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Proposition 28 a Windfall for Arts Education, but Implementation Poses Challenges
Foundation: Hewlett Foundation
"It's the largest investment in arts and music in our nation's history," says Austin Beutner, author of Proposition 28, California's ballot measure that will provide $1 billion in funding for the state's schools of the arts.
But the Los Angeles Times reports there's a "niggling fear among arts insiders that this huge boost of funding, which is expected to land sometime this fall, must be too good to be true."
"A lot of folks in the field feel like they've been marginalized for so long that it's hard for them to conceive of something that centers them," says Jessica Mele, a program officer specializing in arts education at the Hewlett Foundation.
"The problem is that arts education in this country has historically been ruled by assumptions about who can and should be allowed to participate in the arts, and a lot of that has to do with race and class and geography."
Beutner, who campaigned for Proposition 28, says it's "the largest investment in arts and music in our nation's history."
The measure requires that all funding go to arts and music education, but it's not clear how the money will be divvied up.
Some schools will get $100, others $100, and still
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