92NY’s School Engagement in the Arts plays an outsized role in bringing the arts to public school students in NYC. They serve thousands of students and teachers every year with in-depth classroom visits from top teaching artists and innovative curriculum design; they program concerts and dance performances on 92NY main stages with some of the most respected artists in the world, designed especially for children; they helm our Teen Producers fellowship and Teen Arts Week, ushering New York teens into fulfilling careers in the arts and arts administration; and much more. Program by program, School Engagement is providing a world class arts education to an entire generation of public school students. We talked to Executive Director Yana Stotland and Director Maya Ward about why their tireless work is critical to the cultural life of New York City, how it pays off in dividends for years to come, and how their own experiences with art in public schools shaped their lives.
What does School Engagement in the Arts provide for public school students in New York and other cities? What philosophy guides what you do?
Yana Stotland: From the beginning, 92NY has been a place where people could come together to nurture their souls. We aim to nurture the souls of students and educators, using the arts to build community by working with schools. Last year alone nearly 10,000 public school students and over 400 teachers participated in our programs from across all five boroughs. Our programs are not just about art itself — we help students learn how to interact, think, and learn with one another in a group. As these kids grow and become members of our community, it benefits all of us.
Maya Ward: There’s a story I like to tell about one of our former students, Mikaylah Arce. One of our teaching artists saw her dance as a first grader dance at her school, P.S. 146 in East Harlem, and recognized that she had talent. That led to six years of 92NY scholarships, including classes at the Harkness School of Dance. She then went on to become a dance scholar in our Recanati-Kaplan Program for Excellence in the Arts. Mikaylah has already traveled so far as an artist, and 92NY has been with her every step of the way — and it all started at her school in one of our programs. Our work starts with a desire to bring the best of what 92NY has to offer in the arts to public school classrooms, where it is profoundly necessary. Research shows that having an arts education early on has a powerfully beneficial impact on the lives of young people, far beyond childhood. Working in the public schools allows us to reach a broad and diverse group of young people and make a huge impact on their lives. We send teaching artists into K-12 schools to work with students and collaborate with teachers in dance, music, literary arts, visual arts, ceramics, and much more. We set up curricula for students to engage deeply with the work of the world-class artists who perform in our concert halls. We host concerts with those artists designed especially for kids — Samara Joy, Christian McBride, Anat Cohen, just to name a few. We run programs like Teen Producers and Teen Arts Week, which give students hands-on experience developing appreciation and professional experience in the arts and arts administration. We want students to feel that there is a place for them in the arts — as empowered audience members, but also as makers and doers.
For years, there’s been a big emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in public education. Why is access to the arts so important?
YS: We’re shouting it from the rooftops here — arts education makes a difference! You can see it in test scores — kids involved in arts education do better not only in reading and history, but across the board, in math and science. This is not anecdotal information. It is backed up by research, statistics, and hard evidence. The arts have a unique impact on the emotional, intellectual, and even physical development of children. There is no substitution for it.
MW: It’s essential to higher level thinking. What we’ve seen for years, but especially post-COVID, is that arts education is almost always the first to go when cities need to cut their budgets — but there is a huge body of research showing that the arts support a core curriculum in STEM, and as Yana said, it’s absolutely critical for social-emotional learning, which has been a huge problem in schools post-COVID. And finally, regardless of its other benefits, immersing yourself in music, dance, writing, or visual art at a young age is simply a joy. Making and appreciating art is a joy in and of itself.
What does School Engagement have in the works for this season that you’re particularly excited about?
MW: We are continuing to expand our yearlong Discover Music and Discover Dance programs for elementary school students, bringing teaching artists to more and more schools. We are hosting dance performances with the Jose Limón Dance Company and Urban Bush Women, all of whom are also performing on our main stages, along with concerts from Pedrito Martinez and José James. We align our programming closely with the best of 92NY’s major performances.
YS: We’re also offering a new K-1 program, Discover Musical Theater, which leverages the amazing work that Theater for Young Audiences does at 92NY. We’re bringing students to the new season of literary programs that is about to be announced. We’re actively recruiting for our Arts Fellow program in music, arts, and dance, in which we support students working in those disciplines all through high school. And Teen Arts Week and Teen Producers is always thrilling.
Maya, you’ve spoken elsewhere about the holistic, city-wide benefits of a program Teen Producers and Teen Arts Week. What is the benefit not just for students but for New York City as a whole when young people are engaged and interested in careers in the arts?
MW: Teen Producers is a two-year paid internship and mentorship program that gives high school students the experience and tools to pursue careers in arts. Teen Arts Week is the fruit of that program’s labor — it was launched by Teen Producers in 2019 and is New York’s only citywide celebration of the arts by and for high school students, programmed by the Teen Producers. The value of cultural arts organizations and students coming together at 92NY is beneficial because it creates an organic cross-pollination. It builds community. It sends the message to the students that the city is theirs, that they have agency and power in shaping their cultural landscape. The organizations that participate get hundreds of young people engaged in the important work they’re doing. And in the long run, the whole city benefits from a generation of young people who have been given the tools to work creatively to push cultural life forward. 92NY is the engine of these programs, but this is not just about our institution — it has the potential to be a movement.
Yana, you have a background in music, and you also serve as Executive Director of 92NY’s School of Music. Maya, you have a background in dance. I wonder how your own early arts education has impacted you — not just in the important work you do here, but in your lives?
YS: I came to this country in 1979 when I was nine years old and went to public school. I didn’t speak the language. I didn’t have the right clothes. I didn’t have many friends. I was teased. But when I played music, I fit in. I wasn’t ostracized in that space — it connected me to other people when I really needed it. I was a performer and a music teacher before I came here. I’ve done this for my entire life because music education gave me so much — a community and a solid sense of emotional well-being. It’s very powerful.
MW: I grew up in public schools, getting my hands on every after-school arts program that was available to me. I thrived in spaces where I could be creative, and I had amazing mentors. I ultimately decided to get a liberal arts education rather than go to a conservatory, but those experiences made me who I am. After college I worked for Americorps at a Bronx middle school, assistant-teaching in a humanities classroom, and I got a firsthand view of what it means to work in a public school. It instilled in me the deepest respect for what teachers do. It also planted the seed for the work I do here. There was no arts programming at this school, and I would take on that work in small ways — I saw the outsized impact of my effort.
What do you hope students who participate in School Engagement programs take away with them?
MW: We want them to discover new creative expressions for shaping the world they want to inhabit.
YS: It’s about more than learning how to play the tuba. Art is a medium to develop the soul. That’s what we do here.