Calendar of Events

Start Time: 7:00 pm End Time: 9:30 pmVAPAE Public Event Series for 2015-2016                                                     The Visual and Performing Arts Education Program (VAPAE) at UCLA aims to be at the forefront of the statewide and national debate regarding the place and importance of the arts for all and to be a catalyst for positive change in urban arts education. During the 2015-2016 year VAPAE is offering an exciting public event series exploring a range of challenging topics that promote arts equity and high quality arts education strategies. Questions of Quality: What Is High Quality Arts Education and Why Does It Matter? Presentation by Steven Seidel, Ed.D, Bauman and Bryant Chair in Arts in Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education Followed by Panel Discussion including Annamarie Francois (Executive Director, UCLA Center X); Steve Zimmer (Board President, LAUSD); Malissa Feruzzi-Shriver (Executive Director, Turnaround Arts CA); Carolyn McKnight (Principal, East LA Performing Arts Magnet Academy); and Talia Gibas (Professional Development Program Manager, Los Angeles County Arts Commission). How do arts educators conceptualize quality in arts learning experiences and how do they work to achieve and sustain quality in their work? And what role do young people play in creating high quality arts learning experiences? Dr. Steve Seidel, Bauman and Bryant Chair in Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will share his research on the challenges of offering high quality arts experiences to all students. Exploring key questions, concerns, and provocations from the seminal 2009 report, The Qualities of Quality, that he produced with colleagues from Harvard Project Zero, Seidel will discuss why these issues still matter to our youth, our schools, and our communities. Seidel’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Talia Gibas. The panelists, all highly respected thought leaders from the fields of arts education, arts advocacy, and social justice pedagogy, will share their insights regarding the concept of quality in the arts, and the strategies they are committed to in order to ensure that all students have access to similar experiences and opportunities. Steve Seidel holds the Patricia Bauman and John Landrum Bryant Chair in Arts in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is Faculty Director of the Arts in Education program and a former director of Project Zero (2000-2008). At Project Zero, Seidel was Principal Investigator for projects that have studied the use of reflective practices in schools, the close examination of student work, and the documentation of individual and group learning. His current research includes Talking with Artists who Teach, a study of working artists’ ideas and insights into the nature of artistic development and learning, and the Illuminating Standards Project, an exploration of what standards actually look like in student work. In 2009, Seidel and colleagues at Project Zero completed The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education, a study of what constitutes quality in arts learning and teaching. Before becoming a researcher, Seidel taught high-school theater and language arts in the Boston area for 17 years. He has also worked as a professional actor and stage director. Co-sponsored by the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Design Media Arts and the Visual and Performing Arts Education Program (VAPAE) in the UCLA School of the Arts and ArchitectureFor more information contact: 1.310.794.4822 or VAPAE@arts.ucla.edu