It is imperative that all students have access to an equitable delivery of arts education that includes dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts that supports their education and well-being, taught by certified arts educators in partnership with community arts providers.
As teaching and learning continue to evolve, our commitment to provide rich and varied educational experiences remain strong. The arts provide connections to a student's family, community, and to understanding our society. The arts play an important role in the lives of all students, including the traditionally underrepresented, those with special needs, and from low-income families. Here’s why:
Arts Education is key to unlocking
potential in our students.
Students prepare for career, college, and new opportunities through the arts. Self-awareness, self-efficacy, self-management and perseverance, social awareness and relationship skills are central to any arts education activity, no matter the age and ability of the student or the environment in which the learning takes place. The arts, with their strong emphasis on team-building and self-reflection, are supremely suited to ignite and strengthen students’ interest in learning through collaboration, while simultaneously fostering creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills. The arts help students learn how to design and build their own lives both now and into an ever-changing future.
Arts Education nurtures the creation of a welcoming school environment where students can express themselves in a safe and positive way.
Students and adults come together through the arts to create a healthy and inclusive school community. The arts, through a rich partnership among certified arts educators, school leaders, parents, and community arts providers, play a valuable role in helping students and their families build and sustain community and cultural connections.
Arts Education is part of a well-rounded education for all students as understood and supported by federal and state policymakers.
Student learning in the arts is recognized in federal and state policy. As defined in ESSA, “music and the arts” are part of a well-rounded education. Every state in the nation recognizes the importance of the arts as reflected in rigorous PreK-12 state arts standards. Forty-six states require an arts credit to receive a high school diploma, and 43 states have instructional requirements in the arts for elementary and secondary schools. As noted in Arts Education for America’s Students: A Shared Endeavor: “An education without the arts is inadequate.”
The healing and unifying power of the arts became increasingly evident during the pandemic. We have seen and heard it play out through works of art on sidewalks, shared musical moments from porches, in plays and dance performances, and every other imaginable iteration of art making. As states and schools continue to work through post-pandemic challenges, arts education must remain central to a well-rounded education, taught by well-resourced arts educators, and fully funded to support the well-being of all students and the entire school community.
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ENDORSEMENTS
Alabama Art Education Association, Statewide
Alabama Artistic Literacy Consortium, Montgomery, Statewide
Alabama Arts Alliance, Montgomery, Statewide
Alabama Conference of Theatre, Statewide
Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile
Alabama Dance Educator Association, Statewide
Alabama Dance Theatre, Montgomery
Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, Statewide
Arts Council of Thomasville
Alabama School of Fine Arts, Birmingham
Alabama School of Fine Arts, School of Math & Science, Birmingham
Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, Birmingham
Crossville Middle School
DRUM, The Program, Inc., Montevallo
Eastern Shore Art Center, Fairhope
Eastern Shore Art Association, Inc., Fairhope
Gadsden Cultural Arts Foundation, Gadsden
Greater Birmingham Arts Education Collaborative, Birmingham
Hamilton Middle School, Hamilton
Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Mobile
Phillips High School, Bear Creek
Tuscaloosa City Schools, Tuscaloosa
University of Alabama Department of Art & Art History, Tuscaloosa AL
Vulcan Park & Museum, Birmingham
Angela Andrews, Visual Arts Teacher, Tuscaloosa
Pamela Cevallos Amores, Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Mobile
Hungsin Chin, Chair Math & Science, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Birmingham
Dr. Brian Cocke, Festival Director, Alabama Conference of Theatre
Brien Engel, Owner/Arts Provider, Glass Harp Music/ Pine Lake, GA
Randy Foster, Executive Director, Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, Montgomery
Cynthia Harper, Executive Director, Alabama Conference of Theatre
Benja Jackson, Administrator, Marion County Schools
Eric Marable, Jr., Program Coordinator, Greater Birmingham Arts Education Collaborative
Jennifer McCombs, Counselor, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Birmingham
Suzie Newton, Visual Arts Teacher, Crossville High School, Crossville
Angel Poer, Educator, Birmingham
Brittany Price, Teacher, Alabama School of Fine Arts
Ricky Trione, Fairhope
Reanna Watson, Academy Director, Eastern Shore Art Center Fairhope
Bryant Whelan, Executive Director, Eastern Shore Art Association, Inc.
