Giving Compass' Take:

• Authors and teaching artists examine the ways in which arts education professionals can move forward in their fields but only through school, foundation and government support. 

• What will have to happen for these bigger entities to partner and prioritize arts education and the administrators in that field? 

• Read the first part of this blog series detailing the financial difficulties of teaching artists and arts administrators. 


Investment in the arts is an investment in our economy and education system. While the United States has cut back the money it invests in culture and education, other countries have not—and it shows. Many countries that have out-invested us are also outperforming us in education. There is also more government support for artists and cultural institutions in countries like Finland and the United Kingdom. This not only allows artists to continue to work on their craft, but is a visible confirmation to young people that the arts are a culturally appreciated and acceptable career.

It has been long discussed that foundations have unrealistic expectations of nonprofits. An environment has been created where organizations try to meet expectations by reducing administrative support, cutting back on salaries and wages, and combining programming jobs with administrative work so that positions can at least be partially funded.

This is not an easy order, but schools and organizations can and should advocate for themselves and make sure funders know how important administrative costs are to sustaining our organizations.

Schools and nonprofit organizations can also make choices that will help them prioritize pay and become more self-sufficient. A growing trend is for organizations to find ways to monetize what they do best by offering consulting services.

If teachers, PTAs, and school administrators can monetize a teaching artist’s time and programming, they can use crowdsourcing tools like DonorsChoose.org as a possible way to invest in a specific project.

Read the full article about arts education by Erika Atkins, Scott Austin and Heleya de Barros at ARTS Blog