Americans for the Arts and the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) will be joined by singer-songwriter and arts education activist Ben Folds to launch the new National Core Arts Standards on Monday, October 20.

The National Core Arts Standards are preK-12 grade-by-grade standards intended to guide educators seeking quality arts education for America’s students. More than 6,000 educators, teaching artists, parents, students, and state and local focus groups offered input that helped shape the final standards that seventy representatives from NCCAS’s arts education member organizations developed. The standards define artistic literacy, and support 21st-century skills and college and career readiness.

The launch event with Ben Folds will be held at 9 a.m. at the Microsoft New York Metro District Offices in Times Square. The one-hour event will feature remarks by Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, and David A. Dik, NCCAS leadership member and national executive director of Young Audiences Arts for Learning. The event will also be livestreamed at www.nationalartsstandards.org/content/launch.