Molly Shore
Entertainers and educators joined forces in Burbank's City Council
chambers to plead for the arts to be restored as a greater part of
public education.
The two groups decried the critical shortage of arts programs --
from music and dance to drama and other forms of expression -- in
California's schools and the lack of funding for such programs at a
hearing Thursday morning headed by state Sen. Jack Scott, chairman of
the California Legislature's Joint Committee on the Arts.
Comments from the hearing might be used in drafting state
legislation, officials said.
Scott, a former community college president, said studies show
students with access to the arts participate more freely in
cross-cultural activities, and they perform better academically.
Actress Helen Hunt, a Providence High School alumna, told the
packed council chambers that during unsettling periods in her
childhood, she found solace in the arts.
"I know from personal experience that art can heal you," she said.
Actress and producer Debbie Allen, who grew up in Texas during the
1960s in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, said participation
in the arts was her salvation.
During the 42 years she has been with the Burbank Unified School
District, Andrea Canady, the district's director of elementary
education, said she has not seen the state make a commitment to art
and music.
For the past four years, $400,000 has been provided for library
materials, but now that the libraries are well-stocked, Canady said,
"Maybe it's time to redirect some of that money for the arts."
Pam Ellis, vice president of the Glendale Unified School District
School Board Of Education, asked that art programs not be excluded
from a child's education.
"Arts are the hook that can keep children in schools to learn
other subjects," she said.
