Petition to Kill NH Bill 39

From my own personal experience, arts education provided by my public school system has defined who I am today.  As a musical theatre participant and vocal performer, I have learned the skills needed to represent myself well.  Over time I have become a strong public speaker and a poised leader.  Without my firsthand experience in the theatre arts provided by my school, I would not be where I am today.  Having had the ability to participate in the arts, I have gained life long skills that I feel would have been hard to obtain anywhere else.  It is our job to provide the children of our communities with the adequate resources that will teach them how to strongly lead our state and Country, and this will not be possible if Arts Education is no longer funded.

Today, many schools focus solely on providing core classes such as Math, Science, and English, as well as on the funding of sports as after school activities.  Many times forgotten, however, are programs involving the arts and with Bill 39 implemented, this trend would grow exponentially.  Such programs provide a strong outlet for the many children who wish to pursue theatre arts and the many other art forms as a means of expressing themselves.  It is imperative that this area of learning not be forgotten within school systems and that with our economic setbacks, we refrain from cutting the arts as a first resort.

Because I have gained so much from my participation in arts education, I have been speaking to local schools in New Hampshire, encouraging young students to participate in the arts as well.  However, simply speaking to the children does not ensure that they will have the resources necessary to participate in arts in ways that my school was able to provide.  That is why I feel it necessary to bring the issue to the state level, hoping that New Hampshire can recognize how important it is to keep arts education in our schools.

The arts are actually proven to help close the achievement gap, uniquely boosting learning and achievement for young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances, and students needing remedial instruction.  Arts education also helps prepare a creative workforce, and today, many reports include the arts as an essential skill for the future workforce.

With that said, I really hope that New Hampshire refrains from passing Bill 39.  As a sophomore in college, I have felt firsthand the advantages of having participated in the arts in so many ways.  Not only did it help me creatively and even with math and science, but it helped me to become a poised leader and strong public speaker, all of which are undoubtedly necessary in the world today.  I have also been fortunate enough to obtain the title of Miss Seacoast, a preliminary to Miss New Hampshire within the Miss America System.  Through this program I am able to gain thousands of dollars in scholarship money to pay for my college education and without the arts education I was given and the self-confidence and poise that I have gained because of it, I do not believe I would be able to compete in this program, a program that gives an astounding $45 million in scholarship money each year and is the world%u2019s largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women today.  As Miss Seacoast, I will continue to promote my platform of %u201CRecognition of the Arts in our Schools%u201D and hope that you, too, will realize that the arts should not be removed from the curriculum of public schools.

Thank you so much for your time and I really hope that New Hampshire takes into consideration the importance of Arts Education as well as Health Education, World Languages, and Technology Education.