Fine Arts Education Week events include: 

• Capitol Concerts highlighting student pianists on April 7

• the Show Me Arts Summit on April 8 for student learning experiences in Civics and Leadership. 

• Fine Arts Education Day, April 9 showcasing the work of  hundreds of student artists, 

• Dulcimer Workshop for Music Educators (free) on April 10 (10am-3:30pm); the 

• Celebration Summit Gala, Banquet and Silent Auction event 5:30pm-8:30pm on April 10

• Saturday April 11th’s Dulcimer Day at the Capitol.  Volunteers are needed. Sign up here.

You can also be involved from home! 

• Contact your legislators. Share the good news about thee arts and arts education in their own communities, and underscore the need for public funding for the arts and education.

• Send us videos of arts learning in action. Students in rehearsal, students creating, students engaging in the creative process.

• Join the Alliance! It’s free and we welcome all of those who want to ensure that arts education opportunities happen for every child, in every school, every day.

Finally… to all - Happy Jazz Appreciation Month and National Poetry Month!

It’s a busy time in the arts. Enjoy the season!

Have you seen the data dashboard for that publishes student fine arts enrollment data for your school? Quadrant Research, sponsor of the National Arts Education Data Project has partnered with MAAE, DESE, and MAC to bring this powerful Missouri-specific-data tool to you! View enrollment data (collected from local school districts as part of their reports to DESE) by arts discipline, by county, district, or school level and examine trends over time.  Identify areas of abundance and opportunities for growth. 

Access this dashboard through the direct link. You can also find access on the MAAE website and on the DESE Fine Arts webpage.

We'd love to hear your stories about how you are using the data. Whether it is for grant proposals, reports, research, or to make the case with your administrators for programming changes, let us know. We are collecting stories and testimonials that will help us ensure that we can maintain the funding required for Missouri's continued participation. Please share those stories at fineartsdata@dese.mo.gov and cc: director@moaae.org.  If you see any errors in the data displayed, we need to know that too! Please reach out at any time.

Congress finalized Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) appropriations with important wins for the nation’s cultural agencies and programs. Through passage of three bipartisan appropriations “minibus” packages, lawmakers completed 11 of the 12 annual funding bills for FY26, covering the period from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. Instead of relying on a year-long Continuing Resolution, Congress enacted full appropriations bills, ensuring stability for federal agencies, updating new funding levels, and preserving pipeline funding for states and communities.

Most notably, the Interior–Environment bill included in Minibus #2 provides $207 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), with no cuts or programmatic changes to either agency. The package passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 397 to 28 before advancing through to the Senate and being signed into law by the President. The strong margin in the House underscores the continued bipartisan support for federal arts and humanities funding, even in a challenging fiscal environment.

These FY26 wins reflect the dedication of bipartisan congressional champions like Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME), who worked to protect the NEA and NEH during negotiations. Throughout the appropriations process, offices consistently heard from advocates across the country through meetings, testimony submissions, calls, emails, and Legislative Fly-Ins. That persistent grassroots engagement reinforced the importance of maintaining stable federal cultural funding and helped secure this outcome.

In a year marked by broader debates about federal spending and proposals to eliminate agencies, preserving stable funding for the nation’s cultural agencies is a meaningful victory.

See how your Members of Congress voted:

House: bit.ly/HouseVotes20267

Senate: bit.ly/SenateVotes1192 

Hello Missouri Educators,

I’m reaching out to share an exciting opportunity for your school: America’s Field Trip: Virtual Artist Residencies with Focus 5, made possible by Crystal Bridges celebrating America’s 250th anniversary through the arts. These residencies are FREE/NO COST for schools and bring high-quality, arts-integrated learning directly to your classroom—virtually.

To learn more about these Free Virtual Artist Residencies please go to: https://tinyurl.com/CrystalBridgesResidencies.

Taking place January - December 2026

While you are there, be sure to check out my virtual residency: Warhol’s Wild Adaptations (Grade 3- 5).

In this three-day high-engagement residency, students investigate how Warhol adapted and abstracted images in his animal series—and ask: How do animals adapt to survive, and how can we abstract that idea into movement? Studying the two strategies of adaptation and abstraction, they create original movement phrases that embody real animal adaptations. The result is pop-art thinking meets life-science insight—students don’t tell you what an adaptation or abstraction is; they show you.

Participation requires a minimum of 4 classes to take part. If you don’t have 4 classes, we can pair you with another school.

If you’d like to secure a spot, you can register here:

• Register: https://tinyurl.com/WarholAdapt 

You can also learn more about Focus 5 arts integration at www.Focus5ArtsIntegration.com

If you have questions I’m happy to help.
- Harlan Brownlee

Contact Harlan via email here.

American Heroes Student Art Contest, sponsored by Freedom 250 and the National Endowment for the Humanities, invites 3rd- through 12th- grade students from all states and territories to celebrate America’s 250th Birthday by creating original two-dimensional artworks, inspired by their favorite historical American hero, chosen from the list of 250 notable Americans - statesmen, athletes, scholars, artists, musicians, scientists, entrepreneurs, and more - to be honored in statues in the National Garden of American Heroes.

America’s youth will stand on the shoulders of great American artists of the past to create a new expression of American art today! By marking this historic milestone through original artmaking, they will reignite America’s history, heroes, and values for a new generation… and for a chance to earn a trip to Washington, DC, and have their artwork included at the Great American State Fair!

