Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Arts Education Advocacy Days in City Hall

This year's Arts Education Advocacy Days will be held on May 27, June 4 and June 11 and on each of these days we want to flood social media with messages about the importance of arts education in schools!

 

Our struggling public schools and arts ed programs need $105 million to survive next year. Join GroundSwell and PCCY's Piccasso Project in giving City Council the tools to paint a better picture for our students and teachers.

The sad reality of our public schools shows that of the 218 schools in the School District of Philadelphia:

  • 174 have a visual art teacher
  • 145 have a music teacher
  • There are only 25 school based instrumental music teachers
  • Many art/music teachers do not have their own classrooms and must travel from room to room each day
  • Many art/music teachers are asked to substitute for other teachers/subjects
  • 2/3 of arts teachers do not have a budget

We are calling on our GroundSwell advocates to help support this important cause. Here is how you can support:

  1. Sign the petition to tell City Council they must fund strong arts education programs in Philadelphia public schools
  2. Use #PHLArtsEd to tweet messages of support on the Action Days (May 27th, June 4th and June 11th) and let City Council (@PHLCouncil) know why arts education is important to our children! Let's flood Twitter with arts ed advocacy messages and make #PHLArtsEd trend!

Here are some sample tweets you can use:

Kids need arts to develop their imaginations & creativity! Give @PHLCouncil the tools to paint a better picture for our kids! #PHLArtsEd

Kids that are involved in the arts are more likely to graduate and go on to college, who doesn't want that? #PHLArtsEd

Arts, music & humanities are not a nice-to-have they are a must-have! @PHLCouncil help us paint a better for our kids! #PHLArtsEd

You can also tweet directly at the City Council member who represents your district. Subscribe to GroundSwell's Philadelphia City Council Twitter List to find your Council member on Twitter.

The budget process isn't over yet! Be sure to subscribe to GroundSwell emails for updates on the budget process and more ways to take action before City Council passes its budget this summer.

This year's Arts Education Advocacy Days will be held on May 27, June 4 and June 11 and on each of these days we want to flood social media with messages about the importance of arts education in schools!