Student Advocates for the Arts takes on the NYS legislature to lobby for cause

With the state budget under discussion, the New York state government is in a trying situation. Often, the arts are lost in this bureaucratic fiscal shuffle.

On Feb. 24, the Student Advocates for the Arts of Teachers College aimed to ameliorate this situation, by promoting their cause to New York state legislators in Albany.

Joining other groups for an event titled Arts Day 2010, SAA advocated Assembly Bill 8938 and Senate Bill 5878. These bills aim to establish a mechanism to monitor the compliance of New York state school districts to an already established law that dictates mandatory arts education programs.

Speakers testified before state Sen. Jose Serrano and Assembly member Stephen Englebright. Individuals from various organizations presented the merits of their subsection within the arts or tourism, from “Living Museums,” including zoos and botanical gardens, to “Arts Education,” which SAA represented.

Jonathan Lewis, a second-year arts administration MA student at Teachers College and president of the SAA, had the unanticipated opportunity of testifying in front of Serrano and Englebright. Because of the snowstorm and Amtrak train cancellations, Richard Kessler, president of the Center for Arts Education—which the SAA initially came to support—was unable to attend and called on Lewis to testify in his absence.

“I just want to say that after all the effort of the past 20 or so years there are still many, many children who are being shortchanged the education they are entitled to by New York state law,” Lewis said in his testimonial. “The missing piece of the puzzle has been legislation to bolster and animate what New York state law already provides for.”

Serrano, who will be presenting the bill to the Senate, agreed with Lewis’ support for this legislation. “I think this is going to really help drive the point home what a woeful job the state is doing as a part of compliance with arts education,” he said.

Despite the SAA’s advocacy for specific legislation, the representatives of most other groups focused on the cultural and economic impact of their different causes, particularly on the need to maintain funding for their groups. Dawn Reddy-Dugan, chief of staff for assembly member John McEneny, explained the financial conundrum the state finds itself in, a problem that deeply affects arts groups who often need government support to survive.

“To be honest with you, there just isn’t enough money to go around,” Reddy-Dugan said. “Cuts are going to have to be made. But where can they cut where the least amount of people will be affected? That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

In the same fiscal mindset, the arts were focused on as a revitalizing tool for communities and local economies. Advocates and political workers alike turned to the monetary facts to support funding the arts and establish pro-art legislation. “Anything tourism- and arts-related, he’s [Assembly member McEneny] always been very supportive of, because he does find that that does actually bring in money dollar for dollar to the state,” Reddy-Dugan said.