A coalition of local civic, education, and arts leaders gathered today to announce a collaborative, countywide effort to ramp up arts education in local public schools. The newly formed Sacramento Arts Education Consortium (SAEC) is a non-profit organization that will work in partnership with the Sacramento Office of the Mayor, the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE), the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC), Friends of SMAC, plus all 13 public school districts in Sacramento County. The goal is to include arts education in more facets of students’ daily education.
As part of the effort, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation announced a major financial contribution to the newly formed SAEC.
“We believe that the consortium will really move the needle for arts education in our schools,” says David W. Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg joined arts and education leaders at the launch of the new arts education initiative. “Our children long to sing, dance, act, paint, write poetry, and otherwise express themselves, but if they don’t have the creative opportunities that many of us had in our youth, they will not be our professional creatives, our audiences, our patrons, or our donors of the future,” he said.
The consortium plans to establish and support arts education in all Sacramento County school districts, support school districts in the ongoing implementation of arts education, and develop TK–12 arts and arts integration for all students to support equity, creativity, and instructional strategies that increase student achievement.
An array of student artwork was on display at the E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts (CLARA) where the announcement was made. The kickoff included musical performances by local students whose schools received training from non-profit organizations that support education programs.
For more information about the Sacramento Arts Education Consortium, call (916) 228-2612.