The EdTA Theatre Education Advocacy Day will take place July 15-16, in Washington, D.C. The event, open to all adult and student members, will be modeled after the organization’s first national theatre education advocacy day held in 2017. Attendees will engage in a day of advocacy training workshops followed by a day of visits to Congressional offices on Capitol Hill. As in 2017, training will be conducted by Americans for the Arts staff, with the support of EdTA leadership and members of the organization’s Advocacy Leadership Network. Along with the workshops, EdTA will present its Legislator Leadership Arts Education Advocacy Award, given annually to a legislator who has demonstrated exemplary public support for arts education.
According to EdTA Director of Educational Policy, James Palmarini, 2018 is a particularly important year for supporters of arts education. “The mid-term elections brought 101 new House representatives and 10 new senators to Washington. These freshmen legislators will be looking for facts and figures to help them become literate on policy and legislation that can affect their constituencies back home. This is a terrific opportunity for theatre education advocates to connect up with legislators and their staffs, both first-year members and veterans.”
Palmarini also noted that, given the change in House of Representative majority from Republicans to Democrats, there will likely be significant policy shifts and legislation introduced. “It’s hard to predict right now how things will change,” he said, “but we should have a better idea by the time we go to Capitol Hill in July.
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