MACIE Aims to Close the Creative Divide One Child at a Time

Our mission is to cultivate children’s creative and innovative thinking and we are looking for individuals who want to join us on this journey. Are you passionate about children, creativity, and innovation? Do you want to work with children in challenging and unique ways? If so, we’d like to invite you to learn more about The Master of Arts in Creative & Innovative Education.

In the latest episode of GSU’s Urban Education podcast, our program director, Dr. Laura Meyers, discusses the design and purpose for the MACIE program. If you have questions about what you’ll learn through our program, the job opportunities this degree will support, or how to apply, check out this discussion. Also, don’t forget to join us for FREE coffee during one of our “Coffee Talk” sessions this week (find the times, dates, and locations HERE).

Want to learn more about MACIE?

We know you have lots of questions about graduate school: Is this program for me? How do I register? When do I register? If you’re interested in cultivating children’s creative and innovative thinking, come talk with us and let us answer your questions.

Check out our upcoming informational sessions, both on and off campus:

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The Arts Participation Divide

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The Washington Post recently published an article indicating a “Great Creative Divide” in the United States: people living in the Southern portion of the country were less likely to be involved in the arts than those living in the Northern portion. While we see creativity as encompassing much more than just the arts, it’s interesting to dig a little deeper into the data behind the WAPO article to get a snapshot of Georgians’ arts participation. Although the data doesn’t present a complete picture, it can point us in new directions as we consider children’s creative lives—or perhaps recommit us to paths we are already on.

Here are the numbers for Georgia:

* Percent of U.S. Adults Who Attend Visual or Performing Arts Events or Go to the Movies by State in 2015

  • Georgia: 57.6% (statistically less than U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S. Adults Who Attend Live Music, Theater, or Dance Performances by State in 2015

  • Georgia: 20.8% (statistically less than U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S Adults Who Attend Art Exhibits by State in 2015

  • Georgia: 9.5% (statistically less than U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S. Adults Who Go to Movies by State in 2015

  • Georgia: 53.3% (not statistically different from U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S. Adults Who Visit Buildings, Neighborhoods, Parks, and Other Sites for Their Historic or Design Value by States in 2015

  • Georgia: 20.3% (statistically less than U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S. Adults Who Read Literature (Poetry, Plays, Short Stories, or Novels) by State in 2015

  • Georgia: 36.8% (not statistically different from U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S. Adults Who Personally Perform of Create Artworks by State in 2014

  • Georgia: 34.2% (statistically less than U.S. average)

* Percent of U.S Adults Who Use TV, Radio, and /or Internet to Consume Art or Arts Programming by State in 2012

  • Georgia: 50% (statistically less than U.S. average)

Why are there variations in arts participation across states? The answer, of course, isn’t simple, but the National Endowment for the Arts, which published the data, links participation in the arts to education and poverty, as well as availability and access to arts organizations. The NEA also draws “strong association” between adults’ likelihood of attending arts events and their experiences with the arts as children. “Adults who visited an art museum as a child were 4.8 times more likely to visit an art museum or gallery as an adult,” the report states.

While creativity isn’t limited to the arts, the arts certainly are crucial components of a creative and innovative education. Perhaps the first step in providing children with more experiences with creativity in general and the arts in particular is to work together as adults to begin that cultivation.

 

Apprenticeships That Connect

MACIE from College of Education & Human Dev on Vimeo.

 

The word apprentice may carry the dusty sound of a medieval trade, but the concept is vibrantly modern. Apprenticeships have been a launching point for many famous careers. Alexander McQueen apprenticed with a Savile Row tailor on the road to becoming an international fashion designer. Sir Ian McKellen started his acting career by apprenticing with a theatre company decades before he donned cloak and staff as Gandalf. And Elvis Presley trained as an electrician’s apprentice before…well, ok, not all apprenticeships are steps along a direct path.

The definition of an apprentice is “a person who works for another in order to learn a trade.” And yes, that is the stated goal of an apprenticeship: to enter into the work place of an experienced practitioner to watch, learn, and engage in aspects of a trade. But there is another, equally important function of an apprenticeship that is only hinted at in the formal definition—the building of relationships, the establishing of ties, the nurturing of connections. And it is both of these facets of apprenticeship that we foster in MACIE.

As part of the MACIE degree program, students apprentice at a local enterprise that matches their career goals. If their future plans include developing or working for a non-profit, students can apprentice for a semester or more at a local non-profit organization, learning the importance of grants and community relations. If they plan to work as a teaching artist or start an after-school program for children, they can apprentice with an organization that works with area schools. If they intend to launch a start-up focused on children as creative learners, they can apprentice in a like-minded business. And if they want to work in schools as teacher leaders in the area of creative and innovative education, they can apprentice with area educators operating with similar goals.

These apprenticeships lay the ground for networks of relationships, ones designed to enrich not just the student but the larger community as well. But the learning-through-apprenticeship model of the MACIE program doesn’t stop there. The relationships and connections also include strong commitments by the faculty to the students in the program. Faculty see themselves as mentors, taking an active interest in the goals of their students and supporting their learning every step of the way. It’s one of the secrets of the trade: the joy of the job rests in supporting students as they strive to meet their goals.