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A National Spotlight for Arts Education
In July of 2010 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.
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In May of 2011 arts education was again given a national spotlight with the release of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities report Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America's Future Through Creative Schools.
The culmination of 18 months of research, meetings with stakeholders, and site visits all over the country, this report represents an in-depth review of the current condition of arts education, including an update of the current research base about arts education outcomes, and an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the field that have emerged over the past decade. It also includes a set of recommendations to federal, state and local policymakers.
You can access the report HERE. |
Get Involved!
Get the facts about arts education in your community
What are the policies for including arts in education in your state? Visit the AEP Arts Education State Policy Database to find out.
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.
Find out what is happening in your community, district and schools. Do you know how often students receive arts education in your community, if at all? What kinds of arts are taught? Are there any arts integration programs impacting learning in other subjects? Get the answers to these and other questions by contacting the teachers, principals, superintendents or even the students in your community.
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What School Leaders Can Do To Increase Arts Education
In a time of shrinking budgets and shifting priorities, what can school principals do to make and keep the arts strong in their schools? This brochure-length guide, prepared by the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) with support from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) offers three concrete actions school principals can take to increase arts education in their schools. Each action is supported with several low-cost or no-cost strategies that other school leaders have used and found to be effective.
You can access the guide HERE. |
Tell us how the arts are reigniting your community
We know that in these tough economic times the arts are often the first on the chopping block, but we also know there are bright spots across the country where the arts are thriving and students have access to a high quality arts education. For example:
- Cities involved in the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child program (Sacramento, Las Vegas, Portland, OR, Springfield, MO, Sarasota, FL, and Tulsa, OK) are successfully building community-wide
consensus
around arts education by engaging members from multiple community sectors to develop long-range plans for arts education in their schools and communities.
- In Baltimore, the Arts Every Day program is building stronger learning communities and nurturing more socially connected, academically engaged young people by
strengthening
and increasing high-quality arts instruction, integrating the arts into classroom curricula, and providing access to the arts and cultural resources of Baltimore. In 2009 Arts Every Day reached only six city schools. In the next three years the partnership between Arts Every Day and Baltimore City Schools will reach over 75 schools in the district.
We want to showcase your stories of success!
How have the arts re-ignited your school or community?
To learn more about the examples above and other programs working to transform urban school systems through the arts, attend the AEP Fall 2011 National Forum in San Francisco, CA, September 15-16.
Support the arts in your community
Show your support for arts, education, and the creative economy at work in your community. Participation in the arts, either by seeing a show or exhibit or by donating to your local arts organizations, is the easiest and most visible way to show your support for the arts and the importance of the arts in a child's education.
- Donate to your local arts organization
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in support of arts education
- Participate in the arts in your community, see a show or student exhibit, visit a museum, or take an art class
- Take an arts educator out to coffee to thank them for their hard work
- Spread the word about National Arts in Education Week. Download a print-ready ad for newspapers HERE.
Information from 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.
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