To advance arts education and help students thrive, New York State Regent Roger Tilles and the Long Island Arts Alliance have announced the formation of the Long Island Arts Education Coalition (or LIAEC).

LIAEC is a network of people from Nassau and Suffolk counties who aim to advance arts education on Long Island and across New York State.  As of Tuesday, as many as 30 organizations joined the coalition.

The founder of the Long Island Arts Alliance, Tilles has long supported arts education, pointing out that it fosters critical thinking, a highly sought after trait in the business world.

Now, he is chairing LIAEC, whose network comprises arts administrators, arts educators, college and university leaders, and state agency representatives. They share a common goal of building capacity within and across the arts education field, and affecting policy change in ways that benefit all youth on Long Island.

By joining an increasing number of regional and statewide coalitions, the LIAEC will work to ensure that the state’s elected officials are aware of the “essential need for every school to provide opportunities for kids to express themselves through study in the arts,” according to a news release announcing the coalition

As LIAEC points out, in areas with thriving arts programs, students “are learning in the arts with high engagement, expressing ideas in a variety of arts languages, and engaging in creative and reflective work.” And students also learn through the arts, meeting the course objectives of the arts curricula, and those of other subjects.

Now, advocates say these arts programs need support, something the coalition is ready to provide.

“I believe in grass roots advocacy,” Tilles said in a statement.

“The most effective tool for action is to galvanize leading citizens to affect change as advocates of a common mission,” he added.

Tilles said that he has “seen in Albany that the loudest voices are those best positioned to win the day. At this crucial time, when our representatives are setting educational policy with long term implications, it is our intent to join with counties across New York to guarantee that children will continue to enjoy the peace and fulfillment that the arts can bring to their lives. We can do no less.”

The LIAEC looks to develop systems and infrastructure that expand and sustain accessible arts education for all students, of all ages, within all of Long Island’s 125 public school districts. It will focus on building and strengthening partnerships and collaborations between schools and arts and culture programs that are led by local arts organizations and artists.

“Members of Long Island’s arts community have long been champions for arts education in our schools and beyond,” Dale Lewis, vice chair of Long Island Arts Alliance, and a member of LIAEC.

“They have done so as individual advocates and as heads of organizations large and small. Now, a coalition of arts partners will allow our community to speak with one voice,” Lewis added. “We will do so to advance a mission of equity in state and school district funding for performing, visual and digital arts programming.”

LIAA and LIAEC are hosting a free webinar on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for arts educators, school administrators, teaching artists, and local cultural institutions. The webinar will present the Arts Education Data Project, a free resource that has gathered data on arts education availability and participation across New York State and transformed it into a publicly available interactive dashboard. Advocates say this work is “vital in the conversation about the importance of arts education, providing factual evidence in order for educators to develop programs, enhance curriculum and produce authentic measures that support arts programs.”

For more information and to register for the webinar, click here.