My testimony to the School Reform Commission - Where are the arts?

My name is Tamara Anderson, an educational advocate, parent, educator, and a professional actress speaking as a member of Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools and Opt Out Philly. And my daughter is an artist. The culture of Standardized Testing is in direct opposition to the altruistic mission set forth by the School District of Philadelphia, which is “to provide a high-quality education that prepares, ensures, and empowers all students to achieve their full intellectual and social potential in order to become lifelong learners and productive members of society.” The problem is that this is not in align with the purpose of state testing that is overly connected to severe accountability measures that can lead to handing over a poor performing school to a charter school operator, eliminating teachers and support staff, or simply destroying a community in order to increase test performance. 

The truth about testing is that it is a multi-billion dollar business that has questionable unethical political alliances created to encourage and sustain this growing testing culture. Another truth is that it is a flawed measurement. It only measures individual performance and not overall growth. The evaluation does not take into account any non-cognitive measures for the individual students (things, like hunger, stress, and/or test anxiety). Tests continue to be at the center of political debate and judgment. More importantly they lead to teaching to the test and a school environment devoid of the humanities, art, and creativity. You may ask what does that have to do with anything? Well your own mission statement and the global market that every education deformer buzzes about want to create lifelong learners and productive members of society. And high performance on a flawed test that does not measure overall growth does not accomplish that.  “High-tech industry leaders seek employees who possess the skills provided by an arts education, because these skills have been proven to increase cognitive development; inspire motivation and discipline; develop confidence and inventiveness; and hone communication and problem-solving skills.” And affluent parents can provide art opportunities that low income parents cannot.

The United States Department of Education released a study that included 25,000 students and it “revealed that those students with high levels of arts participation outperform "arts-poor" students by virtually every measure.”

Well many of Philadelphia students are arts poor and test rich. The arts and humanities help students critically evaluate who they are and how to participate fully as citizens. Children who participate in the arts actually vote more than those who do not! The arts are Academic, Basic, and Comprehensive. They are academic because they make the learning of reading, language, and math more accessible and sustainable. They are basic because they help students develop motivation, thinking, and positive social behaviors. And I have seen firsthand how they are comprehensive when a low performing, high poverty, and high need school without a new operator was transformed by committing to the development and building of a comprehensive arts program. It increases parental involvement, school pride, student self-awareness and behavior, and for the education deformers in the room, it also increases test scores.

Maybe the next Richard Gere, Will Smith, Marian Anderson, Mary Cassatt, and Zoe Strauss can come from Philadelphia Public Schools.

Despite the struggling economy the arts industry continues to attract tourism dollars and is the fastest growing economic market in the country. Maintaining the arts, humanities and creativity attracts and keeps amazing teachers to the field of education. Please reinvest in our schools by reevaluating this test centered reform and asking yourself what would I want my own children to receive? Society as a whole is starting to reap the negative benefits of schools devoid of the humanities and the peasants are no longer buying the scare rhetoric surrounding testing and simply opting out.

Sometimes a pizza delivery guy just wants to deliver pizza

In the world of film and television, moments are compressed and smaller. As actors we are expected to sustain moments for brief and purposeful minutes. But at times when we transfer from stage to screen we have to make the adjustment. No one needs a complete bio for a one-liner or a brief scene but it does need to have something. And it should not take a million takes to figure it out.

This is where homework comes in. Once I was doing a scene for a class and my character was a waitress reading a lists of fish being sold to a customer. She opened up the following question to the class: "What do you think Tamara's character wants in the scene?" The answers began to fly around the room, "She wants to get it done because she is exhausted from work, She is tired of being abused." Blah Blah Blah. Then the question came to me. "I think she simply wants to sell fish." Yep! Because sometimes the role of pizza delivery guy simply wants to deliver pizza.

And if you can do that. Then you understand half of the mystery that surrounds casting and auditions. Find the most organic and simplest answer, and that is where you start.

The Divine Experience

"You can only have a divine experience if you recognize aspects of yourself that maybe you can't reveal," Viola Davis.

