‘The Alaska Arts Education Data Project’ by Sam Jordan

In‬ 2023‬ the‬ National‬ Endowment‬ for‬ the‬ Arts‬ and‬ Alaska‬ State‬ Council‬ on‬ the‬ Arts‬ awarded‬ funds‬ to‬ the‬ Alaska‬ Arts‬ Education‬ Consortium‬ to‬ investigate‬ what‬ was‬ happening‬ with‬ arts‬ education in Alaska.‬ Since that time, a cross-sector team of Alaskans, including educators, artists, Alaska Native culture bearers, legislators and health officials, has been working to get to the heart of the question: Which students, where in Alaska, and how are students in Alaska’s public schools experiencing arts education?

Student self-portraits from across the Lower Kuskokwim School District, Bethel, AK

On its surface, this might seem like a simple question to answer. However, with no existing measures consistently collected, the Alaska Arts Education Data Project members spent time wrestling with how best to collect meaningful data that would give the public a true measure of the investment in arts in Pre-K – 12 grade classrooms across the state. They started with simply defining what the team means when it says ‘arts.’ The goal was to capture the widest picture of what arts can mean to students. The following statement was developed by team members:

Middle school band students in Juneau, AK

Next was a need to craft an intention for how Project members felt students should experience arts during their time in Alaska’s public schools. The following vision statement was developed as a result of these discussions:  

Theater students from Kodiak, AK

With a clear vision of what the arts are and how students should experience them, Project members set to work examining the current state of arts using an in-depth survey sent to all school districts. Two administrations of the survey have now been completed, and the combined 2024 and 2025 results include data from 79% of school districts, with representation from all regions of Alaska, accounting for 90% of the student population.

Alaska Native bead sewing in Valdez, AK

Some key takeaways from the survey results include that the majority of schools do not require arts credit for graduation, a majority of school districts do not have dedicated funding for arts education in their budgets, and that most elementary schools around Alaska have opportunities for students to experience both music and Alaska Native arts during their school day.

You can view the entire survey results and learn more about the Alaska Arts Data Project by visiting Alaska Arts Education Data Project 2025 Survey Results.