New York City Arts in Education Roundtable
Live Testimony: Oversight Hearing – Portrait of a Graduate 

Hon. Chair Eric Dinowitz

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Thank you to Chair Dinowitz, CM Wong, Education Committee, and City Council staff for hosting today’s oversight hearing on Portrait of a Graduate! My name is Kimberly Olsen, and I am proud to be the Executive Director of the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. 

As our city maps out this new chapter in education, the Roundtable and our constituents believe that arts education is among our strongest untapped resources to meeting this milestone. 

Each of the six core attributes starts with the arts. Research shows the impact of arts education on developing a broad range of in-demand skills to help prepare students for success in college, career, and civic life. As a theater educator, I saw this first-hand as my students demonstrated their knowledge by writing and performing original musicals on topics like immigration, Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement, black inventors like Lonnie Johnson, and more.

Historically, the Regents exams have squeezed dance, music, theater, and visual arts out of the school day in an attempt to “teach to the test”. Moving away from high-stakes testing toward alternative assessment measures is a positive shift – one with immense potential to showcase student rigor, excellence, and creativity.

Yet, to realize this vision, we need more information and action from NYC Public Schools in four key areas:

• We need Clear Guidance: We need explicit clarity on how arts will be mapped within Portrait of a Graduate and how arts-based performance measures and capstone projects will count toward graduation requirements.
• We need Arts Teacher Hiring & Support: Roughly one in 5 schools lack a certified arts teacher. We must invest in hiring certified arts teachers to ensure schools have the content knowledge to support delivery of arts integration and arts-based capstone projects. 
• We need Professional Development: Arts teachers will not be able to carry this on their own. NYC Public Schools must increase robust professional development in arts so that educators can co-design arts learning and capstone experiences.
• We need Strategic Partnerships: We should leverage NYC’s world-class cultural organizations. In partnership with DCLA, MOME, and NYC Public Schools, arts and cultural partners can mentor capstone projects, support teacher professional development, and build direct Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways into creative industries.

Beyond these key areas, we seek the City Council’s support via a resolution of support for state bills A.6490B and S.6318A – which requires that instruction in arts and music education be incorporated into public school curriculum in line with federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Currently arts and music are regulatory, meaning schools have options to offer them. This change will ensure that arts and music education are incorporated into the public-school curriculum for all students, making arts and music statutory and providing equitable access. We believe these bills are a vital step in aligning our schools with Portrait of a NYS Graduate.

As NYC shapes the future of New York education, we urge the Council to champion arts education as part of this change. 

Thank you.