WEBQUEST

 

LACK OF INTEREST IN & SUPPORT FOR

THE PERFORMING ARTS

IN SOUTH BRONX PUBLIC SCHOOLS

 


By Marisol Rosado

The High School for Violin & Dance

(at the Morris High School Campus)

Bronx, New York

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


INTRODUCTION:

 

You are a talented dance student at the High School for Violin & Dance in the South Bronx of New York City.  You have recently performed in a dance concert at Hostos Community College, also in the South Bronx.  The concert went spectacularly, but you noticed that the concert hall was somewhat empty.  Your school gave out approximately 900 tickets for the performance and you expected a full house; however, only about half showed up.  These tickets were supposed to have been redeemed for money that would have gone towards the cost of the concert.  School administration is now having trouble collecting this promised money.  As your school struggles to collect these funds for the concert, you wonder why people who said they would attend did not.

 

Unhappy with this situation, you decide to research the problem of lack of interest in and support for the performing arts in the South Bronx.  You want to find out how extensive this problem really is, and why people are not supporting school-based performing art activities.  You also want to find out if there are any public policies or campaigns that address the issue of lack of support for the arts in schools.  Finally, you have decided to create your own campaign to bring awareness and more support for the performing arts in South Bronx schools.

 

 

TASK:

 

Using the six-step TIPS Public Policy Analyst as well as the websites provided below, you will research the problem of lack of interest in and support for the performing arts in South Bronx public schools.  You will prepare the following:

 

1.                  a survey of at least five questions that exposes student and parent attitudes about the performing arts in South Bronx schools

2.                a chart showing how many performing art venues currently exist in the South Bronx to accommodate public school performances

3.                a chart illustrating support (in actual dollars) of the performing arts by corporations doing business in the South Bronx

4.                a public campaign to encourage interest in and support for the performing arts in South Bronx public high schools

 

 

PROCESS:

 

Working in groups of two, you will:

 

1)    use the six TIPS Public Policy worksheets to summarize your findings and original public policy ideas:

 

a)    TIPS Worksheet 1 (Defining the Problem)

b)   TIPS Worksheet 2 (Gathering the Evidence)

c)    TIPS Worksheet 3 (Determining the Causes)

d)   TIPS Worksheet 4 (Evaluating Existing Public Policy)

e)    TIPS Worksheet 5 (Developing Original Public Policy Solutions)

f)    TIPS Worksheet 6 (Choosing the Best Public Policy)

 

2)   create a five-question attitude survey and distribute it to students on the Morris High School campus

3)   prepare a chart showing how many performing art venues currently exist in the South Bronx to accommodate public school performances

4)   prepare a chart illustrating support (in actual dollars) of the performing arts by corporations doing business in the South Bronx

5)   create a public campaign (a 1-2 slide PowerPoint presentation OR an a large poster board) to encourage interest in and support for the performing arts in South Bronx public high schools; as part of this campaign, you will write to local and national politicians asking them to influence corporations to donate money in support of art programs in South Bronx public schools

 

Use the websites provided below to help you in your research.

 

 

RESOURCES:

 

The following websites will help you in your research:

 

for performing arts venues in the Bronx:

http://www.jimsdeli.com/halls/neighborhood-venues/bronx.htm

http://www.bxma.org/entry.php?passeid=17

http://www.dancespirit.com/backissues/aug2002/cityfocus_venues.shtml

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/guides/family/leisure/listings/leisure3.htm

 

for corporations doing business in the South Bronx:

http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/ccac/txtccac.htm

http://www.danceusa.org/about_dusa/neapress0312.html

http://www.bronxmall.com/com/southbronx/concept.html

 

for a list of South Bronx politicians:

http://www.bronxcb2.org/html.php?link=3

 

 

EVALUATION:

You will be evaluated based on the following rubric:

Points

4

3

2

1

Overall Total: 10 points

Development & Organization

Excellent, High quality development and organization, thorough clarification

Very good development,

Organization and clarification

Somewhat good organization, needs some work on organization and development

Poor, unprepared, un-organized and not clear

 

Oral Presentation

All Students participated; exceptional, clear, thorough and intelligent oral presentation

All Students participated; Good, clear presentation

Students were somewhat clear; quality of presentation needs effort and careful preparation

Students were not clear: noticeable poor careless quality of presentation.

 

Visual Presentation

(includes venue and corporation charts, as well as public campaign PowerPoint or poster board)

Exceptional presentation of visual resources and materials. 

Good visual presentation.

Somewhat good visual presentation. Needs improvement

Poor visual presentation. Visually unprepared

 

Research

Evident, extended and

comprehensive research. Followed a line of investigation from at least 4 online sources and other resources.

Good research.  Followed a line of investigation from at least 3 online sources and other resources

Somewhat good information from at 2 online sources. Very limited research.

Poor.  Needs to research further

Information from at least 1 online source. No other resources evident.

 

 

New York State Standards for the Arts addressed in this WebQuest (2):

 

            (Number 2):      knowing and using arts materials and resources

        (Number 4):      understanding cultural dimensions and contributions of the arts

English Language Arts Standards addressed in this WebQuest (2):

 

(Number 1):       Students will listen, speak, read, & write for information and understanding; they will collect data, facts, & ideas and use electronically produced texts

(Number 4):      Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction

 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

 

Having completed this project, you have helped create awareness among your fellow students and their parents, as well as corporations doing business in the South Bronx and politicians serving the South Bronx, of the lack of interest in and support for the performing arts in South Bronx public schools.  You have researched this problem and have become an expert on its scope and causes, and you have become aware of the existing public policies and public campaigns designed to address this problem.  You have also developed, from the information you have gathered, your own original public policy and public campaign to encourage support of the performing arts in the South Bronx.