Support and Endorse the Arts Education for All Act

Piano keys in perspective light

NAMM, Americans for the Arts and Grantmakers in the Arts invites nonprofit organizations and foundations, NAMM member companies and individual advocates for the arts to express support for the Arts Education Act for All (AEFA), to be introduced by music and arts champion, Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) in the coming weeks.

There are two ways to provide support: as an organization or as an individual. You must be authorized by your company or organization to officially endorse the Act as an organization.

Individuals can endorse on their own behalf as well as encourage their member of Congress to co-sponsor Representative Bonamici’s Bill.

Endorse AEFA

Reach Out to My Representatives

Among other provisions, the Act:

  • Strengthens the ability to use Child Care Development Block grant funding for arts programming.
  • Expands upon Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) plan provisions to include, among other additions, descriptions of how states would support and encourage the offering of arts education experiences to improve student achievement in all subjects, and support for partnerships that increase the amount of arts education and creative youth development available in afterschool and summer learning programs.
  • Provides information on arts courses to be included on State ESSA report cards and infuses arts education as an element of K-12 school improvement.
  • Strengthens the integration of the arts and arts education through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program by maximizing partnerships with community and other arts-focused organizations.
  • Provides for States to document how it will coordinate services and activities for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention with State and local arts agencies and arts organizations.
  • Utilizes arts education to improve reentry efforts and to reduce recidivism by connecting offenders to educational opportunities and employment after reentry.
  • Enhances research activities at the Institution for Education Science through a focus on arts and arts education research.
  • Direct the National Assessment Governing Board to reinstate arts assessments.

Representative Bonamici is one of the top champions in Congress on arts in education and equitable access for these critical services. She is also a leader on the Education and Labor Committee (on which she is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services).