Parents for Arts Education
Mission:
Parents for Arts Education brings together current and former parents, students, teachers, administrators and arts enthusiasts to encourage, support and advocate for strong music, dance, theater and visual arts education in our local schools and communities.
Vision:
A community that encourages and supports parents to involve their children in fine arts at every age as part of a well rounded education. Every school in this community offers strong fine arts education with qualified teachers where all students can benefit from these programs and graduate with the essential skills needed for success in any field.
History:
Knowing there were hundreds of parents like us in our community that have watched their children flourish due to participation in these programs (not to mention the latest research that is proving how these programs improve test scores, graduation rates, social and emotional learning and build 21st century skills) several Central Texas parents, teachers and administrators decided now was the time to act.
Parents for arts education was created in 2021 as a nonprofit organization in Texas to unite parents, students and educators to encourage, support and advocate for the future of fine arts education in our schools and communities. We spent the next three years listening and evolving with the changing education landscape while ensuring that our voices were heard at legislative events. After working alongside Teacher organizations and the Texas Arts Education Campaign, it became clear that the parents need a separate voice in addition to teachers and administrators in the overall fight for fine arts education policies and funding. However there’s so much more we can do year round to reach younger parents and educate them on the importance of enrolling their children in these classes…. ensuring there is always a demand for these programs while organizations, like the TAEC, work on the supply of quality teachers and courses.
In 2023, we built some strong collaborations and looked to develop a structure on how to reach these parents. One example is a collaboration with Texas PTA and the Texas Cultural Trust. Our founder, Trina Martin, worked closely with both organizations to create a “Connect” meeting called Arts in Education that became available to all PTAs across Texas in 2024. By the end of the year, we became an official 501c3 and can now look toward funding opportunities to build a sustainable structure to recruit and educate volunteers to coordinate events and bring awareness in their own communities.
In the summer of 2024, we added “Students for Arts Education” to give current and alumni students volunteer and leadership opportunities around advocating for the programs they love.
Future:
As we look toward the 2024-2025 school year, we are launching pilot programs using existing booster club structures in multiple Texas districts. Additionally, we plan to start SAE programs at several universities. Our goal is to create a sustainable framework to reach, educate, and mobilize parents and students, including alumni, with current and accurate information. This will ensure that while we advocate for policies and funding to support fine arts education at every grade level, future parents will maintain high demand by enrolling their children in these classes despite the many other available options.