New Visions Project
In 2009 the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) adopted a new initiative, the New Visions Project, to work with targeted school districts to establish and implement arts curriculum in rural and urban Alaska. Participating school districts include Bering Strait, Bristol Bay Borough, Copper River, Kodiak, Lower Kuskokwim, North Slope, and Sitka. The goal of this project is to increase access, equity, and quality to arts learning for all K – 12 students in Alaska. New Visions districts address five central components as they work to meet local and state goals for arts learning: 1) Curriculum and Assessment, 2) Professional Development, 3) Leadership, 4) Instruction, including guest artist residencies, and 5) Community Engagement. Each district drafts an Arts Action Plan and tailors activities to their own unique needs in relation to these five components.
To learn more about the strategies these Alaskan school districts have used to make progress in these central areas of focus you can review the progress reports, below. Both reports are authored by New Visions Project Coordinator, Dr. Annie Calkins and include the 2012 report, New Visions: New Hope, and the 2018 update, New Visions: New Horizons.