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Students to Make Third Plea to City Council to Protect Budget for Arts Education
At 9:30 a.m. students from William Cramp Elementary will parade through City Hall with “Save the Arts in Schools” signs and oversized cardboard cutouts of artistic tools, then present City Council members with rulers and art supplies to add to their “creative toolkit” to find a solution for Philly schools. During the public testimony period of the Council meeting, three professional actors will also perform monologues from School Play, a documentary-based live theatre piece about Pennsylvania’s education crisis. A pop-up performance will also be staged outside in the courtyard of City Hall. For more information about School Play, including other planned pop-up performances throughout the state on June 11, visit http://www.pccy.org/initiatives/school-play/. “It’s no secret that Philadelphia schools are struggling, especially when it comes to arts education,” said Donna Cooper, Executive Director of PCCY. “Out of 218 schools, only 174 have a visual art teacher, and only 25 have school-based instrumental music teachers. And even then, two-thirds of those teachers don’t have any budget for supplies, or their own classrooms. PCCY’s Picasso Project grants help facilitate partnerships between schools and arts and culture organizations to bring in outside arts programming, but we can only reach so many schools. The City needs to step up.” June 11 will be the third effort to appeal to Council members to ensure proper funding for education in the FY2016 budget. On May 27, Andrew Jackson Elementary students gave Council members paintbrushes to “paint a better picture for arts education,” and on June 4 Powell Elementary students showed their concern for the state of education funding by giving Council “worry bead” bracelets they made during workshops with the University City Arts League. Students have also testified before Council during City budget hearings and performed short arts advocacy plays in the halls outside Council’s caucus room. Research shows that with accessibility to the arts, students develop their imaginations and decision-making skills; are excited to attend school; have more success in STEM classes; achieve higher scores on the SAT; and have more success graduating college and finding employment. “The lack of accessibility to art and music in Philadelphia schools is shocking,” said Maud Lyon, President of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. “We need City Council to approve this $105 million education budget so the School District can close these devastating arts education gaps in the short-term, but it’s disheartening to know that next year we’ll likely find ourselves in the same fight. What we really need is for the next Mayor and Council to work together towards a long-term solution.” In addition to the demonstration at City Hall on June 11, GroundSwell and PCCY are also encouraging students, parents and advocates to take action by signing an online petition to City Council and tweeting messages about the importance of art and music education with hashtag #PHLArtsEd. More details and a link to the petition can be found at www.GroundSwellPA.org. For more information on GroundSwell and PCCY’s arts education advocacy work, including a full schedule of planned activities at City Hall on June 11, please contact Alison Zeidman at alisonz@philaculture.org or 215-805-5737. ABOUT GROUNDSWELL ABOUT THE GREATER PHILADELPHIA CULTURAL ALLIANCE ABOUT PCCY
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The work of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance is made possible through the generous support of committed individuals and institutions. |
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Philadelphia—On Thursday, June 11, GroundSwell (a program of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance) and Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) will organize a group of public school students in demonstrations at City Hall, asking City Council members to commit to $105 million for schools and arts education in the FY2016 City budget.