Arts Academic Advisory Committee Members Take Part in National Arts Advocacy Day

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the 2010 Congressional Arts Kick-Off
Photo courtesy of Americans for the Arts

On April 12 and 13, the College Board’s Arts Academic Advisory Committee (Arts AAC) took part in Arts Advocacy Day in Washington, DC, sponsored by Americans for the Arts. Six members of the committee joined 500 arts advocates on Capitol Hill to highlight the importance of the arts to our country’s economy, culture and education system. The Arts AAC spent a full day in training sessions, learning the facts and figures that would help them make the case for why the arts belong at the core of education. The next day, armed with this knowledge, the committee went to Capitol Hill to discuss the arts in education with members of Congress.

The day began with a kickoff rally for all Arts Advocacy Day attendees, featuring actors Kyle MacLachlan and Jeff Daniels, as well as numerous members of Congress, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Working in two small groups, each College Board committee member had the chance to meet with congressional staffers from their home district to discuss the importance of the arts in education. The members of the Arts AAC also met with staffers from the House Education Committee, who are currently writing the legislation for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The Arts AAC emphasized three key points: using the arts to promote essential skills for a 21st-century workforce; keeping the arts as a core academic subject in the ESEA; and strengthening the presence of arts education in our schools by supporting common standards and valid, reliable, performance-based assessments and student portfolios in all arts areas.

“Arts Advocacy Day was a life-changing experience for me,” said Teresa Reed, associate professor and director of the School of Music at the University of Tulsa and member of the Arts AAC. “In the process of joining with others who care deeply about this issue, I gained real hands-on experience in the way American government works. At first, I was nervous about visiting with my congressman. … I was pleasantly surprised to learn that his staffer was a musician who already understood the crucial role that the arts play in everything from educational development to the economy.”

The Arts AAC’s participation in Arts Advocacy Day is an example of the College Board’s renewed commitment to the arts in education, and is a step forward in implementing the National Task Force on the Arts in Education’s recommendations.