Clinton School Affected by State Freeze of 2010 Arts Grants
Posted Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by PTANews.
For the last several years, Clinton School has been the fortunate recipient of Artist-in-Residence Grants from the NJ Council on the Arts. Our 4th grade students have been the lucky beneficiaries of these programs and in the recent past they’ve created beautiful murals with a professional muralist, constructed 3-D ceramic art with a professional artist, and last year, learned and performed dances from around the world with a team of top-notch professional dancers.
The Clinton PTA partnered with Principal O’Neill and applied, and received, another arts grant for this school year (its focus is jazz music) and had even started interviewing artists when we received bad news from the Council.
Gov.-elect Christie has asked Gov. Corzine to freeze payment of all 2010 NJ State Council on the Arts grants until at least January 19 (nearly 14 million dollars worth). This grave crisis is affecting every arts organization and arts program in NJ that receives state funding and it’s also affecting Clinton School since we cannot move forward with our residency until the freeze is lifted. The Council is hoping that the freeze is quick and temporary and that residencies can resume in March but the future of our grant is uncertain, to say the least. Additionally, it takes several months to put the grant into action and complete the program, so there is no guarantee that we will have it at all for this school year.
It is important to let our legislators know how this freeze is affecting our children’s educational experience. Please make your voice heard. Visit www.artpridenj.com and click the Action Alert button to find out who to write to and what methods of delivery are available.
We’ve worked hard year after year to get these grants and implement them into our students’ daily lives. As a PTA we’ve matched the NJ Council on the Arts funds in order to make these programs available. Arts education is incredibly beneficial to our school community. Please make your voice heard as we are in danger of losing this wonderful program.
–Cecelia Cancellaro
If you’d like to read more about the freeze here are some links:
Starving N.J. arts: A sad consequence of our budget crisis
Fate of New Jersey Arts Groups Uncertain as State Freezes $10 Million in Funding PND
STATE FUNDING FREEZE COULD MEAN TROUBLE FOR THE ARTS on NBC40
