ARTS ADVOCACY GROUPS

The following links will guide you to some of the sites we believe provide valuable information in support of the arts.

• Arts Education Partnership
• National Endowment for the Arts
• National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
• Americans for the Arts

OPPORTUNITY BREEDS CREATIVITY IN YOUNG MINDS
Written by  Selena Stevens from The University of Kentucky

Given the chance, any child can become a great artist, a great actor or a great philosopher. All they need is the right environment to become creative wonders.
"We all come into the world with the ability to learn," said Kim Townley, professor of family studies at the University of Kentucky. "The environment around us has a lot to do with what and how we learn."
Parents hoping to inspire creativity in children need only remember that the environment is key. Making sure crayons and constructive toys are always nearby will eventually encourage children to use them. At UK’s Early Childhood Laboratory, letting the child choose the activity is also a rule.

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AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS
National Arts Education Public Awareness Campaign

DID YOU KNOW?

•  The arts teach kids to be more tolerant and open.
•  The arts allow kids to express themselves creatively.
•  The arts promote individuality, bolster self-confidence, and improve overall academic performance.
•  The arts can help troubled youth, providing an alternative to delinquent behavior and truancy while providing an improved attitude towards school.

An impressive 89% of Americans believe that arts education is important enough to be taught in schools, but the sad truth is, your kids spend more time at their lockers than in arts classes. Read the facts on how arts education helps kids do better.


DID YOU KNOW?

Young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours on three days each week through at least one full year are:
• 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement
• 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools
• 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair
• 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance
• 4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem

Young artists, as compared with their peers, are likely to:

•Attend music, art, and dance classes nearly three times as frequently
•Participate in youth groups nearly four times as frequently
•Read for pleasure nearly twice as often
•Perform community service more than four times as often

(Living the Arts through Language + Learning: A Report on Community-based Youth Organizations, Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University and Carnegie Foundation For the Advancement of Teaching, Americans for the Arts Monograph, November 1998)


The facts are that arts education...

makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the "learning field" across socioeconomic boundaries.

(Involvement in the Arts and Success in Secondary School, James S. Catterall, The UCLA Imagination Project, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, UCLA, Americans for the Arts Monograph, January 1998)

has a measurable impact on youth at risk in deterring delinquent behavior and truancy problems while also increasing overall academic performance among those youth engaged in after school and summer arts programs targeted toward delinquency prevention.

(YouthARTS Development Project, 1996, U.S. Department of Justice, National Endowment for the Arts, and Americans for the Arts)

For More Facts on the Impact of Arts Education on Our Youth, Visit the AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS Website.

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