NAfME Stands Behind NEA, NEH Impact on Music and the Arts, including support for quality instruction in music and the arts that meets high standards.
The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) supports the work of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and advocates for their continued funding. Not only do NEA and NEH programs provide significant attention to, and resources for the rich musical life of communities across our nation, they play a role in supporting music education.
For example, the NEA has recently funded projects to refine the assessment of student achievement in the arts, including music. In the past, the NEA provided significant funding for the development of arts education standards and for frameworks aimed at measuring student achievement in the arts. All of this work is vitally important to supporting quality instruction in the arts and music for students in our nation’s schools.
We urge advocates, however, to not lose sight of the greater issues surrounding education. The majority of funding for school programs – in music, in the other arts, and in other disciplines – is collected and administered in our states and localities. And at the Federal level, the coming years’ progress to a well-rounded education (including the arts) for all American students will need appropriate funding of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), as administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Resources for Titles I, II, and IV (part A) are particularly critical in this regard.
We hope that each of the millions of citizens who believe in our responsibility as a nation to provide all students with a well-rounded education, including music and the other arts, will join in supporting all efforts to properly and fully support the NEA and NEH.
Lynn Tuttle, Director of Content & Policy, Center for Advocacy, Policy, and Constituency Engagement, March 2, 2017. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)
