NORWICH – In an ongoing battle to preserve arts in Chenango County public schools, affiliates of the Support Arts and Music Eduction group (SAME) will host a special informational seminar and reception this weekend to promote the impact of the arts on students as well as economic prosperity in the area.
The community information event begins at 4 p.m. Sunday at the United Church of Christ on 11 West Main St. This year, featured speaker Victoria Kappel, executive director of the Chenango County Council of the Arts, will be given the spotlight to discuss the positive financial benefits of the arts – a $1.8 million per year industry in Chenango County, according to survey research conducted by Americans for the Arts.
The occasion, which is free and open to the public, also features a violin and cello duet performance by local music educators Alyssa Jutting and Allison Rehn; and a special number by middle school students Madison and Jaci Long, singing “Marry the Man” from the famed musical “Guys and Dolls.” A special reception to showcase the artwork of local students will follow.
“School districts are struggling to support arts and music and we thought this would be a good way to promote awareness of the importance of arts and music in our schools,” explained Cathy Hammons, supporting spokesperson for the SAME advocacy group. “All around us, districts are cutting their staff (in arts and music programs),” she noted. She said that SAME has set a goal to discourage statewide cuts to arts and music education by citing the positive influences that the arts have on students, and the economic advantages of a community that thrives in the arts.
Said Kappel, “The needs of the 21st century workforce are different than they were during the Industrial Revolution. Businesses now are looking for workers that are imaginative, creative and can think outside the box.”
The most recent study of the impact of arts on student achievement, conducted by American for the Arts, finds that young people who participate in the arts for three hours on three days per week for one year are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement. Moreover, they are four times more likely to be awarded for writing an essay or poem; three times more likely to be elected as a class officer; and more likely to read for pleasure nearly twice as often.
“What I think is the most important message is that the prosperity of Chenango County ties into the importance of arts education,” Kappel said. She pointed to other recent studies of economic prosperity and the arts in Chenango County that reveal arts programs and organizations support 41 full-time jobs and generate more than $176,000 in local and state government revenue. In addition, an estimated $811,000 per year is tied to art event-related expenditures such as dinner, transportation and child care from attendees from both inside and outside county lines.
“The arts are a real business with a real economic development impact,” stated Kappel. “A choice does not have to made between the arts and economic development because they can go hand in hand.”