Exposing children to the arts inspires lifelong imagination and creativity, but arts education is disappearing from schools. Art especially benefits children, who thrive on imagination and yearn to express often-overwhelming emotions and experiences. The arts nourish resourcefulness and creativity, and can give otherwise poor academic performers a chance to shine. Music, dance and other art forms can also connect kids to their neighborhoods and cultural communities. But across the state, many K-12 schools offer less than an hour of instruction each week in music and other art forms. A third have no visual arts instruction at all, and three-quarters have no theater or dance. And good after-school arts programs aren’t always easy to find or afford.
- Help teachers integrate art into the curriculum.
- Involve children in making their own art, in addition to enjoying the works of others.
- Bring arts opportunities to children where they already live and play, so they can make and learn about art at places like community centers and after-school programs.
- Use art as way to reach children who aren't succeeding in conventional academic environments or have different learning styles.
- Support cultural festivals and gatherings to link young people with their cultural heritages and advance understanding across cultures.
- Seattle Opera takes opera into area high schools via the Experience Opera program, which also gives teachers custom-created study guides for integrating opera into classroom curriculums.
- Everyone Has a Song teaches communication skills, money management and basic business principles through music to youth of color who are at risk of failing in a traditional classroom environment. The program recently expanded to include tutoring and homework assistance.
- Seattle Public Theater helps expand the horizons of K-12 students with year-round classes and school-break camps, where kids get scripts (often Shakespeare plays) on Monday and stage a performance on Friday with the help of professional theater artists. Students explore reading and communication from new angles.
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