DANCE RESEARCH
Topic 1: I am studying how the arts are prioritized in the four stages of education (early-, primary, secondary, and higher) in Hawai’i because I want to find out why our state government ignores the benefits of arts-integrated education, and in fact appears to target the arts for funding cuts in order to help my reader understand how Hawai’i’s educational system is failing our children, and society at large.
Topic 2: I am studying the history of arts activism in Hawai’i because I want to find out how many acts of activism have successfully caused change in order to help my readers understand what benefits they may be experiencing right now.
Title: A Culture of Sterility
Art classes are available for Public School children in early-ed, primary, and secondary grade levels, and there are regulated common core guidelines for what those classes can teach and how to assess the learning that happens in those classes. The art teachers are found in these classrooms by disparate paths. Perhaps the opening was available but packaged alongside more traditional classes, so the dance teacher is also teaching math now. Perhaps teaching a full line of English classes made sense to teach if the drama teacher wanted to stage a Shakespeare play that year. If the art teacher is allowed to teach just their intended discipline, they aren’t hired full-time and are granted the privilege of having their classes categorized under the catch-all title of “Specials.” Perhaps an art teacher has received the holy grail of Arts Education in Hawai’i in that they have a full-time job, they teach what they were trained to teach (and not asked to do anything outside of that field), and they have full classes of engaged dancers. They most likely are still working above and beyond what their colleagues in other departments are doing, and social media has been showing us how difficult life has been for all of those other teachers as well. If the arts classes are not a
In higher education, the thrill of teaching your art form comes with the added bonus of specificity. The bottom drops out when you fear your department could be gutted or erased altogether when the annual legislative budget is released. Why must art be under fire from early education all the way through higher education?
As a former arts educator in drama and dance, for preschool ages through college courses, I have experience working with various demographics and for various employers and partners. How our state government perceives the value of arts education has always affected my life as an artist and art teacher. It is my aim to effect change in government through arts activism, that will prove a model for the future arts activists of Hawai’i.
