Schools on Staten Island dead last funding art classes

Clay masks created by PS 18 students 2001

article in the Staten Island Advance
Schools on Staten Island dead last funding art classes
Published: Sunday, February 27, 2011
By Amy Padnani

I haven't been involved in education for awhile, but as much as I've heard NYC schools in certain neighborhoods have long had a dearth of art education. I taught at S.I. PS 18 in 2001 for the Studio in a School program one day a week and it was the only art education in the school. At the same time my son went to PS3 in the West Village of Manhattan where there was a full time staff art teacher and additionally the parents pooled money to hire ceramics and music teachers. Different priorities for divergent communities.

As an attendee and presenter of arts programming on Staten Island it would be great if more of the non-arts community had an appreciation for what is offered here. It seems most often at events the art community is just working and reaping the benefits for itself. Is that the result of the Staten Island public not getting enough exposure to the arts as youth or just laziness?

The article mentions that some cultural community leaders are now creating the SI Teaching Artist Institute. It doesn't tell you that the artists have to pay to attend. I felt bad for the artists attending this training since Studio in a School pays the artist for their training. And training the artists isn't going to solve the inadequate amount of arts education, parents and school leaders need to fight for curriculum improvement.