Testimony on Access & Equity in Arts Education from Executive Director, Eve Wolff

New York City Council Committee on Education

Jointly with the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations

Oversight Hearing on Ensuring Equity and Access in the Arts

April 8, 2025

Eve Wolff

Executive Director, Dancing Classrooms New York City

Good morning, Chairperson Joseph, Chairperson Rivera, and members of the Committees on Education and Cultural Affairs. I am Eve Wolff, Executive Director of Dancing Classrooms. On behalf of our committed staff, our inspiring teaching artists, our partners in the It Starts With the Arts coalition, and the thousands of students we serve, I thank you for holding this important hearing.

The Council’s support for arts education has been—and remains—critical to enabling every student, regardless of background or ability, to reap the academic and developmental benefits of the arts.

Through the joyful art and practice of social dances, Dancing Classrooms cultivates engaged learners, collaborative leaders, and inclusive spaces. We are proud to be one of the largest dance education partners to New York City schools. Each year, our teaching artists bring our culturally responsive programs to more than 12,000 students at over 100 schools and after-schools across all five boroughs, at no cost to students or families.

These days, students of all ages face tough hurdles on the path to learning. School leaders need creative solutions that support their students’ well-being so they can be ready to learn, grow, and thrive. Access to dance education in school and after school equips kids against mental health challenges like isolation and low self-esteem. In particular, social dance education offers a powerful antidote to disconnection, fostering empathy, respect, and collaboration in ways that are both immediate and lasting. And like physical education, it can contribute to helping children meet the 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity that health experts say is necessary—and encourage lifelong healthy habits.

Principals and teachers have seen how our programs foster creative, academic, and social-emotional skills—like motivation, perseverance, connection, and listening—that help students become engaged learners and successful students.

In a recent evaluation of our early elementary programs in Community School District 6, conducted by Metis Associates, classroom teachers pointed to clear gains in student engagement and attendance on days when Dancing Classrooms was offered. As one teacher put it: “After the students had dance class, they returned to the classroom in good spirits and energized. It definitely motivated them—especially students who struggle in the classroom.” Even our young participants recognized the impact. A second grader, previously routinely late for school, began arriving to school early, sharing that she did so just to dance with our Teaching Artist—and that in dance class she was learning to move her body “without judgment!”

These outcomes reflect what we see every day: dance not only supports physical activity and self-expression, it also builds confidence, connection, and a stronger sense of belonging in school. Additional third-party research has shown that our programs result in a real, measurable boost in the behavioral and social skills kids need to succeed. After experiencing our 10-week program, 95% of students—almost all of them—showed increased engagement and motivation, and 89% saw an increase in self-discipline and focus. 93% strengthened their collaborative and team skills, and 71% demonstrated greater social confidence.

For 30 years, Dancing Classrooms has been a trusted partner in NYC schools, providing high-quality, standards-based dance education to over 12,000 students each year. This is in a system where fewer than 19% of schools have certified dance teachers. The need for equitable access to the arts—especially dance—is urgent and ongoing.

However, the current contracting structure severely limits our ability to meet this need. Schools can only pay for about half—or less—of what it actually costs to deliver our programs. To continue serving students, we are forced to rely on a patchwork of funding streams, including contracts and grants from the Department of Education, Department of Youth & Community Development, Department of Cultural Affairs, City Council initiatives, and more.

Despite our efforts to close these funding gaps, we are hearing from more and more principals who tell us they can no longer afford to bring Dancing Classrooms to their schools—not because the need has gone away, but because budget uncertainty has made it impossible to plan.

Cuts to arts and arts education funding—and the failure to restore and baseline those funds—put essential school partnerships like ours at serious risk. These cuts will hit hardest in schools and communities without alternative funding sources, such as strong PTAs or the ability to pay for private dance classes, leaving the most vulnerable students with the least access to the arts.

As the title of this hearing underscores, the funding decisions you make as our elected council members are the key to ensuring equity and access to the transformative power and defiant joy of creative learning across our schools. The benefits of arts education should be available to all students, not just some.

To that end, I proudly join my colleagues in the It Starts With the Arts coalition in urging our City Council to maintain its strong support for high-quality arts education, with a focus on those who have the greatest needs.

We were pleased to see that the Council’s preliminary budget response calls for baselining $41 million in critical funding for arts instruction and cultural organizations that provide essential arts education. In addition, our coalition calls on the Mayor and the City to:

• Extend and baseline at-risk arts education funding ($41M) to an annual allocation: Principals have told us this dedicated funding allowed them to offer dance education to their students. We stand with the Coalition of Equitable Education Funding and call on the city to shift from a one-year restoration to an annual allocation to sustain arts education and other programs currently on the chopping block.

• Restore and enhance “Support for Arts Instruction” initiative funding ($6M): Build on city’s down payment and boost allocation from $4M to $6M to meet city-wide demand.

• Ensure every school has a Certified Arts Teacher ($39.8M): Ensure that all schools have at least one certified arts teacher, closing the equity gap for at least 379 schools. Equitable access to arts education can only be achieved through the combined efforts of schools, educators, and NYC’s diverse cultural partners; schools should not be forced to sacrifice one for the other.

• Require DOE arts funding be spent on the arts ($12.5M): Boost the per student arts allocation to $100 from $86.67 and require that money be spent on arts education.

• Prioritize timely processing of contract renewals and extensions: Our City must establish accountability mechanisms to ensure that agency staff process awards, extensions, and renewals in a timely manner so that service gaps are avoided (especially when it comes to the MTAC process within NYCPS). We have twice had to make withdrawals from our endowment to cover costs while waiting on City contract renewals, as recently as December 2024, endangering the fiscal health and sustainability of our organization.

• Center arts and culture in Youth Development Programs ($5M): Allocate funds to better support arts and cultural education opportunities during Summer Rising 2025 and other DYCD programs to support public safety and continued community-building opportunities via the arts.

• Restore and increase baseline funding for the Department of Cultural Affairs ($75M): Add $30M to baseline funding plus a one-time add of $45M.

• Improve data transparency by compelling NYC Public Schools to provide a school-by-school breakdown of the state of arts education in public schools via a Legislative Services Request, T&C, and/or Oversight Hearing.

Thank you for the opportunity to add my voice to the chorus of support for quality, equitable arts education. I am grateful to the members of these committees for your commitment to our City and our students. We are proud to partner with New York City to deliver the world-class education that will empower all our children to lead healthy, productive, and rewarding lives.

Cick here to support Dancing Classrooms’ important work.

Find out more about how you can advocate for arts education with the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and the It Starts with the Arts Campaign.