In May,2023, Marion County voters strongly approved a $410 million referendum to strengthen the Indianapolis Public Schools district. A significant component of that referendum was for the strengthening of arts programs within IPS, and this endorsement by voters has led to the Rebuilding Stronger program which is a multi-year plan that will impact every school in the district.
As we enter the 2023-24 school year, there are already major commitments to arts programs that have been underfunded or missing altogether in recent years. By the 2024-25 term, all schools will be K-5, 6-8, or 9-12, including the return to teaching at Broad Ripple and other facilities. In that term, IPS plans to have band, orchestra, and choir programs at all middle schools. In addition, all elementary schools will have art and general music programs.
The Phillips Guild supports this returned emphasis on the role of arts. We recently delivered over 30 donated instruments to Traci Prescott, Fine Arts Coordinator. Traci reports that some of these instruments are already in the hands of students at Crispus Attucks HS and Arsenal Technical HS.
If you have any band or orchestra instruments that could serve a new mission in life, please contact us so we can help get them to students where the instruments can make a real difference.
