Arts Education for All Act
Grantmakers in the Arts, Americans for the Arts, and National Association of Music Merchants invites you to join us in expressing support for the Arts Education for All Act, introduced by Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR). If you are authorized by your organization to do so, you can formally support this legislation by clicking here and entering your information. If your organization or agency is not able to endorse this bill, please feel free to endorse in your capacity as a private citizen.
Representative Bonamici is one of the top champions in Congress on arts in education and equitable access for these critical services as well as a leader on the Education and Labor Committee (on which she is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services).
The Arts Education for All Act, the broadest arts education policy bill ever introduced in Congress, includes key provisions that will support and encourage the offering of arts education and programming experiences to Americans including our youngest learners, K-12 students, and youth impacted by the juvenile justice system. Crucially, the bill will also include provisions that would allow for rigorous arts and arts education research to be carried out, to further inform how elementary and secondary education in our country is improved.
Among other provisions, the Act:
- Strengthens the ability to use Child Care Development Block grant funding for arts programing.
- Expands Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) plan provisions to include descriptions of how states would support and encourage the offering of arts education staff, instruction and partnership to improve student achievement in all subjects.
- Requires State ESSA report cards to include information on arts courses to be included and infuses arts education as an element of K-12 school improvement.
- Increases opportunities for local education agency support for professional development for arts teachers and integration of the arts.
- Strengthens the integration of the arts and arts education through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (after-school) program by maximizing partnerships with community and other arts focused organizations that increase the amount of arts education and creative youth development available in afterschool and summer learning programs.
- Provides for States to document how they will coordinate services and activities for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention with State and local arts agencies and arts organizations by utilizing arts education to improve reentry efforts and to reduce recidivism.
- Enhances research activities at the Institution for Education Science through a focus on arts and arts education research.
- Direct the National Assessment Governing Board to reinstate arts assessments.
In 2012, Grantmakers in the Arts formed the Arts Education Funders Coalition, a combined efforts of grantmakers, service organizations and advocates that identifies and advocates for needs in comprehensive arts education and related policy domains. The Arts Education Funders Coalition includes members from Americans for the Arts, Arts Education Partnership, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, among others.
Arts Education Funders Coalition is supported by Barr Foundation, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, New York Community Trust & Windgate Charitable Foundation.
Please join GIA and the members of the Arts Education Funders Coalition in expressing your support for the Arts Education for All Act by clicking here.