Supporting Arts Education Is More Important Than Ever
As the country copes with the effects of COVID-19, social unrest, and political stress, we continue to support the path to justice through the emotional health of young people. For children in oppressed communities, arts education is vital to this process. The National Endowment for the Arts reports that students in low socioeconomic demographics who regularly participate in the arts are 5 times less likely to drop out of school than peers with the same socioeconomic status.
Art is power.
However, there is a serious imbalance of resources in arts education. Inequality in funding puts an unnecessary strain on underserved communities. It perpetuates a white supremacist culture that influences all of our students. This injustice must be addressed in order to raise the next generation of Creative Artists, Courageous Allies, Critical Thinkers, and Confident Leaders.
We aim to help students develop holistically through a combination of arts education, youth development, and creative expression with a focus on social and emotional skills. Our goal is to empower our young people to work towards a better future.
Covid-19 required us to change the way we reach our students, but it hasn’t changed our cause. Distance learning can be challenging for kids, and we have the opportunity to lead the way in fun interactive virtual arts programming.
Support Creative Healing
Arts education is an essential tool for community health. We will eventually return to our public spaces, and creativity will play a forward role in collective healing.
Art organizations like Creative Action must continue to work, but we need the government to support our creative sector by providing federal Covid-19 relief that:
- Supports federally funded education and distance learning resources that focus on equitable access to arts education.
- Instills an emergency broadband benefit to ensure that all families have access to high-speed internet no matter where they live. Right now, many students lack acceptable internet access. It often prevents them from partaking in school lessons of any kind.
- Provides substantial funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Institute of Museum and Library Services. These organizations distribute COVID-19 relief to institutions like Creative Action.
What You Can Do
Recently, The U.S. Senate voted against a $500 million bill to fund COVID-19 relief for programs like Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan extensions, Educational Support and Childcare, Relief Funds for States, and Enhanced Charitable Giving Deduction.
Funding for the federal government expires at the end of September. It’s unlikely another relief package will pass before the November elections,
We need power in numbers to let Congress know that arts education is a priority to the American people.
What Americans Say About the Arts
91% agree that the arts are part of a well-rounded K-12 education.
Americans for the Arts
If you’d like to directly support arts education through Creative Action, please consider making a donation. Your contributions help provide free and reduced-price programming to thousands of youth and families each year.
The value of our creative youth development curriculum goes beyond just having fun. Our students practice critical life skills like teamwork, conflict resolution, empathy, creative thinking, public speaking, listening, and more.
ENROLL IN CREATIVE ACTION TOGETHER
Arts enrichment that builds connections across differences and distance. REGISTER NOW Arts enrichment!
Creative Action Together is a virtual program that engages, educates, and connects youth through high-quality arts programming. During these creativity sessions… Continue reading
