Americans for the Arts found that students engaged in arts learning have higher GPAs, higher standardized test scores, and lower drop-out rates. The Department of Education reports that access to arts education for students of color is significantly lower than for their white peers and has declined for three decades. Marquis Studios serves the diverse students in NYC public schools.
80% of pARTnership Program participants live below the federal poverty threshold, 17% are English Language Learners, 83% are students of color, and 60% are students with disabilities. Without the pARTnership Program, 50% of participants would not have any arts education in school. By providing access to the arts through the pARTnership Program, Marquis Studios is closing the opportunity gap, which closes the achievement gap. To impact the entire school community in a meaningful way, we offer the schools subsidized or no cost residencies in an array of arts disciplines, as well as professional development for classroom teachers and family workshops. To monitor the effectiveness of the program we engage in ongoing internal assessment as well as external, independent evaluation for both remote and in person residencies.
