Did you know that Nebraska Commons Open Educational Resources  includes a wealth of arts education lessons? Select the arts and humanities subject area to get started.
Encourage your band director to take advantage of this opportunity for professional development and building connections with colleagues by attending the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association Convention in Lincoln, March 5-7.  There are financial support opportunities for young band directors through NSBA and Phi Beta Mu. 
The Nebraska Speech Communication and Theatre Association will be hosting the Nebraska State Speech Contest on March 26 (Lass A, B, C1) and March 27 (Class C2, D1, D2) at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Please come and celebrate the best high school speakers in our state!
Nebraska Art Teachers Association
There's more to art class than meets the eye!  Scientific Research shows that making art affects our brains in positive ways.   
The Innovation Collaborative is inviting a select group of teachers interested in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math) education to participate in a pilot cohort of free, research-validated virtual STEAM teacher professional development.
The Innovation Collaborative is a DC-based coalition of leading national sciences, arts, and humanities institutions working together to provide a firm research-based foundation for the growing STEAM movement. For more information, visit the website.
To express your interest, please email Lucinda Presley, chair, at lpresley@innovationcollaborative.org. 
For the second year, UNL is offering a weeklong summer institute and graduate course called CREATE,to take place June 22-26 in Lincoln. CREATE will emphasize teaching the arts across the curriculum, and teachers and teaching artists may apply to participate. For more information contact Nancy Engin-Wedin at nengenwedin2@unl.edu.
Take your ears on a journey through time with Music Rewind, Omaha Conservatory of Music's yearlong celebration of music history, at a performance on Saturday, May 9 at 11:00am. Each semester culminates in a music festival and performance by Conservatory Artist-Faculty dressed in period clothing - tights and all! The spring semester explores the Classical and Romantic eras. This performance is free and open to the public.  
The pubic is warmly invited to attend free Poetry Out Loud competitions during February and March, which will feature students from 30 high schools all over the state reciting classic and contemporary poetry. The top regional contestants will advance to state finals, and one talented student will go on to represent Nebraska at the national competition in Washington D.C.  

This newsletter's mission is to keep you up-to-date on news, events, and opportunities to improve the quality of arts education in Nebraska. The Dispatch is a collaborative project of the Nebraska Arts Council, Nebraska Art Teachers Association, Nebraska Music Educators Association, Nebraska Speech Communications and Theatre Association, and Nebraskans for the Arts.

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