Learn more and entry details here.

It’s almost spring! Have you dreamed about next year’s arts happenings yet? Let’s plant some seeds----

All schools: plan a field trip to a museum, performance, or art activity with your students – MAC funds can pay up to $500 for transportation [Big Yellow School

Bus]. OR bring a performance to the kids with our School Touring grant of up to $1500. 

Looking for deeper exploration of a unit of arts learning or integration of the arts with another subject? Contact me about our express arts education grants. These offer up to $4,000 to support a guest teaching artist and supplies related to the project.

High schools are encouraged to add Poetry Out Loud to their competition activities. POL, as we call it, is a dynamic recitation contest that starts in the classroom and moves all the way to the national level, where $50,000 in prize money is awarded each year.

Call or email me anytime.

(314)340-6857

jenni.ryan@ltgov.mo.gov

Jenni Ryan
Arts Education Program Specialist

Happy Spring! As we yo-yo back and forth between cold and hot, let’s get out there and support MO arts teachers and students!

• Thank you for putting on your calendar to come to the State Capitol during Fine Arts Education week April 7 - 11! Check out the schedule in this MAAE newsletter!

• Let me know when you’re here in JC so I can also take you on a tour of the DESE art exhibit in the Jefferson building. They are now in a new gallery space in the recently renovated DESE State Board Room and hallways. Please email me to schedule a time for this guided tour with me. The art highlights students from 2 different districts every couple months from all areas of the state.

• I’ve had the privilege of listening in on amazing music learning in choral and solo/ensemble contests this March! Please share a thank you to your area school’s K – 12 music teachers!

• Please contact your local reps and share with them the value and importance of the arts. Share a personal connection, or your children’s. Inform them of the power of the arts in student learning. The arts have students experiencing higher-level tier thinking and preparing them with the skills necessary to be career-ready. If we want our children to be successful in their future careers and families, then we need to fully support the arts. If we desire our State to stand out as a leader in innovation and abilities to problem-solve, then we need to fully fund the arts.

-Kendra Franks

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) is now accepting nominations for Regional Teacher of the Year, the first step for an educator to become next year’s Missouri State Teacher of the Year.

Nominations can be made through the online Teacher of the Year nomination form here.

Visit DESE’s Virtual Art Gallery here, which features creations this month from Green Ridge Elementary and Halls Ferry Elementary

 of Webster Groves School District. For more information about how your school can participate in the art exhibit, please contact Dr. Kendra Franks, DESE’s Fine Arts Curriculum Director at Kendra.Franks@dese.mo.gov.

Artwork is on display in the Jefferson Building 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. on Monday-Friday (except for state holidays). Please contact Kendra Franks, Arts Education Director before visiting.

Started in 2004, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has invited public schools throughout Missouri to submit samples of their students' artwork. The art is displayed in the Department's main office in Jefferson City and in the room where the State Board of Education holds its regular monthly meetings. Artwork from each featured school is showcased for a month. The same artwork is now featured here. For privacy reasons, the full names of the student artists will not be published here.

Schools that will be featured in the Virtual Art Gallery are already scheduled for several months in advance. Please do not submit unsolicited artwork. For more information, contact:

Kendra Franks, Ph.D.
Director of Fine Arts Education
573-751-9610
Kendra.Franks@dese.mo.gov

Image Credit: Evie, Troy Buchanan High School

Attn: MAEA Members!

Check out MAEA's upcoming book for book club.

Dates to TBA announced soon. Cassie Stephens is a confirmed keynote speaker at our upcoming Spring Conference 2026. In the meantime, you can purchase your copy today. 

https://cassiestephens.com/products/presale-art-teacherin-101-the-book

The book includes different tips and tricks for your art teacher journey. It includes sections like rules. Routines, consequences, your art teacher journey, art room management, kindergarten, and a day in the life.

268 pages, Paperback Published January 1, 2021

Also sign up for the mailing list to receive all updates on the book club here.

The 6th edition of the MAEA Show Me Art Student Coloring Book is available. Missouri visual art students design a coloring book theme based around a theme. This coloring book is based on Missouri Celebrations and Festivals, featuring 89 art students' drawings from across Missouri in a 185 page coloring book. Each book is $13.99 and 100% of the profits go towards the MAEA Future Art Educator Scholarship Fund, which encourages high school art students to pursue art education as a career. Order your coloring book today on Amazon at https://a.co/d/04P6eSSA.

Next year's 7th edition Coloring Book Contest is now open with a theme of Exploring Missouri State Parks. For more information about the scholarship or the contest, please visit https://www.maea.net/programs-and-events/Contest

Join 1,500+ K–12 educators for the only national in-person event focused on real classroom strategies that integrate the arts and STEAM—backed by research, built for collaboration, and designed to help you reach every student.

At a time when teaching feels exhausting and students are checked out, this National Conference gives you the strategies, community, and hands-on learning to make classroom experiences meaningful, creative, and effective again.

This can't-miss event is perfect for:

• K–12 Classroom Teachers

• Arts Specialists and STEM/STEAM Educators

• Instructional Coaches and School Leaders

• Teaching Artists and PD Coordinators

Learn more and register here.

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Director of Media Production
Manager of Artistic Planning
Stage Manager
Technical Director