Visual & Performing Arts Review 2020

Steering Committee Membership
  • Bronwyn Sale - Education faculty, Bates College
  • David Pierson - Media Arts faculty, The University of Southern Maine
  • Douglas Clapp - Visual Arts/Theatre faculty, MSAD 27
  • Heidi O'Donnell - Visual arts faculty, RSU 71
  • Kailey Smith - Theatre faculty, Union 69
  • Kaitlin Young - Music faculty, RSU 68
  • Kelly McConnell - Visual Arts Educator, formerly of the Maine College of Art
  • Lynda Leonas - Visual Arts faculty, Auburn Public Schools
  • Martha Harris - Attorney, Maine State Board of Education member
  • Martha Piscuskas - Director of Arts Education, Maine Arts Commission
  • MaryEllen Schaper - Dance Educator, retired
  • Phillip Edelman - Music Education faculty, The University of Maine
  • Rebecca Wright - Assistant Principal, Ellsworth High School
  • Rick Osann - Theatre Educator, retired
  • Teresa Beaudoin - Principal, Augusta Public Schools
  • Robert Westerberg - Music faculty, York Public Schools
Steering Committee Meetings Summary
  • February 26, 2020 (in-person, Augusta) - Committee convenes; begins work with a discussion of purpose, review of responsibilities, Examination and discussion of public comments, and the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the current standards to ascertain where/what to revise or add in the future document.  The committee was presented with supporting documents to assist in their work - an accounting of each state's VPA standards (what they are and where to find them for reference), and access to the National Core Arts Standards (2014), which had been developed and published since the last MLR review and revision for VPA.
  • April 3, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues SWOT analysis, discussing the first two strands of the current MLRs.  There is a great deal of discussion concerning the revision/addition of more inclusionary language to the document.  The committee also began actively discussing the role that the NCAS would play in the revision process.  There is initial disagreement regarding the level of NCAS "overlap" that should be present in the revised MLRs.
  • April 22/23, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues with SWOT analysis, discussing strands two and three of the current MLRs.  The committee begins ongoing discussions regarding the feasibility of separating the document into strands by discipline (in response to their conversations during the SWOT analysis activity.)  The committee also continues discussing the role of the NCAS in the revised standards.
  • May 8, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues with SWOT analysis, discussing strands three and four of the current MLRs. Discussions about the differences in each arts discipline continue, moving the committee more toward the idea of a major structural change.  Multiple references are made to the NCAS as the committee gets further into their analysis of the current MLRs.
  • May 12, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues with SWOT analysis, discussing strands four and five of the current MLRs.  Conversations continue regarding members' perceptions/observations during the analysis.  Comparisons between the current MLRs and the NCAS are frequent throughout the meeting.
  • May 22, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues with SWOT analysis, examining the introduction section of the current MLRs.
  • May 29, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee concludes the SWOT analysis. In response to the SWOT analysis results, the committee determined a new structure (each strand would be a discipline) to the document, as well as decided to add a new discipline (Media Arts) to the document.  The committee decides to use the NCAS as a foundation for major revisions, but to not adopt wholesale.
  • June 3, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Using the NCAS and other support documents identified by members of the Steering Committee, they begin to write guidance for writing team as a collective unit, but eventually determine that splitting into discipline-specific sub-teams would be more practical. Sub-teams share and compare their work with each other.
  • July 7, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues writing guidance for writing team as discipline-specific sub-teams.  Sharing and comparing continues to align work between sub-teams.
  • July 22, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee continues writing guidance for writing team as discipline-specific sub-teams.  Sharing and comparing continues to align work between sub-teams.  The sub-teams decide to meet independently before the next Committee meeting to finalize their recommendations/guidance.
  • August 12, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee convenes to examine and agree on all sub-teams' guidance language.  The collective continues writing guidance for writing team, combining sub-teams to address the guidance on the introduction to the document with one voice.
  • August 19, 2020 (virtual due to the pandemic) - Committee concludes their work, determining that, after individual review, each sub-team's guidance aligns so there is comparable attention paid to all arts disciplines. The committee submits their guidance for writing team.
Steering Committee Guidance Documents
Writing Committee Membership
  • Emma Campbell - Dance faculty, Thornton Academy
  • Charlie Johnson - Visual/Media Arts faculty, Mount Desert Island High School
  • Jennie Driscoll - Visual/Media Arts faculty, Brunswick High School
  • Joseph Peterson - Visual/Media Arts faculty, Middle School of the Kennebunks
  • Melanie Crowe - Visual/Media Arts faculty, Hampden Academy
  • Andrea Wollstadt - Music faculty, Biddeford Intermediate School
  • Catherine Newell - Music faculty, Eight Corners Elementary School
  • Charles Michaud - Music faculty, Levesque Elementary/Wisdom High Schools
  • Cynthia Keating - Music faculty, Village Elementary School
  • Dorie Tripp - Music faculty, Readfield & Manchester Elementary Schools
  • Heidi Corliss - Music faculty, Hampden Academy/Leroy H. Smith Elementary School
  • Joshua Lund - Music faculty, Benton Elementary School
  • Kalina Young - Music faculty, G. Herbert Jewett/Miles Lane Schools
  • Katie McFarland - Music faculty, Reiche Community School
  • Shari Tarleton - Music faculty, Brunswick Junior High School
  • Sue Barre - Music faculty, Waterville Junior/Senior High School
  • Debra Susi - Theatre faculty, Maine Central Institute
  • Jasmine Ireland - Theatre faculty, Ellsworth High School
  • Josh Livingston - Theatre/ELA faculty, Marshwood High School
  • Lisa Neal - Theatre faculty, Nokomis High School
  • Victoria Wolford - Theatre faculty, Sumner Memorial High School
  • Abby Jacobs - Visual Art faculty, Westbrook Middle School
  • Ellyn Smith - Visual Art faculty, Presque Isle High School
  • Helen Allen-Weldon - Visual Art faculty, Eddington/Holden Elementary Schools
  • Iva Damon - Visual Art faculty, Leavitt Area High School
  • Jessica Johnson - Visual Art faculty, Mattanawcook Junior High School
  • Adele Drake - Visual Art faculty, Hampden Academy
  • Kate Giard - Visual Art faculty, Waterboro Elementary School
  • Samantha Armstrong - Visual Art faculty, Agnes Gray Elementary School
  • Rachel Somerville - Visual Art faculty, Westbrook High School
  • Leah Olson - Visual Art faculty, Ellsworth High School

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