At the Center for Arts Education, which advocates for better arts instruction in the public schools, director of public engagement Kira Streets said that at a time when the city's schools are not meeting state requirements for arts education, the work of groups like Cool Culture takes on heightened importance. "In general, we do know that a lot of what students are getting is because of partnerships like this," Streets said.
Even as the recession is causing cutbacks and closures of arts organizations nationwide, Cool Culture's Anderson sounds confident about her group's ability to continue its work. Its annual budget of around $600,000 comes from government funding, individual and corporate donations, foundation grants, and fees paid by some of the participating schools. Every qualifying family from the current pool of referring centers is accepted, but the number of centers cannot expand at this point, she said.
In this atmosphere, when families are stressed about money, the relative peace of a museum, historic home, garden or zoo takes on another dimension. "It's really important to have an opportunity to decompress and spend quality family time together," Anderson said.
Consuelo Murphy, a day care teacher at Georgia L. McMurray who accompanied Saiquana Gilchrist to the culture fair at the South Street Seaport Museum last month, gets even more to the point. "There is nothing free in the city of New York. It doesn't get any better than this," Murphy said, as she and Gilchrist sat side-by-side following a teaching artist's directions for punching pieces of felt into shape from multicolored fibers.
The parents and children she works with have had "great days" at the Brooklyn Children's Museum, Prospect Park Zoo, Central Park Zoo, and the Staten Island Museum, right by the ferry, Murphy said. Without Cool Culture, "it would not be. It could not be."
"I'm very excited about it. I hope it stays forever," she said.
