NJ Arts After School

The ArtPRIDE NJ Foundation, in partnership with the NJ State Council on the Arts, circulated an online survey in March 2006 to arts groups throughout the state to better understand the extent of arts involvement in after school programs.

A total of 111 arts groups, of varying sizes and representing all 21 counties, responded to the survey. Of these responses, 67% said they were involved in after school programs and reported a total of 1,260 programs serving 35,769 children.

This is just a snapshot from the perspective of arts groups--imagine what the total involvement is!!! We are now learning that there is no comprehensive overview of what happens throughout our state after school. The NJ Department of Education is currently working on the concept of an "After School Network" that is directly tied to Governor Corzine's interest in this policy issue.

In the meantime, the ArtPRIDE NJ Foundation and the NJSCA are working together to see how we can increase information sharing about existing opportunties for arts groups to tap into funds through programs like NJ After 3 and the 21st Century Learning Centers Project (federal funds) and increase the involvement of arts groups in after school learning either as providers or partners. The NJ Arts Education Census Project will provide additional data from the school perspective to help clarify the snapshot of the current landscape.

In the meantime, if you'd like to view the results and analysis of ArtPRIDE's online survey, go to www.artpridenj.com and mouse over "Publications" and click on NJ Arts After School.