As an arts educator, university supervisor, and past-president of the American String Teachers Association, Mary Wagner has spent her professional life dedicated to the arts. However, to Mary, there is more to being a teacher of the arts than notes and rehearsal—it also requires the ability to advocate to preserve what you love.
Arts educators who teach in the public schools need to be advocates for all of the fine and performing arts. They should be able to advocate at the local or grassroots level as well as the state and national levels. Too often it is necessary for arts educators to fight the budget battle to keep our local school programs intact. Other times, we need to lead in the fight to keep arts funding alive at the state or national levels. Since we are passionate about whatever art form we teach, we need to be able to verbalize why it is a critical component to a well rounded education.
My current experience in Virginia is a perfect example of how a teacher can advocate for the arts. In the early fall, our school system announced a probable list of cuts that included our entire elementary band and string program which serves 25,000 children in fourth to sixth grade. We activated our advocacy coalition, Fairfax Arts Coalition for Education, and started holding meetings with parents and members of the community. We set up a Facebook account, Save Fairfax Band and Strings, with 8,000 friends and attached a petition that garnered nearly 12,000 signatures at www.thepetitionsite.com (search “Save Fairfax Band and Strings.”)
In Virginia, school boards receive money from the Board of Supervisors that decide how to spend it. Our first effort was geared to both groups as we held silent protests with students, signs, and empty instrument cases. We followed that effort with e-mails, calls, visits, and three nights of budget hearings with the school board. In addition, our parent groups hired Dr. John Benham to research and evaluate the cost of our programs.
Shortly thereafter, the governor announced his budget which included $720 million in cuts to education; the arts’ cuts were buried in several places. So simultaneously, we were preparing to advocate to the Board of Supervisors and the General Assembly for both arts and education funding. Virginians for the Arts sent out an urgent call to action. Meanwhile, the House of Delegates proposed cutting the Virginia Commission for the Arts by 50 percent for the next fiscal year and eliminating them completely the next year. E-mails, letters, and phone calls were urgently needed. The arts community responded and the Virginia Senate agreed to fund them, but in a reduced amount that was yet to be determined. In Virginia, the House and Senate then have committee deliberations that come up with budgeting solutions. During this time, another call for action came from Virginians for the Arts telling us to follow through with our representatives.
Thanks to advocates across the state, the Arts Commission was saved. While we will still see a 16 percent reduction in arts spending, that is much better than the proposed 50 percent reduction. We also saved the elementary band and orchestra program in the Fairfax County Public Schools. If we had not put forth the massive advocacy campaign, we could have lost all of the Arts funding in Virginia and made another 25,000 children unhappy and unprepared for a future where creativity is a critical and invaluable skill.