​​Watch the event live on YouTube [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyOBlAimi54).__ Join us on Tues­day, Octo­ber 6^th, 5:00 — 6:30 PM for a live­ly com­mu­ni­ty dis­cus­sion on the state of K‑12 arts edu­ca­tion in New Orleans, includ­ing a research pre­sen­ta­tion, a live pan­el with a Q&A, and per­for­mances by local stu­dents. How many stu­dents in New Orleans have access to a high-qual­i­ty arts edu­ca­tion? What is the val­ue of teach­ing our chil­dren visu­al art, the­ater, music, media arts, and dance? We’ll dis­cuss these ques­tions and more with a group of local teach­ers, artists, and edu­ca­tion lead­ers. Pan­elists will include Allen Dejan, Music Edu­ca­tor, KIPP Mor­i­al / McDonogh #15; Analiese De Saw, Gift­ed & Tal­ent­ed Visu­al Arts Edu­ca­tor, Akili Acad­e­my; Dol­lie Eaglin Rivas, Per­form­ing Arts Edu­ca­tor & Arts Inte­gra­tion Spe­cial­ist, Audubon Char­ter School; Melvin Nimtz, 11^th Grad­er at NOC­CA; and Ter­ri Smith, Prin­ci­pal, ENCORE Acad­e­my. In addi­tion, Dr. Sarah Wood­ward will dis­cuss her new pol­i­cy brief, ​“Will the Arts Come March­ing In? Access to Arts Edu­ca­tion in Post-Kat­ri­na New Orleans,” based on her Ph.D. research in New Orleans schools. Key find­ings include: — New Orleans had low­er arts enroll­ment in K‑8 grades than com­par­i­son dis­tricts, but sim­i­lar arts enroll­ment rates for high school stu­dents. — Both teach­ers and admin­is­tra­tors val­ued the arts and their poten­tial to help stu­dents grow aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly, social­ly, and emo­tion­al­ly. — Teach­ers saw intense test­ing pres­sure, a decen­tral­ized school sys­tem, and pro­fes­sion­al iso­la­tion as sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges to arts edu­ca­tion. This event is free and open to the pub­lic. Teach­ers, teach­ing artists, stu­dents, fam­i­ly mem­bers, school lead­ers, pol­i­cy­mak­ers, and inter­est­ed com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers are all wel­come to attend. The event will be streamed live on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyOBlAimi54) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/events/772318790006139/), and a record­ing will be avail­able after­ward for those who can’t attend. Reg­is­ter for the event [here](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arts-education-virtual-town-hall-tickets-122132857665).