THE CENTER FOR ARTS EDUCATION

Testimony to the Joint Meeting of the Committees Senate Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Assembly Committee on Tourism, Arts and Sports Development

Delivered by Richard Kessler, Executive Director

Re: The impact of potential budget cuts to the arts industry, tourism, and living
museums

February 3, 2009

Good morning Chairman Serrano and Englebright and committee members. My name is Richard
Kessler, I am the Executive Director of The Center for Arts Education, a not-for-profit arts
organization committed to restoring, stimulating, and sustaining quality arts education as an
essential part of every child’s education.
(more…)

Testimony to the Assembly Standing Committee on Education
Delivered by Kira Streets, Director of Public Engagement
February 6, 2009

Good afternoon. I am Kira Streets, Director of Public Engagement at the Center for Arts Education. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment to the Assembly Committee on Education on the topic of school governance.

The Center for Arts Education (CAE) is dedicated to ensuring that all of New York City’s Public School students have quality arts learning as an essential part of their kindergarten-12th grade education. We work closely with many organizations that are here today as well as thousands of public school parents to ensure a quality educational experience for our city’s students. CAE testifies today on behalf of those parents and as a member of the Campaign for Better Schools.
(more…)

The city’s leading Spanish language daily newspaper El Diario La Prensa ran an opinion piece penned by CAE’s executive director, Richard Kessler on Thursday, February 5th. The piece, entitled “Cerrando brechas educativas” or “Closing the education gap,” highlights the inequities that exist in the delivery of arts education and the relationship of the lack of access to arts education with graduation rates. The piece is based on research conducted by CAE using data provided by the New York City Department of Education for the 2006-2007 school year.

Citing data that shows that students from poor families are less likely than more advantaged peers to have learning opportunities in art, music, theatre and dance, Richard Kessler calls for greater accountability in the public school system to ensure that all of the city’s students are receiving an arts education:

“As a first step to making sure that every child at every school receives a quality arts education, the Mayor and Chancellor should hold principals accountable for spending money targeted for arts education on arts education. Currently, money allocated to schools for arts education has no strings attached – principals can spend this money on almost anything. Can we close the arts education gap and help more kids graduate on time? Yes we can.” ¡SI SE PUEDE!

View the original El Diario La Presna piece in Spanish.

Download as a PDF the English translation.

The New York City Department of Education today released the second annual Arts in Schools Report for the 2007-2008 school year. While the report shows that strides have been made in some schools to bolster arts education offerings, it clearly indicates that the school system is still failing to provide students with the arts education they are entitled to by state law. (more…)

The Center for Arts Education Calls for Preservation of Arts Spaces in Overcrowded Public Schools
October, 2, 2008 — At a rally on the steps of City Hall and at a City Council hearing on school overcrowding, The Center for Arts Education sounded the call for the preservation of disappearing arts spaces in New York City’s public schools. Citing a recent survey that found that 25% of New York City school principals reported losing their art, music, dance, drama, or foreign language spaces to general education classrooms during their tenure, CAE called on the Department of Education to maintain, expand and reclaim spaces dedicated to learning in and through the arts.

Click to download the testimony.
Click to download the press release.
Click here to read news coverage.

Download the related report, “A Better Capital Plan” authored by The Task Force on Overcrowding, The United Federation of Teachers, Class Size Matters, and The Center for Arts Education.

Click here for a printable version of CAE’s testimony.

According to a report issued in June 2008 by New York City’s Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, the great majority of New York City public schools are failing to comply with state requirements to teach the arts.

The new report “Out of Tune: A Survey on NYC Students’ Access to Arts Education” is based on surveys conducted by the Public Advocate’s office of 100 randomly selected public elementary schools and 50 randomly selected public middle schools in New York City.

View the report.
View the executive summary (pdf).
View the press release.

Click here for a printable version of CAE’s testimony
(more…)

Click here for a printable version of the testimony
(more…)

Click Here for a printable version of the press release.
(more…)