METTA is a service that has arisen from the Art and Social Action blog.

It offers mindful, expressive art experiences to individuals, schools, community organizations as an alternative to STRESS AND LIFE’S STRUGGLES – in community or within self. In finding peaceful, mindful alternatives to life’s social and individual conflicts, METTA will be working in conjunction with Pathways of Minneapolis (pathwaysminneapolis.org)

and the Minneapolis Art Institute on December 4th in a debut collaboration of mindful viewing and contemplative studio art experiences.

see the Minneapolis Art Institute website for further information.

new.artsmia.org

These days, integration in any area, be it STEM or the arts, seems to be the buzzword to curriculum designers everywhere. There are so many resources floating around out there with the claim of integrating content areas. Yet, true integration is often difficult to find. Indeed, integration is a rare yet seemingly “magical” approach that has the capacity to turn learning into meaningful practice.

Which of course, as any teacher will tell you, is anything but magic.

Integration requires collaboration, research, intentional alignment and practical application on behalf of the teachers who take on this challenge. From the students, integration demands creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration and the ability to work through the rigorous demands of multiple ideas and concepts woven together to create a final product. Integration is not simply combining two or more contents together. It is an approach to teaching which includes intentional identification of naturally aligned standards, taught authentically alongside meaningful assessments which take both content areas to a whole new level. Put together, these components set the foundation for how we will be able to facilitate the Common Core State Standards.
this article by Susan Riley
photo: Dane Larson
http://www.edutopa.org (innovative educational site for all)

The importance of Art Integration into a School’s Curriculum is demonstrated here:

Balboa Park-based project finds creativity at intersection of arts, science and learning
By James Chute11 a.m.Oct. 11, 2014

With a model of a sculpture that catches dew sitting on a conference room table in front of them, artist Elizabeth Tobias gestures as she, Materials Science Engineer Dr. Justin Liu, and other members of the Dewers meet at the San Diego Transportation and Storm Water Department in San Diego on Wednesday. With a model of a sculpture that catches dew sitting on a conference room table in front of them, artist Elizabeth Tobias gestures as she, Materials Science Engineer Dr. Justin Liu, and other members of the Dewers meet at the San Diego Transportation and Storm Water Department in San Diego on Wednesday.

For the past year, Harvey Seifter has set up a kind of laboratory in Balboa Park where dozens of community volunteers have spent hundreds of hours in an experiment where art meets science.

Seifter’s “Art of Science Learning,” funded by a $2.6 million National Science Foundation grant and administered by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, has trained its participants in opportunity identification, idea generation, core skill communication, design and numerous other skills tied to creativity and driven by an arts-based approach.

But those involved in the project’s San Diego Incubator for Innovation have also been challenged to form teams and create products that would address a concrete, real-world issue: the shortage of water in the San Diego/Tijuana region.

please go to this website for the rest of this article:

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/oct/11/art-of-science-learning-iincubator-for-innovation/

Placemaking is becoming a major social movement, from big cities to small towns all across the globe! Over the past few years we’ve seen an explosion of energy from Placemakers down under, and today, just as this movement is taking off, Australia is perfectly positioned to be one of the international leaders in the field. Over the next few months, PPS will be involved in several key events around the country focused on how Placemaking can become a more coherent, unified movement, and we wanted to give you a head’s up! We hope to see you at one (or all) of these important gatherings:

http://www.pps.org/blog/be-part-of-the-australian-coalescing-of-placemaking-as-a-social-movement/

also visit http://www.pps.org for the whole story Public Placemaking

Aurora, Illinois- is lighting up because of the Light of the Heart Art Therapy Project

Message: Retreat to Art Cyber Monday

http://www.thelightoftheheart.org/

http://www.stevenkatz.com/student-work/art-as-social-action-high-school/

http://www.teachwithvideo.com/blog/

American Museum of Natural History
Posted by Starre Vartan × April 13, 2013 at 11:22 am

AsherJay-AMNH-Milstein-Hall-Oceans

A special installation of Asher Jay’s visually arresting campaign of hand-painted PET bottles titled SEA SPEAK SPHERE: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE will be on display this Sunday at the American Museum of Natural History at “Island Life.”

Asher Jay’s Message in a Bottle showcase presently consists of a hanging display of 200 plastic bottles, each eloquently hand illustrated by Jay to represent a unique message from an illustrious conservation-aligned individual. The campaign now contains 200 messages by 200 prominent ocean voices.

Home

metaphorically speaking about the sea in so many ways

“To me, Message in a Bottle is a growing participatory movement that involves people from all age groups and walks of life. It is both democratic and universal in its appeal; thus it serves as an effective visual petition and time capsule for the environmental concerns and conservation agendas of the Anthropocene. It offers a singular creative platform for the simultaneous address of diverse perspectives, so viewers can be engaged by a multitude of insights, ideas, and personal experiences. It is important we each find a way to connect with the world around us, and through this campaign I am able to facilitate the internalization of interdependence in every person that interfaces with it.

http://harlemtextileworks.org/