Interview with Kim Cairy - President of the Michigan Art Education Association

This week we talk with Kim Cairy, President of the Michigan Art Education Association about the importance of preserving art education in our schools and their 59th annual conference titled "Art Brings Hope, Healing and Change".

"MAEA serves as a professional organization for students, pre-service teachers, art educators, and higher ed educators around Michigan. We are unified with the National Art Education Association. We roughly have around 1,300 members that are part of Michigan, and we serve as a professional development source, a networking source, and an informational source, and a resource for our teachers in Michigan."

When asked about the need for Arts in education Kim said, "We have to be creative in looking at our future, and that our future now deserves a very different kind of person. A person that has a different kind of mind, and to quote Daniel Pink; his book, 'A Whole New Mind', we are looking at creators, empathizers, pattern recognizers, meaning makers."

We hope you enjoy the show.

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Interview with John Helmholdt, Communications & External Affairs Coordinator for Grand Rapids Public Schools

This week we talk with John Helmholdt, Communications & External Affairs Coordinator for Grand Rapids Public Schools about what is involved in running a communications department for the 3rd largest district in the State of Michigan.

With quick smile John quips: "I like to define (the position as) a professional firefighter, a little pick pocketing, some herd management, cat herding, a little ego management, but, no; in all seriousness, it is very unique in the sense that we are -- we are the third largest district. We have 20,000 students, 3,400 employees and we have a two-person communication office. So we really have a lot on our plate."

When asked about the most pressing issues facing large urban schools John tell us it's "breaking down, tearing down false perceptions. Too many people have developed perceptions of schools, yet, they have never set foot in a single building."

We hope you enjoy the show.

Click the arrow below to listen to the podcast.


Direct Link to the Podcast

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Enjoy the podcast! If you have a comment or question for the podcast or an idea for a future post send an email to podcast@insidemieducation.com.

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