts was the most appealing to me. The room was filled (and I mean filled) with new, emerging leaders in our field. The average age must have been no older than 28. Again, we were broken down into groups, then further broken down to discuss issues, challenges, relevance, opportunities and more. This was less of a show-and-tell than it was a brainstorming, working group of sorts. The session leaders created a network of young arts educators called Young Educators in the Arts (YEA) - how fitting. They host meet-ups, e-forums and other opportunities for this network to continue the conversation of ideas. I am going to join them at their next event on April 29. If you're a "young" arts education stakeholder, I would encourage you to check them out.

The last session, Building Quality Partnerships, was also largely attended and informative. Unfortunately for me, it was more focused on the relationship between teaching artists and schools. I just did not have much to add to that conversation but it was great to see so many TAs advocating for their case.

While I find these active, participatory sessions really useful, there is something to be said for insightful panel discussions. This year's plenary was given by Bennett Reimer, Jessica Hoffman Davis and Andrew Ackerman. Each spoke for about 20 minutes about the plenary question "Why Children Need the Arts," and I was simply enthralled by their comments. A few (non-verbatim) summaries:

• Mr. Reimer was the first panelist to tackle the plenary question. His response: "Because they are human." He also spoke to the idea that standardized testing promotes uniformity and conformity; in a sense, "training" students. Conversely, the arts build, nurture and encourage children. He suggests the phrase "Each Child Fulfilled," as an opposition to No Child Left Behind.
• Approaching the plenary question differently, Ms. Davis suggested a reply to "why children need the arts" - "Why do you ask?" Her intention was not to encourage stakeholders to be argumentative, but to really enquire whether or not the arts should be considered a vehicle to improve other content areas. Rarely is the question asked "why do children need [math, reading, science]."
• I also really appreciated the familiar theme stressed by Mr. Ackerman; that the arts can not solely exist in school, but that they need to be a more integral part of life at home and in the community.

As someone whose job is, at times, to create and facilitate conference programming, events like Face to Face keep my aspirations high. To bring this point home, I would love to see more people at these gatherings, sharing ideas, networking and exchanging business cards. It's all very much worth the effort. To quote Al Gore (from a modified African proverb) - "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."