Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Board of Education President David Vitale and Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett Tuesday announced a $38 million arts education funding campaign fueled by private donations from the city’s business, community, cultural and philanthropic leaders. “Be Creative: The Campaign for Creative Schools,” already has raised $11 million toward its goal. The private investment will ensure full implementation of the first-ever CPS Arts Education Plan, unveiled two years ago. The private fund would be a transitional step, serving as a bridge to eventual public funding of the full Arts Education plan in the 2018-2019 school year.

The funds raised by the campaign will pay for putting essential classroom materials in the hands of students and teachers, such as musical instruments, cameras and scripts. It provides greater access for teachers and students to Chicago’s wide array of cultural institutions large and small, in every corner of the city. The funds also will pay for new assessment systems to track student learning in the arts, and better data collection to determine where investments make the greatest difference and where progress needs to be made. For more information about the Campaign for Creative Schools, including a current list of donors, please visit www.becreativechicago.org.