It seems quite a few presenters have realized that they cannot attend the April 11 Statewide Booking Session that is planned. So we’ve moved the date to May 15, which will allow you to also be in Baton Rouge for the also very important Arts in the Capitol Day on May 16!

The Booking Session will run from 10am to 2pm on May 15. Rounding out the agenda will be the finalization of blocks; a session on contracting both domestic and foreign artists; a session on posting events to the LPN website calendar; and updates on future LPN initiatives. The LPN will be able to cover at least half the cost of your hotel room (possibly the full amount, depending on the number of presenters attending), as well as your lunch on Tuesday.

LPA/LCA meetings will be held Wednesday morning, and then all will travel to the Capitol to inform the legislators!

Two new studies have just been released that document the importance of arts education for young people! Here are some of the highlights:

1. Eighth graders who had high levels of arts engagement from kindergarten through elementary school showed higher test scores in science and writing than did students who had lower levels of arts engagement over the same period.
2. Students who had arts-rich experiences in high school were more likely than students without those experiences to complete a calculus course. Also, students who took arts courses in high school achieved a slightly higher grade-point average (GPA) in math than did other students.
3. In two separate databases, students who had arts-rich experiences in high school showed higher overall GPAs than did students who lacked those experiences.
4. High school students who earned few or no arts credits were five times more likely not to have graduated than students who earned many arts credits.
5. Both 8th-grade and high school students who had high levels of arts engagement were more likely to aspire to college than were students with less arts engagement.
6. Arts-engaged high school students enrolled in competitive colleges—and in four-year colleges in general—at higher rates than did low-arts-engaged students.
7. Students who had intensive arts experiences in high school were three times more likely than students who lacked those experiences to earn a bachelor’s degree. They also were more likely to earn “mostly A’s” in college.

For details, check out the National Center for Education Statistics’ Arts Education in Public and Secondary Schools 1999-2000 and 2009-2010 and Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies [PDF]