By: Sarah Hagy

With each passing year, arts education funding is cut before mathematics, science, and athletic programs.  The arts have been considered a complement to education rather than an essential.  Teachers are facing challenges such as a near 50% dropout rate, narrowed curriculum, standardized testing, and a widening achievement gap.  With this many flaws in the system, the arts are not considered a priority.  The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities says, “At the policy level, arts education advocacy is seen as something different and separate from the larger conversation of educational reform.”

Arts education has substantial and lasting benefits.  Case studies show schools using an arts integration approach to teaching have improved test scores in reading, math, and science.  The value of arts education shows in rising GPAs and graduation rates.  Michelle Obama is a prominent arts education advocate.  She correlates arts education with increased attention span, intelligence, memory, critical thinking, and motor skills.  Art students are more likely to volunteer in the community, participate in extracurricular activities, and continue to succeed through college and their future careers.

From an economic vantage point, the arts are struggling.  Fine artists are hard pressed to make a living based solely on their art and must rely on additional revenue.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment growth to be below average and the median hourly rate for an artist is $20.90.  Employers are seeking inventors, designers, and creators.  The competitive workplace demands innovative and creative thinking as well as collaboration and problem-solving skills.  These are intrinsic qualities acquired through arts education.  Studies show art students to be talented, courageous, persistent, tenacious, and bold.  Yet, without a significant change in attitude and funding; the arts will continue to be neglected, the next generation will be disadvantaged, and America will fall behind.