NYC Arts In Education Roundtable Releases Results From Two Surveys, Attest to Impact of Cultural Community on City Schools

The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, an arts education service organization, today released results from two surveys, both attesting to the enormous contribution the city's cultural organizations make to arts teaching and learning in the city's schools.

The Roundtable's annual Impact Survey reveals that in aggregate New York's arts organizations spent more than 15% of their budgets on educational programs and raised tens of millions of dollars in 2007-08 for education programs in New York City public schools. The Roundtable's first-ever Teaching Artist Census indicates that teaching artists, who deliver instruction and programs in the schools for these groups, greatly outnumber licensed school-based arts specialists.

The Impact Survey data (copy attached) are based on responses from 61 cultural organizations, ranging in size from major Manhattan-based institutions like the New York Philharmonic and the Guggenheim Museum to smaller groups in other boroughs like Youth on Target in Queens and Ten Penny Players on Staten Island. Their aggregate 2007-08 budgets amounted to over $500 million dollars, out of which they provided approximately $35 million (7%) in services to New York City schools. The organizations themselves raised $20 million for these education programs. The remaining $15 million was paid by the schools as fees to the groups. In other words, these programs were subsidized by the providers at a rate of almost 1.5 to 1; thus, on average for every $1 a school paid for services from a cultural organization, it receive roughly $2.50 worth of services.

The annual survey was sent to 253 New York City arts and cultural institutions in May. Responses from the 61 groups that completed the questionnaire were analyzed for the report. According to Roundtable analysts, a conservative extrapolation from the completed forms to the entire survey pool suggests that the cultural community raises more than $85 million annually for New York's schools.

The Teaching Artist Census represents the Roundtable's effort to determine the size of the cohort delivering arts instruction in the schools. To date, 54 groups have responded to the census; the census shows that 1,976 unique individuals work as teaching artists for these groups. To avoid a duplicated count, groups were asked to report names rather than simply the number of teaching artists on their rosters. The Roundtable de-duplicated these reports.

This number compares with roughly 2,500 arts specialists currently teaching in the New York Public Schools. In other words, these 54 groups alone employ almost the same of number of arts instructors as are currently employed by the entire school system. The census was sent to 243 groups. As additional reports are submitted, the data will undoubtedly show that the number of teaching artists working in the schools clearly outnumbers arts specialists by several multiples.

According to David Shookhoff, Chair of the Roundtable, "These two surveys clearly reflect the enormous impact the arts community continues to have on teaching and learning in the arts in New York City. Despite the economic downturn, the cultural community has remained steadfast in its commitment to bringing high-quality instruction and programs to the city's children."

Representatives of the Roundtable maintain that these reports constitute the most accurate, scientifically rigorous effort to date to capture this kind of data; indeed a teaching artist census has never before been undertaken in New York City. In addition to news organs, the Roundtable is disseminating its survey results to the Department of Education, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council Members, the Mayor's Office, and to other appropriate government offices and agencies. Education officials have used past surveys to advocate effectively for additional city funding for arts programs.

The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable is an information-sharing consortium serving arts organizations that provide arts education programs in the New York City schools and the community. In addition to its annual conference, Face to Face, the Roundtable regularly holds Educational Forums around topics of interest to the arts education field. It also sponsors seminars with narrower focuses, of interest to specific constituencies within the arts community. The Roundtable provides information about arts education to the media, government, and general public. Currently, 120 organizations hold full memberships in the Roundtable; an additional 32 organizations and individuals hold associate memberships.

For further information, contact Brad Raimondo, Roundtable Coordinator at coordinator@nycaieroundtable.org or by phone at (212) 642-5979 or visit the organization's web site at www.nycaieroundtable.org.