Arts Education Funders Coalition

Grantmakers in the Arts has formed a coalition of arts and education grantmakers to research and identify federal policy opportunities that promote equitable access to arts education in all public schools.The Arts Education Funders Coalition is based on the recommendations of a 2010 Thought Leader Forum, which included members of Grantmakers in Education and Grantmakers in the Arts. Forum participants called for the creation of a unifying vision to improve the status of the arts in current federal education policy. Data presented made the need for action clear. Nick Rabkin, a senior research scientist for the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago told Forum participants that the number of 18-year-olds who reported having received any arts education dropped from 65 percent in 1980 to 55.6 percent in 2008. For Black and Hispanic students, the percent was even lower, 28.1% and 26.2%, respectively.

GIA will keep interested arts and education funders informed through this webpage, which will include updates from the Penn Hill Group on legislative and administrative hearings and programs, current arts education reform topics like common core, and articles and blogs by education advocates.

You can view the K-12 Education Policy Agenda here or download the .pdf.