Advocates for the Arts: Keeping the Creativity Alive in Our Communitites

I think that the best way to be an advocate for the arts in your school district is to not limit the creation of art to only your art classroom. When I was in high school, my art teacher had us involved in creating art for all sorts of events. Students would partake in the designing of Homecoming buttons, signs, shirts, etc. We would help to create floats for the parades, and everyone of the students became involved in this. We had a competition between the grades for the most creative float, though all in good fun. The entire community was invited to come and watch our parade and other community members were also involved in this event. Another way to be an advocate for the arts is to cue into community events or important historical events that may have some sort of dedication services to it. For example, in my hometown we had a special event that had to do with businesses from years and years ago that helped get the town on its feet. Years from then we were holding dedication services for important moments like such in honor of our town. Fellow peers of mine and I worked on projects for the dedication. This also got the entire community involved and our artwork was seen as a very important key component to the dedication.
If you approach other advocates in your school district (of sports, theatre, etc.) with an open mind and a willingness to work with them, then you will have a better chance of your efforts as an art advocate to be recognized and appreciated in a respectful and meaningful manner. If you balance your efforts in this way then you will be able to maintain the "flow" within your district. Your love and advocacy for the arts is more likely to be taken seriously if you are willing to work in this manner, just as with anything else. If you chose to do the opposite, then you could be doing more harm to your advocacy than good.