The Aspen Institute has released an online interactive version of its Aspen Institute Guide for Creating Trusted Learning Environments, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation:
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.
March 9, 2017 by Monica
A recording of GIA's recent webinar on federal arts education policy is now available online. The webinar includes the most up-to-date developments with the Every Student Succeeds Act, arts education policy, and the new administration, as well as tips on how funders and organizations working at the local level can advocate for arts education.
January 31, 2017 by Monica
From The New York Times:
After contentious confirmation hearings, protests across the country and two rounds of voting, Betsy DeVos cleared the first hurdle in her path to becoming secretary of education on Tuesday with a party-line vote in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that advanced her nomination to the Senate floor.
December 7, 2016 by Steve
In an article in the latest issue of the GIA Reader, Alexis Frasz, codirector of Helicon Collaborative, interviews Anthony Leiserowitz, PhD, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
November 23, 2016 by Monica
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Betsy DeVos as his nominee for Secretary of Education.
“DeVos, 58, chairs the American Federation for Children, an advocacy group that has aggressively pushed to expand charter schools and school voucher programs that provide families with public money to spend on private school tuition,” according to Politico.
October 8, 2016 by admin
On May 25, 2016, Grantmakers in the Arts gathered a cross-section of twenty-eight funders from the arts and environmental sectors for the Arts and Environmental Sustainability Thought Leader Forum at the New York Community Trust. Most foundations in attendance were represented by two people: a person from the arts and a person from the environment, each of whom were interested in collaborative work at this intersection. Helicon Collaborative organized and facilitated the session.
Read More...October 6, 2016 by Monica
The passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides states with increased flexibility to include the arts as a component of a well-rounded education. A new report from the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), a center within Education Commission of the States, ESSA: Mapping Opportunities for the Arts, highlights the ways that states can engage the arts in the ongoing implementation of ESSA.
October 4, 2016 by Monica
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have opened applications for school districts, foundations, or nonprofits to apply to join Turnaround Arts, a program to assist school reform through high-quality and integrated arts education.
September 20, 2016 by Monica
A recent article in Education Week highlights efforts to encourage schools in various states to use Title I funds for arts education programs: