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NYC Arts in Education Roundtable

Resource

Sample Written Testimony Template for City Council – Spring 2026

Resource Publisher
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable
Publish Date
March 17, 2026

Directions: This template is a tool to help guide your advocacy. Please customize based on your individual/your organization’s circumstances (but be sure to include “It Starts with the Arts”). Feel free to personalize or edit the letter to get your point across. Additional Key Talking Points can be found at the end of this document.

This sample testimony template is for written testimony. If you plan to deliver live testimony, please adjust so that your spoken statement is under 2 minutes. You can submit either your longer written testimony or abridged testimony for the record (via paper or by emailing testimony@council.nyc.gov). 

You can submit your testimony at https://council.nyc.gov/testify/or by emailing testimony@council.nyc.gov— additional information about submitting your testimony can be found on our website.

To edit the template, copy and paste the text below into a new document. If you’d like to access this template as Google Doc, you can do so using the button blow.

Access Google Doc Version of Template

Template begins below the line.

[INSERT NAME OR ORGANIZATION]

Testimonial Letter to the New York City Council Committee on Insert name of committee, 
Hon. INSERT name of Chair Chair
[INSERT Date of meeting]

Thank you to Chair [INSERT CHAIR NAME] and the City Council for your support of arts education across New York City. My name is [INSERT NAME], and I work [at ORGANIZATION NAME / for SCHOOL NAME] in [NEIGHBORHOOD]. 

I’m writing to support the It Starts with the Arts coalition — calling on our city to prioritize funding and policy change that improves arts education in NYC and supports its robust workforce. 

The mission of [ORGANIZATION NAME] is [INSERT MISSION]. [INSERT 1-3 sentences about your / your organization’s programs and reach. If available, use data/numbers to quantify and define the populations you serve].

The arts are the heartbeat of New York City. Dance, theater, music, media, visual arts, and literary arts are a vital engine for NYC’s economy, cultural identity, and a critical component of a culturally-responsive education. Yet, the skyrocketing cost of living, bureaucratic hurdles in contracting, and chronic inequities in access are stifling our City’s most vital resource — leaving our students and our creative workforce behind.

[INSERT 2-4+ sentences on how city funding impacts you / your students / your organization. Including specific examples related to delivery/access to arts education to schools and communities, contracting issues, impact of uncertain budgets, program delays, cash flow/delayed payments, fingerprinting, impact of affordability crisis on organization/employees/communities served, etc.]. 

[INSERT 2-4+ sentences with specific “success” stories that you’ve experienced related to arts education in the past few years. Note any benefits and results of arts and cultural education to help explain to the City Council why arts education is essential.]

To sustain and grow this vibrant ecosystem, we must prioritize affordability — ensuring educators and artists can afford to live and work in the city they inspire. The Mayor, Chancellor and City Council have a window of opportunity to define our city’s future: that starts with the arts. Therefore, I join my colleagues in urging our City to take action to ensure that all students have access to high-quality arts education. This includes: 

ADDRESS COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS FOR ARTS EDUCATION WORKFORCE

  • Continue reforms to contracting with city agencies. specifically targeting NYCPS’ Multi-Task Award Contract (MTAC) and CASA contracts, to ensure timely contract remittance and payments, accessible processes, and fair per-class rates that reflect the true cost of programming and labor.
  • Launch insurance pilots to support teaching artist affordability. Aligned with Creatives Rebuild NY and the Center for an Urban Future, NYC can reduce economic precarity for the arts workforce by piloting a freelancers portable benefits program and a pooled insurance program for smaller orgs.
  • Restore and Baseline Funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs ($30M). Baselining this one-time addition supports arts organizations and workers city-wide, offering sector-wide stabilization and preventing further artist displacement.

PRESERVING & IMPROVING ARTS EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

  • Restore and Enhance “Support for Arts Instruction” initiative funding. Increase allocation from $4M to $6M to meet city-wide demand for increased arts learning opportunities.
  • Require NYCPS arts funding be spent on the arts. Boost the per student arts allocation to $100 from $89.76, and require that money be spent on arts education.
  • Ensure Every School Has a Certified Arts Teacher: Ensure that all schools have at least one certified arts teacher, in part by reviving the successful supplemental arts certification program ($4M) and funding a PE Works-inspired improvement plan using the already baselined arts education funding.
  • Improve arts education data transparency. Require mandatory reporting on school-level arts education access, participation, spending, and MTAC procurement (R1129/R1180) via T&C.
  • Update the NYCPS Blueprint for Arts Learning to define sequential pathways for arts learning that integrate culturally-responsive pedagogy and reflect rapid advancements in media and technology (last updated in 2015).

Thank you for your attention and consideration, 

[YOUR NAME]