The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) introduces several new funding streams that states and districts can use to improve schools, including 12 that could be used to support arts integration. But in order to access those funding streams, education agencies must cite evidence demonstrating that the efforts they propose can, in fact, improve student achievement.
Arts Education
Grantmakers in the Arts holds arts education as one of its core funding focus areas. GIA is committed to invigorate funding and support for arts education within federal policy and defend that every resident has access to the arts as part of a well-rounded, life-long education. In 2012, GIA formed the Arts Education Funders Coalition (AEFC), an interest group within GIA, to address identified needs in comprehensive arts education and to strengthen communication and networking among arts education funders. Advised by a committee of Coalition members, GIA engaged the services of Washington, DC-based Penn Hill Group, a firm with education policy expertise and experience working with diverse education groups to research, develop, and promote educational policy strategies.
Most recently, GIA worked with Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) on the development of the Arts Education for All Act, the broadest arts education policy bill ever introduced in Congress.
In Spring 2021, GIA influenced the U.S. Department of Education to highlight the importance of equitable access to arts and culture to the process of reopening schools and to make explicit how racialized this access was prior to the pandemic and that addressing this inequity is essential to effective reopening.
Grantmakers in the Arts is delighted that in 2020 Congress passed the Supporting Older Americans Act, including our recommendations that the Administration on Aging include the arts in the issues to be identified and addressed and be included among supportive services for older Americans.
GIA has successfully lobbied to include arts-related provisions in the Child Care for Working Families Act, which proposes to better help low-income families pay for childcare and expand high-quality state preschool options.
GIA is extremely proud of our work over the past several years on raising the visibility of the arts in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in its legislative form. GIA and Penn Hill Group continue these advocacy efforts around the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), guiding GIA members and their grantees in advocating for new or expanded arts programs at their local schools and districts.
January 4, 2018 by Monica
From KPCC:
More arts education is being offered to more students than previously assumed – 89.6 percent of elementary schools–and 92.7 percent of secondary schools–offer at least some arts instruction during the school day to students.
Read More...That's according to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission's arts education arm's recently-released county-wide survey of schools and districts' arts education offerings.
The findings were surprising to many advocates, given a common perception that the arts are often the first to go when schools have limited funds.
December 12, 2017 by Monica
The latest annual report from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) reveals the results of a survey of arts graduates conducted in 2015 and 2016. Responses from over 65,000 arts alumni show that 67% currently work in the arts. The survey also asked how skills acquired at their institutions compared to those needed for their jobs, what resources those institutions provided for career advancement, and how satisfied respondents were with those institutions.
Read More...October 12, 2017 by admin
We need to engage with a dynamic world, a world that will not return to a steady state after the challenge. We don’t live in a world of change but rather one that is asking us to constantly create.
— Ian Prinsloo, The Rehearsal Process
October 4, 2017 by Monica
The Wallace Foundation has published a case study examining efforts to introduce high-quality after school art programs at Boys and Girls Clubs in the Midwest:
May 10, 2017 by Monica
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law on December 10, 2015, reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which funds Title I, Title II, and Title IV, etc. Under ESSA, states and local education agencies can utilize federal education resources to support and enhance arts education funding based on local needs. One key element of ESSA implementation is the development of state accountability plans to be submitted to the US Department of Education (ED).
November 28, 2016 by Monica
This morning, the US Department of Education (ED) released its final regulation on state plans and accountability for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The final rule includes the term “arts” along with “music” among the list of well-rounded education activities/strategies (on page 379). As you remember, we had concerns that in this regulation the term “arts” was not listed among while “music” was listed.
September 26, 2017 by Monica
A tax to fund arts education in Portland, Oregon has recently come up against legal and administrative challenges, as reported by Artsy:
September 5, 2017 by Monica
Music celebrity Chance the Rapper is partnering with arts education advocacy group Ingenuity to fund arts education in response to budget cuts in Chicago Public Schools. ABC reports:
August 24, 2017 by Monica
The Walton Family Foundation has made a $120 million gift to the University of Arkansas to establish its School of Art with an interdisciplinary approach to learning. A letter from Alice Walton explains: