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On July 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution designating the second week of September as “Arts in Education Week.” The resolution (H.Con.Res. 275) was proposed and introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier from California.
The resolution states:
[...] Arts education, comprising a rich array of disciplines including dance, music, theatre, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students.
Click here to read the full resolution.
Congress designated Arts in Education Week to promote and showcase the immense role arts education has in producing engaged, successful, and college and career-ready students. You can read statements made by congressmen on the House floor regarding arts education here.
Get Involved!
FIND OUT what is happening in your state.
What are the policies for including arts in education in your state? Visit the AEP Arts Education State Policy Database.
This searchable database contains the latest information on arts education state policies and practices. Since 1999, AEP has gathered these data through an annual survey of arts education personnel in state education agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
TELL US what is happening in your school.
Sometimes there is disparity between state mandated policy and district and school level curricula. Find out what kind of arts learning opportunities are available to children in your district by calling the school, principal, or superintendent.
We'd love to know what you find out! Gathering data at the local level helps us to better understand the actual status of arts learning in America.
Email us at aep@ccsso.org with "National Arts Education Week" in the subject line and let us know how your school or district is doing.
INTERACT directly with Arts Education.
- Take an arts educator out to lunch or coffee and thank them for their hard work
- See a student performance or exhibition
- Take a kid to a museum
- Take an art, dance, theater, or music class in your community
Check out our Partner Organizations
The Arts Education Partnership includes arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that have national scope and impact as well as state and local partnerships that promote education policies supportive of arts education.
Many of our partner organizations are celebrating National Arts in Education Week and can provide even more ways to get involved.
Visit their sites:
New Initiatives launched in time with National Arts in Education Week
- Music Center: Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County
On September 13 the Los Angeles Music Center is providing a professional development workshop for teachers in the Culver City Unified School District , a suburb of Los Angeles . This is part of a multi-year partnership supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Boeing Company. In the coming year, elementary students will create “found poems” and bring them to life through elaborate shadow puppet performances. They are studying the poems of Langston Hughes for inspiration. Middle school students will bring poetry to life though dance, inspired by their study of “Revelations” by Alvin Ailey. The Culver City district is sustaining their commitment to arts learning, even in the face of enormous budget challenges.
- Shelby County Schools of Memphis, Tennessee
Shelby County Schools in Memphis, TN is currently working with a U.S. Department of Education grant to infuse music and visual arts into the classrooms of ten elementary and middle schools. The SCS Arts Infusion Project provides professional development in the arts, supplies and materials and arts experiences to its member schools. The project also facilitates strong ties with arts organizations across the Mid-South region. For more information on the Shelby County Schools Arts Infusion Project, please visit: http://scsaip.weebly.com
- Portland Opera, Oregon
Portland Opera will add to the many events in Oregon and throughout the nation that celebrate “Arts in Education” week (September 12-18) with a special symposium designed to focus on the importance of arts in the lives of children and its powerful effect on the adults those children become.
- Wolf Trap Early Childhood STEM Learning Through the Arts
This new initiative will infuse STEM learning into pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms using arts-based learning approaches, leveraging decades of experience Wolf Trap has working with public schools and Head Start centers.
- Educational Theatre Association (EdTA)
The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) ushers in a new chapter in its service to theatre arts educators, students, professionals, and enthusiasts with an improved web experience. As of Friday, September 10, EdTA.org is now Schooltheatre.org.
- Local Learning Network
Local Learning happily unveils its new web site, www.LocalLearningNetwork.org , in time for the celebration of the first National Arts in Education Week. Funded by the Maxine Greene Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the new website replaces the previous CARTS.org website, which launched in 1997 and was among the Internet's first arts education web sites.
The Fun Doesn't End on September 18th
Many arts and education organizations already celebrate arts learning throughout the year. Click the links below to learn more about various opportunites to support and promote arts learning.
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