Emily Grant
5:42:55
Thank you, chair Joseph, chair Rivera, and members of the committee for the opportunity to speak.
5:43:00
My name is Emily Grant, and I currently serve as co interim executive director of Kaufman Music Center.
5:43:06
Located in Lincoln Square, we're home to Merkin Hall, Lucy Moses School, and Special Music School, a k through 12 New York City public school that offers free music education to 300 students.
5:43:17
At Special Music School, students receive free daily music instruction, private lessons, ensembles, music theory, music technology, performance opportunities, all woven seamlessly into their academic day.
5:43:30
This model works.
5:43:32
Special music school students consistently rank among the top performers on our state exams, and we've maintained a 100% graduation and college acceptance rate, while thirty one point five percent of special music school students are on the economic need index.
5:43:49
These high academic outcomes are not a coincidence.
5:43:53
We show the impact that an arts program can have.
5:43:56
But the results are not just about music.
5:43:59
They're about holistic human development.
5:44:01
We've heard that over and over today.
5:44:05
We know also it takes tremendous resources to realize one's potential as a young musician, and so many children in our city face barriers to accessing even the most basic elements of arts education.
5:44:17
It's why we created Pathways, a program designed to support low income elementary and middle school students with personalized plans to help them overcome the specific obstacles each may face to thrive as musician learners.
5:44:31
The support includes free private lessons, a free instrument, travel funds, help with audition prep, whatever it takes to open the door.
5:44:39
We believe every child deserves to experience the profound transformative benefits of the arts.
5:44:45
Students need the arts woven into each and every day of their school lives, not just for enrichment, but as an essential part of their path to adulthood.
5:44:56
We are deeply grateful for the council's past support and respectfully ask for continued support for special music school, Lucy Moses School, which is the home of our Pathways program, and our special initiative funding request to expand our music tech program.
5:45:10
And thank you again for your time, your investment in, and advocacy on behalf of New York City's young people, and your attention to this critical issue.
