Interview with Ann Carlson, choreographer and participant in the Creative Campus initiative of Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Ann Carlson is participating in Wesleyan University’s Creative Campus project, “Feet to the Fire.”

Interview excerpted from The Art Agenda. Originally broadcast on 88.1fm, WESU, Middletown on May 1, 2008.

New York Times contributing writer Ann Hulbert performs a neat tablecloth trick, whipping the foundation out from under grant writers everywhere.

Hulbert comments, “To the consternation of arts proponents … An emphasis on the arts’ utility in the quest to reach math and reading benchmarks may seem politically smart, but the science it rests on turns out to be shaky.”

Hulbert’s first few paragraphs are a slap to the wrist of arts advocates and politicians who dumb down the benefits of arts education by citing their connection to test scores, pointing out what educators have long known—that students who take more courses in any subject are likely to do better on their SATs.

Funders are finding new (and not so new) ways to tie arts education to Positive Youth Development, but many arts leaders would do themselves a favor by learning more about PYD.

The Values Study: Rediscovering the Meaning and Value of Arts Participation is another good resource for articulating the value of the arts to community stakeholders.

Later today on The Art Agenda, I will be interviewing participants in Feet to the Fire, an eco-arts festival that is part of the Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The program is intended to provide campus arts presenters with “an opportunity to fully integrate the performing arts into the life of the academy, higher education and the community.” (according to Sandra Gibson, President and CEO of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters)

It will be interesting to see which values (economic development, cultural fluency, PYD) rise to the top for arts advocates and politicians in the coming months. Of course, I am happy that politicians are discussing the arts at all! But we needn’t be desperate, and Hulbert is right to shake the foundation a bit … even if it’s a little scary.