We use cookies to make your site experience better. Tracking cookies enables us to provide a functional Accessibility Toolbar, and easily log into your account (if you have one). For more information on how we use your data, read our privacy policy.

NYC Arts in Education Roundtable

An Update on the It Starts With the Arts Advocacy Campaign

3 minutes

From NYC Arts in Education Roundtable’s Executive Director Kimberly Olsen:

Dear Arts in Education Community,

Thank you.

Thank you for rallying with us at City Hall (check it out here!).

Thank you for amplifying the message by mailing postcards, sending emails, making phone calls, and tagging your elected officials on social media.

And most importantly, thank you for showing up for NYC’s one million students.

A group of people wearing matching shirts and holding up signs in support of arts education.

Throughout our #ItStartsWithTheArts advocacy campaign, hundreds of educators, parents, organizations, cultural workers, students, and artists contacted their City Council representatives as champions for arts education and NYC students.

By law, city government officials needed to pass a balanced budget by June 30th for the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024). Here is what we currently know:

  • Support for Arts Instruction: This upcoming budget sustains and increases funding for “Support for Arts Instruction” and arts partnerships in City public schools. The $4M initiative (increased by 33% from FY23)– which began last year – will support standard arts instruction programs with a focus on increasing access to the arts and supporting pathways for sequential arts learning.
  • Department of Cultural Affairs: In a historic win for culture, the Department of Cultural Affairs funding remained intact with a $40M restoration of proposed cuts — bringing the agency’s budget to ~$241M, the largest-ever DCLA allocation for an upcoming fiscal year at Adoption.
  • Cultural After School Adventures: $17.34M is allocated to CASA, remaining the same from FY 2023. This currently works out to 17 CASA allocations per City Council member. Many providers have already been designated at adoption, and City Council will designate $2.48M in the coming months. We highly encourage checking Schedule C for a list of organizations who have been designated funding so far (pg. 29-56).
  • SU-CASA: $3.825M is allocated to the SU-CASA initiative (community arts engagement program at senior centers), up from $3.315M last year. This works out to $145k per City Council member (additional $10k from last year).
  • Cultural Immigrant Initiative: $7.395M is allocated to the Cultural Immigrant Initiative, remaining the same from FY 2023. Similar to CASA, many providers have already been designated at adoption, and City Council will designate $870k post-adoption (see Schedule C for more information).

We thank our representatives in government, especially CM Justin Brannan, Keith Powers, Rita Joseph, and Chi Ossé, for their recognition of the importance of arts education in our schools and communities. The Roundtable looks forward to working with you and our partners in the City Council, Adams Administration, and NYC Public Schools to build on this foundation and push for arts education for all. 

What next?

More Budget News to Come: Throughout the summer, NYC Public Schools will continue publishing School Allocation Memorandums that give money to schools for specific purposes (such as services, teachers, and supplies). We are closely watching arts-related funding lines.

Thank Your Representatives: It is so important that we thank our elected officials for investing in arts, culture, and arts education. Please join us in thanking your City Council representative and feel free use the social media copy below. Not sure who your Council Member is? Enter your address at this website: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/

Thank you to @nyccouncil @nycmayor [tag your city representatives] for their support of arts education in the city’s budget! Investment in arts, culture, and arts ed is an investment in the future of our City and our students. #ItStartsWithTheArts

While there is still a long road ahead to reaching equity in access to arts education, we celebrate this step forward. The Roundtable will continue to share information and action steps as they become available. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out via email at kolsen@nycaieroundtable.org. 

With gratitude,

Kimberly Olsen
Executive Director
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable