1. COLORADO

2. Learning: Fall 2014 Conference “Where Art Comes From” was held at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge and focused on the origins of creativity and how students use the visual arts as expressions of themselves and the world around them. Almost 400 educators attended the 3 ½ day conference with 120+ workshops, 10 Master Classes and 3 guest speakers (Shannon Galpin, Ellen Dissanayake and Anya Beebe). The town of Breckenridge provided space for the conference’s Master Classes in their newly developed Arts District with the idea of a greater collaboration of CAEA art educators and the emerging art education program at the Arts District. Spring 2015 Conference “ Art For Us” at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton was a one day of professional development offering 6 Master Classes of different media for art educators to further explore. The purpose of the Spring Conference was to expand educators’ practice while “filling up the soul”. 46 educators attended. Summer 2015 Conferences in the Southern and Western regions of Colorado were piloted this year to provide greater professional development for art educators in more rural areas of the state. These mini-conferences were hosted by regional colleges (Adams State University in Alamosa and Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction). These conferences were smaller in attendance (less than 10) and offered 2-3 Master Classes but were successful in building relationships between art educators of the region, the CAEA regional representatives and the local college’s art departments.

3. Research/Knowledge: Colorado educators from elementary through higher education came together to develop and roll out “Practical Ideas for Evaluating Teachers of the Arts”. Through the support of the Colorado Department of Education, “Practical Ideas” assist visual arts educators and their evaluators to better understand the Colorado State Model Educator Evaluation Systems and how it applies to the visual arts. “Practical Ideas” consists of an Observation Guide and a Rubric Translation Guide. Translation of typical educational jargon into arts language is the hallmark feature of these guides. Evaluators use the Observation Guide as a tool during observations to match art classroom activity and teaching to the teacher standards. The at-a-glance format allows evaluators to easily observe the richness of visual art teaching practices as the standards are met. Evaluators are responsible for knowing and understanding the arts language used in the Translation Rubric so they can more effectively and accurately evaluate visual art teacher practices. The Translation Rubric and the Observation Guide were rolled out at the 2014 fall conference. Colorado will conduct a super session at the 2015 Fall Conference in Breckenridge to train teachers on how to use the rubric and the guide. The information is also available on the CAEA website www.caeaco.org.www.caeaco.org

4. Advocacy: CAEA continued its support of Youth Art Month (YAM) in Colorado. The flag competition received 76 entries from numerous schools across the K-12 educational spectrum. The artwork was again displayed at the Capitol Building, and then selected work went on to be displayed at NAEA Nationals in New Orleans. The Governor’s office again granted a State of Colorado Proclamation for Youth Art Month. The flag design winner was awarded to a middle school student, Aeneas Gomez from Monte Visa. Aeneas, a family member and his teacher, Past-President Robin Wolfe, were sent this summer to the Awards Ceremony in New York by Sargent Art. CAEA also funded the YAM Coordinator Justine Sawyer to attend the NAEA Convention in 2015 to further develop the state’s YAM program. CAEA continued to support Scholastic Art Awards Colorado which showcases artwork from school grade levels 7-12. Almost 5000 artworks were submitted throughout the state with over 750 works receiving awards (gold key, silver key and honorable mention). All awarded work was displayed at the History Colorado Museum in Denver during February 2015. 100 of those pieces were selected for an exhibition at the Denver Art Museum during March 2015. Over $250,000.00 of regional scholarships were awarded to Colorado Scholastic participants. All of the gold key award recipients and the 5 American Vision nominees went on to the National level with 26 students receiving National recognition including Maivy Bui from Thorton High School receiving a National American Vision Award in Ceramics/Glass.

5. Community: The CAEA Member Art Exhibition took to the road in 2014-15. The art show titled “Expanding the Possibilities” was a process based show and had 37 members participate. The exhibition toured and continues to tour around various locations in Colorado (Denver, Breckenridge, Alamosa, Colorado Springs, Greeley and Gunnison/Grand Junction) to showcase to multiple communities the work of Colorado art educators. YAM Coordinator Justine Sawyer received the Art Educator of the Year award at the Colorado Fall Conference in 2014 and the Pacific Region Secondary Art Educator of the Year award at the 2015 NAEA Convention in New Orleans.

6. Organizational Vibrancy: CAEA recently updated its Constitution and By-laws since they had not been updated since 2009. Most changes made to the Constitution and By-laws were to reflect procedural changes due to updated technology and other minor procedural changes. One major change was to implement new terms for elected positions and election cycles (2 year commitment to 3 year) to increase stability and consistency within the organization and decrease the feeling of “always being in transition”. The updated Constitution and By-laws will be implemented for the upcoming 2016 election cycle. CAEA Executive Council continued its new tradition of a 2 day strategic planning retreat in the summer of 2014 and 2015. Both retreats allowed Executive Council members to work on key organization issues to better serve the CAEA members and the art education community at large. The retreats were held in Breckenridge and were hosted by Beaver Run Resort, the site of our annual Fall Conferences for the past several years.

7. Current Trends/Issues: Educator Effectiveness continues to be the main topic of discussion amongst art educators in the state of Colorado since the adoption of Senate Bill 10-191. Members of CAEA have been working with the Colorado Department of Education to provide district administrators the “Practical Ideas” information (as outlined in the Research/Knowledge section) to provide more accurate and relevant assessment to Colorado’s art educators. Many Colorado art educators expressed in 2014-15 an increase in exhaustion and frustration and in relation to past years. Despite continued achievements and progress in the areas of professional development, assessment, art advocacy and others in art education, many educators expressed feelings of being “stretched thin”. Hopefully it was a coincidence that many art educators had a tough year and not a state wide trend. Counties to watch for: Douglas and Jefferson where educators and local school boards are in conflict.

8. One Issue Colorado CAEA needs HELP with: The Treasurer for CAEA had to step down from office mid-term due to health reasons. CAEA has a temporary plan in place for an Interim Treasurer until a permanent replacement can be found. It is the hope of CAEA to have a candidate (or candidates) in time for the 2016 election cycle. It has been difficult to find an art educator who is well suited for and willing to take on this responsibility despite greater involvement from the CAEA’s accountant which lessens the work load for the Treasurer.