The U.S. Department of Education’s Arts in Education program provides
federal support to dance companies and performing arts organizations for the
development, evaluation and dissemination of model programs that integrate arts
instruction into other subject areas. Arts in Education programs provide unique
funding opportunities for:
Model
Development and Dissemination projects that strengthen student learning
through standards-based arts education and integration of arts instruction into
other subject areas.
Professional
Development for Arts Educators grants, identifying innovative models
that improve instruction for arts specialists and classroom teachers.
Evaluation and
National Dissemination, multiplying the impact of this federal
investment. State and local education agencies can adapt these models to
provide rigorous arts instruction for all students.
The John F.
Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts’ ongoing national arts education initiatives,
and the efforts of VSA arts, to ensure the participation
of people with disabilities in arts programming in schools and communities.
Additionally, the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the arts as
a core academic subject.
What’s At Stake
Advocates should urge Congress to 1)
retain the arts in the definition of core academic subjects of learning 2)
reauthorize the Arts in Education Programs through the U.S. Department to
Education 3) improve national data collection and research in arts education, and
4) require states to annually report on student access to all core academic
subjects.
For
more advocacy information on arts education, visit the Performing
Arts Alliance.