2009-2010 School Year Highlights

PS 132 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn celebrated its sixth annual Kite Festival this May. The festival began in 2005, through CAE’s Parents As Arts Partners. The initial family kite-making workshop was such a success that PS 132 has made it an annual end-of-year event. PS 132 has taken CAE’s emphasis on sustainability to heart—Kite Festival 2010 brought the school community together and raised over $7,000 to support after-school arts and enrichment programs. This is an excellent return on investment—and the students and families at PS 132 are the lucky beneficiaries—enjoying more arts education opportunities each year!

At CAE partner school MS 223, 25% of eighth graders were accepted at arts-focused high schools this year—high schools that tend to have higher graduation rates than some of the “neighborhood schools” in MS 223’s South Bronx community. This extraordinary result can be attributed to students' increased interest and involvement in the arts, having the arts on their reports cards, and having the experience and guidance necessary to prepare successful portfolios and audition materials—opportunities that exist due to MS 223’s partnership with CAE through the School Arts Support Initiative.

This year, Career Development Program alumnus Antonio Thompson became the Executive Director of The Brooklyn Steppers—a marching band representing youth ages 10-18. Recently Thompson told The Huffington Post: “[My] musical possibilities blossomed after participating in a semester long internship at Jazz at Lincoln Center through The Center for Arts Education’s Career Development Program…The internship fused my passion for music with a professional skill set…Now I have the opportunity and responsibility to be a positive role model to youth in Brooklyn.”

CAE continues to witness an increasing need and demand for teaching artists who are equipped to help students  with autism reach their academic and social potential through the arts. The artists we train through the Institute report that they readily use what they’ve learned in both special education and general education classrooms. As one participant said, “[CAE’s Institute] helped me to realize that I am in fact very able to do this work, and that the kids really benefit from arts education when it's well done. It helped me develop strategies to adapt my lesson plans and general approach to teaching in a way that speaks to the autistic students' needs and capabilities.”

Professional Development is a key component of many of CAE’s programs, allowing us to exponentially reach every student our teachers teach, and through principals, entire school communities—increasing the quality and sustainability of arts programs in schools across the city. This year, we have developed new partnerships with the teachers’ and principals’ unions, allowing us to extend our workshops to even more faculty and administrators than ever before. One participant recently stated, “I walk out of many workshops feeling consumed by the overwhelming amount of data and requirements we are mandated to fulfill.  When I leave CAE, I walk away with an action plan. Whether about how to support arts educators in my school, applying for various grants, assessing the arts, or developing new and innovative arts programs—everything feels within reach.”

CAE drafted legislation that has been introduced in both houses of the New York State legislature, and a bill introduced in the City Council, that will create concrete, arts-positive changes in funding, space, and accountability for the arts in our schools. CAE continues to campaign for the passage of this legislation with the help of thousands of parents, community members, and cultural organizations who have joined our vibrant Arts Education Action Network. Through legislation and ongoing advocacy and outreach, we will advance CAE’s mission—ensuring a quality arts education for all of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students.