Young+Audiences+Joins+NCCAS


 * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 16, 2013 || Contact: Cory Wilkerson

800-587-6814

**Coryw2.0@gmail.com** || ** Young Audiences joins national **

** arts standards coalition ** download Young Audiences Arts for Learning has joined the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) as a leadership governance organization. Young Audiences is the nation’s largest arts-in-education learning network, serving over 5 million children and youth each year in 7,000 schools and community centers across the country through a network of 30 local affiliates.

NCCAS, a coalition of national arts and education organizations and other representatives, is committed to developing a next generation of voluntary, researched-based arts education standards that will build on the foundation created by the 1994 standards (and the 2005 Standards for Learning and Teaching Dance in the Arts), support the 21st-century needs of students and teachers, help ensure that all students are college and career ready, and affirm the place of arts education in a balanced core curriculum.

David Dik, Young Audiences’ Executive Director, began serving as a consultant to NCCAS in the fall of 2012, helping to guide the work of creating the future interactive web-based home for the new National Standards for Arts Education in dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts. His organization recently launched a new website that will serve as the online model for the future national arts standards.

“I joined Young Audiences Arts for Learning as the National Executive Director in July 2010, because I believe we can make a genuine and lasting difference in students’ lives. The national standards work is a logical extension of that mission,” said Dik. “We owe it to educators and students to create rigorous, classroom-useful arts standards and assessments that reflect 21st-century learning and teaching.”

Lynn Tuttle, President of the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education (SEADAE) said she was delighted that Young Audiences has become a partner in the standards project. “SEADAE is a member of this coalition because we know that our state agency members and their constituents believe in the value and purpose of arts standards. I think the commitment of Young Audiences, a major provider of arts education in this country, is an important affirmation of the work that we’re doing. Welcome aboard David!”

The writing of the new standards continues to progress. A preliminary invitational review was completed in April; NCCAS will be issuing a call for public review of new, substantive portions of the standards on June 30. Interested individuals should visit the coalition’s website at**nccas.wikispaces.com** or the NCCAS Facebook page at **facebook.com/NationalCoalitionForCoreArtsStandards** to learn how they can participate in the review process, and for other information about the project.