Why the Arts Matter

Literature and research published by a multitude of individuals and organizations all conclude that the arts are a hallmark of excellence in American schools.

Nationwide there is a direct correlation between high performing schools and comprehensive, instructionally sound fine art programs. What exactly do the arts have to offer and why do they deserve an equal  role in the education offered to our students?

•  The arts provide a set of tools for creating, communicating, and understanding others’ ideas, as well as for making critical choices. This makes them as essential to success in daily living as knowing how to read, write, and work with numbers.
• Education in the arts contributes to the quality of learning in all content areas and to the overall learning environment. The arts can:
• serve as the focal point for exploring and creating relationships across the curriculum
• enhance the multicultural dimensions of the learning environment
• contribute to improvements in overall academic performance
• encourage the exploration of multiple solutions and divergent modes of thinking
• convey a sense of time and place beyond historical fact
• The arts provide a context for learning those skills and competencies identified as essential for success in the workplace; 
• task analysis
• teamwork
• resource management 
• self-discipline
• problem solving
• critical thinking
• creativity
• self-motivation
• understanding complex interrelationships
• The arts have an appeal to and benefits for all students regardless of their level of functional capacity.
• The arts have the unique capacity to engage students at three distinct levels: intellectual, emotional and physical, thus allowing for and appealing to divergent learning styles and intelligences.
• The quality of the local public education system weighs heavily in the decision of many businesses considering relocation to any community. A comprehensive curriculum that includes the arts at all grade levels greatly enhances the credibility and attractiveness of a community’s public school system.
• A community that values the arts in both its public and private sectors is one that benefits from the significant economic impact that the arts can create. 

This page was last updated on: July 22, 2022.