Americans for the Arts

Advancements in arts education policy and practice never happen by accident. These occur because of the planning and actions of many people and organizations. This is true whether we are speaking of standards, graduation requirements, data gathering, teacher training, addressing issues of equity or the arts place as a core subject. As Congress now reconvenes, a top priority will be a final education bill and with it… the fate of the arts as a core subject. This means that we have reached a moment, once again, that will require the actions of many to ensure that the arts maintain their place as a core subject.

I became aware of the recent flurry of activity around the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) almost accidentally; the acronym ESEA was hardly familiar when I first heard it. I was at a California Arts Council meeting, our discussion in full view of the public, and the tape was rolling for posterity. I had been riffing on the entire NCLB experience as it had affected arts education, especially the past nine years (!!) of non-authorized, non-replaced limbo, when a staff member mentioned optimism about the upcoming Senate vote on the new bill, the Every Child Can Achieve Act. Later it passed by an 81-17 margin and now we await a House vote and most likely a bill on President Obama’s desk this fall.

Cameron Russell

It often strikes me that pundits and political scientists are engaged in a very limited discussion about politics. I am bored hearing about the political elite and about the influence of money. I think people that have been considered politically marginalized often illuminate sites of equality and of hope. Their stories of effecting change from the margins are especially relevant as an increasing majority of Americans find themselves marginalized from our political and economic systems.

My first encounter with public art was reading Jack Stewart’s book Graffiti Kings. At its height, during the 1970s, Stewart wrote, “Few urban communities had ever experienced such a rapid and concentrated alteration of their visual environment.” An alteration accomplished largely by 8 to 16 year old Black and Latino boys. Why was the demographic least likely to vote, or engage in organizational work, in control of one of the fastest visual changes of an urban environment?

Last night it was confirmed that the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to consider over three dozen amendments to "The Student Success Act" (HR 5), a bill to reauthorize federal education programs. This is a legislative effort last completed 13 years ago through the No Child Left Behind Act. There is a great need to improve upon that outdated legislation.

Through Friday's floor consideration in the House, members of Congress will have an opportunity to vote on HR 5 and a Democratic alternative - but both bills are expected to receive partisan vote outcomes.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley responded earlier this month, when asked at the Arts Education Partnership forum how education policy advocates should navigate the partisanship sparked by the presidential election cycle: “For crying out loud, think positively!”

So, with a view to heeding Secretary Riley’s excellent and wise advice, here are reasons to be optimistic about progress in advancing arts education policy.

It has been 20 years since Americans for the Arts and others worked diligently to ensure that the arts were included as core subjects in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). As we celebrate Arts in Education Week in Chicago, I am reminded of how important the arts’ inclusion in ESEA truly is to not only our schools but to our community partners.

For more than 30 years, Chicago’s arts and culture community filled educational gaps, encouraged youth participation in the arts, and worked with CPS to incorporate the arts where it could given budgetary and instructional time constraints. My arts education for example, came largely from a gifted program offered by two community partners; the Art Institute of Chicago and Lyric Opera of Chicago.