City hearing spotlights arts education gaps as DOE and cultural agencies outline programs and funding shortfalls

A joint New York City Council hearing on arts education on May 1, 2025 drew testimony from Department of Education and Department of Cultural Affairs officials, cultural institutions and an independent analyst about uneven access to arts instruction, a looming funding cliff and delays in city grant awards.

The most immediate topic was funding. Paul Thompson, executive director of the New York City Public School Arts Office, told the council that the city provided $41,000,000 in FY25 to replace expiring federal stimulus funds for arts programming but that the allocation “is not yet baseline in FY 2026,” leaving school arts programming at financial risk.

Why it matters: Council members and cultural partners said year‑to‑year uncertainty makes it hard for schools and nonprofit partners to plan full-year programs and to retain teaching artists. Arden Armbruster of the Independent Budget Office said data show cultural development fund (CDF) programs and licensed arts teachers are concentrated unevenly across boroughs and that Manhattan‑based grantees provide the majority of school programs citywide.

What DOE and DCLA said

Paul Thompson described a reorganization of the Arts Office aimed at expanding reach to schools without specialized arts resources. He said the office now centers work on three pillars — leadership support, teacher support, and student pathways — and highlighted the new Arts Hub in Downtown Brooklyn as a facility for professional learning and student projects. “The arts are vital parts of a complete education that enables students to thrive,” Thompson said.

Cordelia Veil, chief of curriculum and instruction at New York City Public Schools, said the Arts Office is trying to make arts instruction part of principals’ core instructional priorities and to disaggregate arts data by district so superintendents can target resources.

Audrey St. Clair, assistant commissioner for program services at the Department of Cultural Affairs, described DCLA grant activity and said CDF grantees support hundreds of arts education projects across the city. She said that in FY25, “more than 420 CDF grantees proposed arts education projects,” and that organizations receiving CDF awards in FY25 will deliver programming in schools and through after‑school partnerships such as CASA.

Independent analysis and data gaps

Arden Armbruster of the IBO said the office’s analysis of FY22 CDF data and school staffing found that Manhattan schools were far more likely to host CDF programs and to have a higher share of licensed arts teachers than schools in other boroughs. Armbruster cautioned that CDF reporting does not capture depth of engagement (for example hours of instruction at a school), which limits how well the data show actual student access.

Council members and cultural providers raised two further constraints: a lag between application and award dates for CDF and CASA grants, and slow contracting/payment processes for nonprofits. DCLA officials said the FY26 CDF application was launched March 31, 2025 and that panels are planned for June through August with award notifications expected in late fall or early winter; DCLA said that schedule is an improvement on prior years but acknowledged it still delays many school programs.

New and existing city programs cited

Thompson described several city initiatives: the Arts Hub (professional studio and teaching space in Brooklyn), a principal fellows program to embed arts into school instructional planning, expanded teacher professional development reaching thousands of licensed arts teachers, and new grant lines including a multilingual learners and students with disabilities grant (up to $15,000 per school) and an early learners grant (up to $10,000).

DCLA said FY25 CDF awards supporting organizations with arts education programming totaled about $27.1 million and that CASA awards in FY25 totaled more than $14 million across roughly 704 schools, with the CASA awards distributed to 139 cultural organizations.

Concerns from council members

Council members pressed several recurring themes: how schools are chosen for partnerships, why Manhattan‑based organizations supply many programs outside Manhattan, and unequal distribution of CDF grantees across boroughs. Chair Carlina Rivera said the CreateNYC cultural plan and city investments should produce greater equity and warned that arts access “should not depend on where you live, your background, or where you go to school.”

Several council members also pushed the DOE on staffing and accountability: the Arts Office reported that roughly one in five city schools lacks a certified arts teacher, that elementary participation is high for at least one artistic discipline while the percentage of schools offering all four K–5 disciplines lags, and that middle schools struggle to provide the state‑required two half units in two different disciplines for all students.

Contracting, timing and next steps

Cultural providers said delayed award letters and slow payment processing force organizations to delay or curtail programming or to carry bridge loans. DCLA and DOE officials agreed to follow up with detailed data and to work with the council on improving timelines and reporting. The Independent Budget Office urged including school DBN identifiers in CDF reporting to improve matching of programs to particular schools.

What the council will do next

The hearing produced several requests for follow up information from DOE and DCLA, including up‑to‑date, district‑level data on certified arts teachers and clearer metrics on program delivery (hours, number of school visits). Council members signaled interest in baselining city arts funding and in monitoring DCLA’s timeline improvements for FY26 grant awards.

Ending note

Witnesses from Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and smaller community providers testified that partnerships between schools and cultural institutions are a unique asset for New York City but that unpredictable funding and reporting gaps limit their impact. Several speakers asked the council to stabilize funding and speed contract and payment processes so that arts teaching can start at the beginning of the school year rather than months into it.