Not-For-Profit Theatres, Actors, Students, Electeds: "You Can't Have Arts without Arts Education"

NEW YORK, NY (06/07/2022) (readMedia)-- Today, as the Adams Administration and City Council negotiate the final City budget, the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable (NYCAIER) pushed the Mayor and the City Council to guarantee $100 per student for arts education in the City budget to equitably improve overall student performance while addressing learning loss from COVID and mental wellness issues. New 42 and Roundabout Theatre Company – two historic Not-For-Profit Theatres – joined with Council Member Erik Bottcher, students and representatives of major cultural institutions and coalitions calling on the City to invest in arts education now to create professional artists later.

In April, NYCAIER launched the "It Starts With the Arts Campaign" with students, teachers, and advocates calling on the City to better fund arts in schools. The City Council included this guarantee in their budget response, but the Mayor did not.

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Before the pandemic, a majority of principals reported that funding for the arts was insufficient to give all students a basic foundation in arts education. After two years of COVID the imperative to provide all students with a sound arts education has strengthened. Engagement in the arts can get students struggling to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically back on track. Research shows that arts education improves student performance, mental health and the overall chances of success later in life.

"Arts education is transformative for students. It not only helps them explore their creativity, it leads to better academic outcomes, mental health, and graduation rates. That's why the City must invest in our students' futures and guarantee that every young person – no matter where they go to school or where they live – has access to the arts. In the final days of the budget negotiations, we're telling the City to remember It Starts with the Arts," said Kimberly Olsen, Executive Director of the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable.

"Arts are an outlet for me to express emotions that I haven't been able to express before because I always bottled them up," said Fatimata, a high school student in the Bronx.

The arts help you escape to a new reality that is totally different from where you are now and help you express yourself in ways that you couldn't before," said Pascale, a high school student in the Bronx.

"I joined after school theatre (Opening Act) and I started changing. I was more outgoing. I started to speak up more than I usually did. Theatre is important to us because we as students who are still getting used to being in a new place can be ourselves inside and out," said Kaydaly, a high school student in the Bronx.

"The Roundabout Theatre Company is proud to join with the New York City Arts in Education Roundtable in support of the It Starts with the Arts campaign. Roundabout strives to center the voices of our brilliant students, educators, and community members. Whether that's through raising awareness of the impact of gun violence, a deep commitment to our partner schools throughout the five boroughs, or continuing our relationship with our students through our theatrical workforce training program, we've seen firsthand the power the arts has on young people. That is why we're asking the Mayor and City Council as they finalize their budget to guarantee $100 per student so our students can thrive socially, intellectually, and emotionally, said Julia Levy, Executive Director of Roundabout Theatre Company.

"Students need the arts now more than ever after two years of isolation and learning loss. Unfortunately, not all young people have equal access to arts education, closing them off from the world around them and preventing intellectual and social growth. The City Council and the Mayor must recognize that we wouldn't have arts without arts education and invest $100 per student for arts education today," said Russell Granet, President & CEO of New 42.

This year the Department of Education suggested that schools devote just $79.62 per student for arts education. But the money is fungible, meaning principals are allowed to divert it to non-arts expenses. The "It Starts with the Arts" coalition is calling on the Department of Education (DOE) to raise it to $100 per student and guarantee the funding goes only to arts education. A minimum required spending level will ensure that schools provide all students with the mandatory arts instruction that we know will help them both academically and socially.

According to a report by Americans for the Arts, students from low-income communities who are highly engaged in the arts are more likely to have obtained gainful employment, completed college, and volunteered in their communities than peers with low arts involvement. Students from low-income communities who are highly engaged in the arts are also more than twice as likely to graduate college as peers with no arts education.

In addition to the $100 per student guarantee for arts education, the It Starts With Arts Campaign is calling on the City to:

Devote 20 percent of DOE's Fiscal 2023 American Rescue Plan Act Academic Recovery funding to expand standards-based arts instruction for all students and roll used Fiscal 2022 ARPA arts funding into Fiscal 2023 for summer and school year programs. The pandemic recovery will take years and these vital supports for arts-based interventions should remain in place.

Restore and baseline the $24 million for Arts Services cut when the pandemic hit New York City's economy. These arts services were among the first items cut in 2020 yet boost student achievement in and through the arts, while developing and promoting best practices in arts education, and supporting strong partnerships with community-based organizations.

ABOUT ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays and musicals on its five stages: Broadway's American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway's Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

ABOUT NEW 42

Under the leadership of President & CEO Russell Granet, New 42 is a cultural nonprofit whose mission is to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone's life from the earliest years onward. Driven by a deep commitment to performing arts access, New 42 connects people to world-class performances, essential education and employment programs, and creative communities that push culture forward. Through New Victory and New 42 Studios, the nonprofit serves artists, educators and New Yorkers of all ages with invaluable arts engagement and resources in and beyond the performing arts. Together with our supporters, New 42 opens new perspectives, incubates new works and creates new opportunities to move us all.