Arts advocacy work is a marathon, not a race!
In 2017, Arts Every Day and Baltimore City Public Schools received a National Endowment for the Arts planning grant to develop a Fine Arts Strategic Plan with community input. During the 2017–2018 school year, they engaged over 100 stakeholders, including educators, students, and community leaders. Adopted in 2019, the plan significantly expanded the number of arts teachers across the district.
Despite progress from the Fine Arts Plan, access to instrumental music remains limited, with fewer than 15% of schools offering band or orchestra. In 2019, Arts Every Day formed a working group to explore the issue, research statewide best practices, and create an expansion plan. The group identified four key barriers to expanding instrumental music programs:
1. Staffing and scheduling challenges that prevent band or orchestra from being offered as a consistent elective, instead treating it as a general class all students rotate through.
2. Lack of dedicated time for small group or sectional instruction, which is essential for effective music education.
3. High up-front costs associated with purchasing a full set of band instruments.
4. Sustainability of staffing, requiring ongoing investment to maintain teaching positions year-to-year, ensuring sequential instruction and maximizing the value of initial instrument purchases.
The working group produced a detailed 10-page plan that was well received by the administration but ultimately failed to advance through the budget process. Undeterred, and in spite of a global pandemic, the group continued meeting, tracking access data, and refining the plan to find a viable path forward. They produced a new draft each year for the next 5 years but each time, it would never make it through the budget process.
Meanwhile, the Office of Fine Arts built a strong partnership with Save The Music Foundation, which initially supported elementary instrument packages. Over time, as trust grew, the foundation began funding band instrument packages—helping to overcome a major implementation barrier. During the FY26 budget process, the working group submitted a revised expansion plan—this time with success. Thanks to the leadership and commitment of Chief Academic Officer Dr. Joan Dabrowski and the Office of Fine Arts, the plan was approved and included in the FY26 budget.
While a modest step toward full implementation, City Schools will centrally hire one instrumental music teacher to serve two schools in the 2025–26 school year, with both receiving instrument packages from Save the Music Foundation. Is this a small win? Absolutely—but it’s a meaningful one. This step sets a precedent for district-level support of instrumental music and proves that persistent advocacy can lead to real change, even if it takes time.
See the Baltimore Banner article that talks about how this is being implemented in City Schools: https://www.
