The following letter was sent to the Malibu City Council.
I feel compelled to write to you upon hearing the budget figures for art supplies for Santa Monica middle and high school art programs.
Supply budgets at Samohi and Lincoln Middle School (if not all the secondary schools) have been reduced by 20-25 percent for next year. According to a report, Samohi art teachers will receive only $160 per semester per class (about 30 cents per student per week) for art supplies, and Lincoln art teachers will receive only $160 per year per class (about 15 cents per student per week) for art supplies.
These figures are absurdly restrictive when put against the academic expectations of these students. Students aiming for Advanced Placement qualification or achievement will have a difficult time working with a paucity of supplies. Basic drawing with a pencil and inexpensive paper can be beautiful and a study in itself but the scope and richness of art in all its forms (sculpture, painting, drawing, video, pastel, etching, collage) can only be explored with an adequately equipped studio classroom. The budget of the City Council for supplies is substandard.
I have personally worked with the staff of the art departments of Samohi and Lincoln Middle School and have had students from both schools participate in the Santa Monica Museum of Art’s programs. Samohi and Lincoln students had recently participated in a Spring Break program and worked closely with prestigious contemporary artists Tim Rollins and Gajin Fujita. Their artwork was featured in an exhibition at the museum in April 2002 called “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Lincoln Middle School students have done community service work with the museum’s on-site art education program for young children. I have also visited the Samohi art gallery and seen individual portfolios of students. I was impressed with the maturity and artistic skills of these students who pour their energy into art.
A recent article in the Santa Monica Mirror announced that six Samohi students had been named California Arts Scholars by the Board of Trustees of the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) and the Board of Directors of the California State Summer School Arts Foundation. This prestigious award went to 170 select students. The six Samohi students were selected from a pool of 1,400 applicants from all over the state! Does that not say something about the quality of the art program at Santa Monica High School? How will this standard be maintained with a slashed supplies budget?
Here at the museum, we support the schools and their art programs. The strength of school district art programs creates fertile ground for collaborations between us. We can only emphasize the need for the city to augment the support of the arts in the school by maintaining or increasing budgets. Students are achieving greatly in the arts just as in any other subject. Please do not slash the supplies budgets.
Asuka Hisa, Education Director
Santa Monica Museum of Art