A|L is proud to be a lead organization in a collaborative that initially received three years of funding (2014-17) from the Americans for the Arts (AFTA) in the “State Policy Pilot Program” (SP3). Other partners include MASSCreative, The MA Cultural Council, the Boston Public Schools, EdVestors, and the Mass. College of Art and Design. Supporting partners include MassINC, Project LEARN, and Young Audiences of Massachusetts.
Significant impacts from our advocacy work include the following:
- Inclusion of Arts Education participation data on all public school profile “Report Cards” starting Winter 2019
- Revision of the Arts Curriculum Framework to be completed by June 2019
- Creation of a full-time Arts Content Lead Specialist at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
- Revitalization of the Arts Education Advisory Council, which advises the Commissioner of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Arts Education issues
The Massachusetts AFA team seeks to expand this work to set a policy that would require one year of high school arts education as an admission criterion to the state’s public four-year universities. In addition, they hope to develop and implement a “Creativity and Innovation Index” to support creative and innovative learn opportunities across the curriculum, and support of the arts into STEM education.
Please also check out our video resources, and the various resources and activities listed on the Advocacy section of this website.