TOP 21 REASONS TO SUPPORT ARTS EDUCATION

Research shows that children whose education includes a visual arts component have consistently out-performed those who do not have fine arts enrichment, no matter what their socioeconomic level.

Art teaches students:

1. How to make good judgments about qualitative relationships
2. Problems can have more than one solution
3. (To celebrate) multiple perspectives
4. Complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity
5. (Make vivid) the fact that neither words in their literal form nor number exhaust what we can know
6. Small differences can have large effects
7. To think through and within a material
8. How to learn how to say what cannot be said
9. To have experience that can be had from no other source
10. The arts are fundamental to our humanity and help us express our values, and build bridges between cultures, ethnicities, or generations.
11. A vibrant arts community leads to higher civic engagement, more social cohesion, and lower poverty rates
12. Healthcare institutions are providing arts programming for patients, families, and even staff because of their healing benefits
13. The arts — music, creative writing, drawing, & dance — provide skills sought by employers of the third millennium
14. Students with an education rich in the arts have higher GPAs and standardized test scores, lower drop-out rates, and better attitudes about community service
15. Children motivated by the arts develop attention skills and strategies for memory retrieval.
16. Students with four years of arts or music in high school average 100 points better on their SAT scores than students with one-half year or less.
17. Creative industries are arts businesses ranging from nonprofit museums, symphonies, and theaters to for-profit film, architecture, and advertising companies.
18. Arts travelers are ideal tourists — they stay longer in the traveled destination and have a stronger economic impact due increased spending.
19. Non-local arts audiences spend nearly twice as much as local arts attendees — valuable revenue for local businesses and the community.
20. Arts organizations are responsible businesses, employers, and consumers. Investment in the arts supports jobs, generates tax revenues, and advances our creativity-based economy.
21. The arts are recognized as a core subject in the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which places arts education at the same level of importance as STEM subjects.

Sources:

• Eisner, Elliot. (2006). The Arts and the Creation of Mind.
• Cohen, Randy. (2011). 10 reasons to support the arts.
• Collins, Donna. (n.d.). Eight Reasons for Supporting Quality Arts Education Programs…