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Our communities schools are facing tough budget cuts; In these times, we all have to be creative, Our home town schools can no longer afford or have dramatically reduced programming due to $187 Million Budget cuts in March of 2010 in the state of New Jersey , New York and Pennsylvania have faced similar cuts. We have found the same budget challenges nationwide. This has directly affected the current education year and the future of cultural arts and American history enrichment programs for young students. Since 2003 CEA has taken a strong initiative and is committed to keeping these kinds of programs available. These valuable programs tie into the core curriculum content for grades K through 6. With the help of local business’s throughout the tri state area, we have found a way to give FREE programing to schools that cannot afford to pay for them on their own.
Our generous sponsors have either donated items in kind for our auction events, which in turn pay for programs, or through direct sponsorship have paid for programs directly. This helps directly in their own geographic foot print supporting schools and letting the communities where we all work and live know that they care.
The arts are important in themselves and they help students learn other subjects. An important series of research papers has recently been commissioned by the Arts Education Partnership and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, provides compelling evidence that students can attain higher levels of achievement through their engagement with the arts.
The studies, which may be found at the Kennedy Center's Arts Edge, point out that the arts reach students who are not being reached, nurture “the development of cognitive, social and personal competencies,” challenge successful students, and “level the playing field for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances.” The leading educational researchers discovered that “the arts provided a reason, and sometimes the only reason, for being engaged with school” and give examples of classroom failures who “became the high-achievers in arts learning settings.”
Communities have discovered that for some students, the arts present a first opportunity for learning, and for all students, the arts offer a chance to learn more.
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