By Susan Wallner

In December, it was announced that New Jersey’s arts education census had been completed. Then the number crunching began, and on May 10, 2012, the findings – good and bad – were unveiled at NJ Arts Day 2012, held at the War Memorial in Trenton. If the experience of the first census in 2006 is any indicator, then Keeping the Promise: Arts Education for Every Child: The Distance Travelled – The Journey Remaining will be a key resource for education policy makers in the near future.*

WATCH VIDEO:

NJ Arts Day 2012 is featured on State of the Arts, airing June 3, 2012 at 8 pm on NJTV.

The new census is significant in that it adds the dimension of time – what has changed since 2006? It appears that some conditions in New Jersey are getting better (81 percent of schools have now adopted the core curricular standards for visual and performing arts), but some are getting worse (per pupil arts spending has declined by 30 percent at the elementary level and by 44 percent at the high school level). Many changes are linked to the desperate measures taken by school boards to cut costs during the recession; other statistics show how strong policy can protect programs during budget crunches.

According to Bob Morrison of Quadrant Arts Education Research, work is ongoing. “We have to understand why there’s a decline in enrollment in our elementary schools,” says Morrison, “The most troubling data point for me is that student participation at the elementary level declined from 86 to 80 percent. And at the elementary level, the arts are required.”

A new interactive feature of the Census allows parents to see how their neighborhood schools are doing in terms of access to and enrollment in arts education. They can draw comparisons with the school across town or across the state – and this information can become a powerful advocacy tool. School rankings can be searched at artsednj.org.

NJ Arts Day began with the Census, giving a statewide picture of arts education for every student in New Jersey. The day ended with the Governor’s Awards in Arts Education, honoring the most gifted and talented. Teaching artists and master music educators were recognized. However, the stars of the show were the students, seniors and a few juniors, who came from every part of the state. A slide show featured visual artists including Irene Zhang of Bergen County Academies (she’s probably going to the University of Chicago and is not decided on her major) and Larissa Naegela of Wall High School (she’ll be studying industrial design at the Pratt Institute in the fall).

On stage, Christina Comizio of Vernon Township High School performed a dramatic monologue (although Christina loves theater, she plans to major in accounting), and Conner Bormann of the Academy for Visual and Performing Arts in the Morris County Vocational School District danced a piece he had choreographed himself. Only a junior, Conner already plans to pursue dancing as a career. The complete performances from NJ Arts Day 2012 can be seen at artsednj.org.

WATCH VIDEO:

Conner Bormann of Morris County performs in a piece he choreographed himself.

The field of education as a whole is in a period of flux and change. What is needed to flourish in the new economy often seems disconnected from what is taught in the classroom, yet few solutions have been offered. Arts education – with its focus on imagination, creativity, performance, and practice – is one of the bright lights. The Census is one way of making sure that cost cutters don’t automatically start with axing the arts, as they have all too many times in the past. Not only are the arts required as part of a complete education in New Jersey, but they may also be the salvation of a test-obsessed educational system – at least, if the passion and dedication of the students and teachers at Arts Day 2012 are any indication.

*The Arts Education Census Project is a collaborative partnership between the New Jersey Department of Education, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership, ArtPride New Jersey, and Quadrant Arts Education Research.

Susan Wallner is an award-winning producer with PCK Media. She is a long-time contributor to State of the Arts, airing on NJTV Sundays at 8 pm.