From the Field

Podcast Series on the State of the Theatre Field

The Bridge: Building Toward re(New)ed Theatre Audiences is a new nine-episode podcast series from Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and supported by the Wallace Foundation. The series explores how theatres are reimagining audience engagement in response to ongoing challenges in the field. Drawing on insights from TCG’s Theatre Facts report, the series highlights the resilience of subscription and loyalty models and shares strategies from theatres reversing long-term audience trends. The first episode features a conversation with Minnesota’s Mixed Blood Theatre, offering perspectives on using theatre to build community and inspire social change.

Results from a Public-Input Survey on National Arts Standards

Last year, the National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS) announced its intent to review the national education standards in dance, media arts, music, theatre and visual arts in an effort to support and improve arts education for students. Part of this review process includes the development of a national survey of arts educators and other stakeholders to determine levels of impact of the standards on learning in the arts and to gauge the ways the standards may need to be revised.

NCAS recently published the preliminary findings of the survey. These results represent feedback from 3,490 respondents from the arts education field. 5,632 open-ended item comments were collected as part of the survey. In the report, preliminary reviews of the data suggest that content in the National Arts Standards is widely embedded in arts education across the United States. Of all respondents, 43% reported that their state had adapted or modified the standards, 39% reported that they adopted the standards and 18% reported that they do not use the standards in their state. Overall, while some respondents felt the standards should remain the same, others felt only minor refinements were needed. Suggested changes (if any) varied widely among disciplines and among the various parts of the standards model in each discipline. For more discipline-specific results, read the report.