California Puts Arts in Schools

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting two articles about what California is doing to bring the arts to its students.

LA County to Double Arts Grants
Los Angeles Times, 6/28/2006

Los Angeles' nonprofit cultural organizations have received unaccustomed cause for optimism about government funding from a county decision to more than double arts grants in the coming fiscal year, from $2.2 million to $4.5 million. In addition to that increase, the county Board of Supervisors on Monday gave cultural institutions $20 million of a $400-million surplus that built up during the expiring 2005-06 budget year. . . . The doubling of arts grants is especially significant . . . because it establishes a new baseline for the program: $4.5 million rather than $2.2 million. . . . On the state level, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a $5.1-million budget for the California Arts Council — a $1.8-million boost that relies on projected income from arts lovers' voluntary purchases of special license plates.

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District to see more of arts; trustees adopt new standards
Inside Bay Area (Oakland, CA), 6/29/2006

In California, "[t]he Dublin Unified School District continues to reshape its curriculum by adding a performing arts policy and standards for its students. Trustees took action Tuesday evening in adopting a visual and performing arts standards that would be formalized in the next five years. . . . At the beginning of the school year, the district joined the State Model Arts Project Network - a group of 114 school districts across the state. . . . The network is part of a five-year program designed to revitalize the arts in school districts. A District Arts Team - comprised of district teachers and administrators - was also formed to help create the arts plan.

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