Jody and John Arnhold, along with the Arnhold Foundation have donated $5 million to the Teachers College of Columbia University with the intention of building several state-of-the-art dance education studios.
The Arnhold Dance Education Research Studios – as they will be called – will feature 5,000 square-foot dance spaces which will serve as critical laboratories to advance teaching, learning and research in dance education.
“The new Arnhold Dance Education Research Studio space will affirm and advance core components of Teachers College’s founding principles: to enable teachers and schools to provide culturally relevant opportunities for growth and development for every child, everywhere,” said Thomas Bailey, President of Teachers College in an announcement on JUne 1. “This marks yet another milestone for the arts and education at Teachers College that will help to ensure that dance education is a core component of a well-rounded education.”
The donation marks another milestone in the series of donations and philanthropic efforts by Jody Arnhold, which aim to create a pipeline of professionals who can serve in the field of dance education in a multitude of disciplines.
With this additional gift, Jody and John Arnhold have donated a total of $15 million to Teachers College for dance education and research. Jody Arnhold has long had the vision of a world where the opportunities for a high-class dance education is possible and accessible for all learners.
“The realization of the Arnhold Dance Education Research Studios is a defining moment in my goal of elevating dance education and research to bring about policy that will provide a consecutive, scaffolded dance education for all children,” said Jody Arnhold, who taught dance in New York City public schools for more than 20 years and earned a master’s of arts degree in Dance Education at Teachers College.
In 2016, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation donated $4.365 million to Teachers College to establish the nation’s only doctorate program in dance education.
With this donation, the program is able to prepare researchers, policymakers and university-level educators to elevate dance education as an essential component of the PK-12 arts curriculum.
“Teachers College is enormously grateful to Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation for helping us to realize the full potential of the doctoral program and Arnhold Institute as we forge new pathways and transform dance and education nationally and internationally,” said Barbara Bashaw, Arnhold Professor of Dance Education, and Executive Director of the dance education doctoral program and the Arnhold Institute.
