At the beginning of this course you explored to very broad questions; why are you intending on pursuing any sort of future in the Arts, and Why is Arts important to you. This was distilled into 5 more specific questions that you needed to explore in more depth. Now that you have learned a good deal about for-profit art, not-for-profit art, Arts policy, and art-making philosophy, and now that you have made an effort towards Art in your own more specific style and motivation, its time to review what you wrote before. # Original Key Questions 1. What is Art, and how do we know? 2. What is great Art, and who decides? 3. What is the purpose of Art? 4. What if you treat "Art", "Theatre", or "Music" as a verb? Alternatively, what if you treat "Dance" or "Design" as nouns? Does that change the meaning? 5. Is it possible to be precluded from the possibility of being able to appreciate Art? As you review your original responses to these questions, your task is now to elaborate on them. - Do you still feel the same way? Perhaps you agree with your February-self more vehemently, or perhaps you now disagree with your February-self. Perhaps you can just clarify how you felt now that you have more experience and information. - Identify a specific experience or new piece of knowledge you now have that you didn't have at the start of the course. How does that new experience or knowledge affect how you view your Philosophy of Arts? # Refined Arts Philosophy Statement Finally, it's time to update your 3- to 10-word Philosophy of Arts statement. Perhaps it is the same, but the meaning behind your statement is deeper. Perhaps you decided you have to fully reimagine your Philosophy of Arts statement. Either way, the statement is simply a "memeable" version of how you actually feel. A paragraph should follow it to explain the depth behind your statement. ## Mr. Windsor's example: My first Philosophy of Music Education statement has seen significant evolution. Here is a snapshot of that evolution: - ***All students should experience music as part of who they are.*** This was intended to encourage me to ensure that I got everyone in a music class. At the time, I only thought about band or choir as the only music class types that were possible. After 5 years of teaching this way, I found that I was struggling to achieve my goal. - ***It's the job of music teachers to help students deepen their love of music.*** In all honesty, this version of my philosophy statement was a cop-out. I was disenfranchised with the number of students that were *not* choosing music classes, so I chose just to focus on the kids who opted in, and help them do more music more passionately than before. After a few years of this statement, I was encouraged to take my Masters, and I'm very glad I did. - ***Music Education has as its fundamental purpose the development of lifelong musickers.*** This builds on the term "musick", which is a philosophical term indicating that the act of performing music is not the only relevant way to engage in music; one should be encouraged to listen to music with intent, to support music creation either as an audience member, listener, volunteer and/or manager, and to encourage others to find their voice in music. Most importantly, my philosophy statement became that whatever I did was to have an impact on students such that they find their own voice in music that they can enjoy or grow in for the rest of their lives. Most importantly, this philosophy statement shifted my practice away from being band-centric to being all musical genres possible, a growth that continues in me to this day. - ***Music Education has as its fundamental purpose the development of all students as lifelong musickers.*** I cultivated this philosophy statement very shortly after formulating the last one, because I realized that while I was shifting away from a band-centric view, I needed to make some changes such that a culture of music touched every soul in some way at the school, and that even if a student wasn't in one of my music classes, they should still develop into lifelong musickers in some way shape or form. - SHIFT: ***Cultivate the universality of musicking universally.*** This is not actually a change to my Philosophy of Music Education statement, but is now a Philosophy of Leadership in Music Education statement. I'm still very happy with my last statement, but this statement is in place to encourage me to help other music educators and leaders to do the same. Musicking to me is a universal thing, and it is the job of music education leaders to help every music educator approach learning music as something that is for all students. My Philosophy of Music Education (and now my Philosophy of Leadership in Music Education) will continually be renewed and reinvigorated everytime I revisit it. That is the purpose of this assignment; to renew and reinvigorate your own approach to your own Art.