Upon hearing that the York City School District School Board in Pennsylvania was considering eliminating art, music, guidance counselors, and some sports to help balance the budget, arts education supporters rallied for the cause.
They even had band members play outside of the meeting deciding their fate.
This is exactly the type of simple advocacy that draws the attention of local media and the members of the school board. Check out their rally and excellent student and parent comments from the York Daily Record website:
In the end, five art and music positions were restored by the board as well as three guidance counselor positions and the football, basketball, volleyball, and track programs.
If you have any examples of local school board advocacy at work, tell us in the comments below and if you want to know more about the many influences on local arts education programs, be sure to check out our arts education webinar series (free to members of Americans for the Arts or $35 per session).
[...] found this great blog post by Tim Mikulski the communications and content manager at Americans for the Arts. It features a [...]
[...] is quickly becoming a hotbed for arts education advocacy. Just a little over a week ago, I found this video from York, showing how students protested the loss of art and music in a proposed budget.Today, I [...]
Please give us some pointers! Manheim Township is doing such a disservice by eliminating these programs! What made your rally successful? I’d be open to hearing ANY tips you may have!