Watching an interview with Ms. Viola Davis and Mr. Denzel Washington about Fences by August Wilson on Broadway reminded me of the beauty that is felt each time I am on stage or even in the audition space. It reminded me of the power of words and how a great script shows vulnerability and the imperfections that make up this tapestry that we call life. One of my students just asked me who I considered to be amazing actors. And I found myself making excuses and fumbling over my response because so many of the scripts that we see on the screen are simply snapshots and glimpses into the actual three-dimensional aspects of humanity. They are not always the vehicles for actors to truly flex their acting muscles.

The stage is a bit a different. It is not for the meek. It is for those who are able to sustain, stretch, fall, and rise without the assistance of editing or great background shots. And it must be repeated and rediscovered with your partners on stage 7 to 8 times per week and twice on Wednesday and Saturday. The willingness to be as Viola said, "emotionally naked as possible." Is not easy for all of us.

For African American women, those opportunities are few and far in between. When I watch the actors on Scandal who have always been relegated to the one liners or smaller roles for most of their careers (Khandi Alexander and Joe Morton), I am excited to see them be fully utilized. Yet, this still represents less than 6% of the available roles. I embrace my sassy black woman one-liners or scene stealing moments on film and stage. But, I live and die for those rare three-dimensional, messy, emotional, and stretchy roles that literally I can count on one hand and a few fingers. The same goes for music and a book that challenges you beyond type and your own safe parameters.

So please (new, undiscovered, and striving playwrights/screenwriters) keep writing and having those staged readings for those of us who are always seeking the Divine Experience.

Why Actors and Artists should care about public education?!

If you have been too busy with auditions, performing, and making all your dreams come true, it may not be so obvious that public education is going to hell in a hand basket. Standardized test scores are the norm and critical thinking and the arts are simply for those who can afford it. Literature is barely read and the joy that we all got from attending music in school is no longer the norm. I just attended a conference where the Director of an organization that provides funding to many schools in Philadelphia described educational reform as, "Dumping the Losers." I substitute at schools that focus much of their energy on how a student can pass an exam in Kindergarten as opposed to developing joy for learning through play. Shit! They cannot even take a nap when neuroscience studies proves that they need them.

And this corporate influence is not only in schools, it is also in entertainment. Full-time jobs with benefits in television are so limited because anyone with a camera and a laptop can call themselves a production specialist and freelance for pennies per hour. Reality television and the sheer growing number of channels have changed the opportunities available for actors to actually work. Even readings want a quicker return as opposed to simply gathering some artists together to work on some new material. This quick return is what occurs when a business model is placed over something that was never created to be simply that. Here is another truth. Corporations want a financial return.

Now why should any of this be a concern? Because if we do not pay attention to it, it will eventually be the established norm with no hope of alteration. If we do not vote accordingly or speak out, then our future generations may never fully know the beauty of Shakespeare or the complexity of Jazz. If we do not speak out as artists, then we may not have anyone to take our place when we are gone. 

I can remember my music teacher in first grade not only teaching us theory, but she directed us in the Mikado and made costumes for us. Even if I had not grown up in a household that nurtured an artistic appreciation within me, I still would have had the chance to peek and see what it is like.  That is priceless and it is already missing in public schools. There are no more school libraries, art, music, dance, theater, and many of our children are beginning to suffer and feel the consequences of a world devoid of artistic expression and critical thought. Fuck that! What can we do to make difference?!

The Opportunity of Unemployment

Billy Porter during an interview said that he was grateful for the lack of work. He reminded me that we should never only practice our art when we are under contract. We should never seek permission to do what we do. There are so many ways for us to connect with other actors, writers, and directors to create an artistic moment. It reminds me of the many readings that I have participated in that at times were simply in a living room with home cooked food and some chairs. The new words on the page that have yet to be spoken provided me with the chance to remember why I entered this business in the first place. The sheer joy of trying something new and pruning old routines into fresher ones.

The space during unemployment lets me learn new music new monologues, and to read and watch new plays. Just last week I learned some great new songs that I had copied years ago and never looked at. Hearing them in the rehearsal space with the piano's support brought a smile to my face and a flutter to my senses. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Unemployment is not a time for sadness or to contemplate how you can never get hired because the roles are so limited. It is a time to leap over those depressing notions into a space of creativity and newness. So I think I will plan a showing of new poetry and music as I await my next contract and share some joy. Yep! Now that is what I call finding opportunity in unemployment.