Luis Valdez and Linda Ronstadt are scheduled to keynote the April 20-21 Statewide Leadership in Arts Education Conference at the Embassy Suites in Sacramento.
The California County Superintendents Educational Services Association and the California Alliance for Arts Education are sponsoring the event, themed “Arts to the Core: Building a Future for Arts Education in California.”
The conference will feature important work being done at the state, regional, county and local levels to improve quality arts education and to encourage leadership in those efforts. Key outcomes include:
• Providing engaging visual and performing arts leadership experiences that motivate participants to become advocates in their local communities.
• Highlighting effective arts education programs in schools, districts and county offices of education that help close the achievement gap and improve student engagement.
• Providing an opportunity for educational leaders from across the state to build relationships with each other, as well as key legislators and policymakers.
• Examining models that illustrate how partnerships and alliances can work together to build capacity for arts education.
• Providing examples of how county offices, districts and partners are working to build capacity for arts education.
• Highlighting the important role that arts organizations play in supporting arts education in our schools.
• Focusing on the work of the CCSESA Arts Initiative in the 11 service regions across the state and the work of the California Arts Education Strategic Task Force.
• Showcasing the new visual and performing arts toolkit, a suite of arts education tools and resources developed by CCSESA to assist schools, districts and county offices.
A wide variety of sessions and presentations will be offered, including the Day 1 Celebrity Presentation by Luis Valdez and the Day 2 Celebrity Presentation by Linda Ronstadt.
Valdez is the founder and artistic director of El Teatro Campesino, the longest running Chicano theater in the U.S. As one of the country’s most influential playwrights, Valdez is uniquely qualified to counter negative stereotypes of Mexican Americans.
He is an Obie winner, and his play “Zoot Suit Riots” became a successful film. He also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed bio-pic “La Bamba.” Valdez grew up in Delano and graduated from James Lick High School in San Jose.
Ronstadt is one of America’s iconic vocalists and entertainers. She broadened the latitudes of pop music with such hits as “You’re No Good,” “When Will I Be Loved” and “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me.” She has had 38 Billboard charting singles, at least 31 gold and platinum records and, she has won 11 Grammys.
In addition, she won a Tony for stage work in the “Pirates of Penzance.” She grew up in Tucson, Ariz., has lived in San Francisco and continues to perform at the San Jose Mariachi and Latin Music Festival.
Register for the conference online at www.ccsesaarts.org. For hotel reservations, call (916) 326-5000 and reference group code CCS.