Artistic Endeavors - Marathon Marketing

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ARTISTIC ENDEAVORS
The Rewards of Educating Kids in the Arts
By Kathleen Hall
F
Is Art Important?
Results reported on research of
arts education is consistent: art education helps students think critically,
solve problems creatively, make
informed judgments, work cooperatively within groups, appreciate different cultures, imagine, and create.
The Virginia Standards of Learning
(SOL) for fine arts are based on these
key findings.
The Arts Education Partnership
is an organization instrumental in
researching arts education. The
partnership is a private, nonprofit
coalition of education, arts, business, philanthropic, and government organizations that promotes
the role of arts education in
enabling all students to succeed in
school, life, and work.
Many of the partnership’s studies
have been compiled into a report,
Champions of Change. A study of the
Department of Education’s database
of 25,000 students demonstrates “students with high levels of arts participation outperform ‘arts poor’ stu-
photos by Al Wekelo
rom the beginning of time, humans
have used the arts to communicate
and entertain. Early man painted on
cave walls and used rudimentary
objects to create rhythmic sounds.
Exposure to the arts begins at
birth. Parents sing lullabies to their
babies and surround them with
colorful and stimulating pictures
and objects. As children grow, play
not only entertains, but also helps
children learn. Participating in and
observing the arts are integral components of a society’s fabric, and
research shows learning and practicing the arts is critical to children’s development.
dents by virtually every measure.”
This study found clear evidence that “sustained involvement in particular art forms —
music and theatre — are highly
correlated with success in mathematics and reading.”
In addition to enhancing the basics
— reading, writing, and arithmetic
— the arts impact children’s lives in
many other ways. The Champions of
Change studies found arts education
really helps to create a well-rounded,
well-adjusted person.
The arts also provide a means to
reach students who are not otherwise being reached, and provide a
different kind of environment for
learning.
According to Stephanie Micas,
executive director of The Arts
Council of Richmond, the arts provide another way for children to
achieve, especially for those kids
who have trouble learning in a traditional environment. “It gives them a
different lens,” she says.
Jo Kennedy, executive director
of the Hand Workshop Art
Center, agrees. “We see students
who are not focused, who are
bouncing off the walls. After a few
weeks of arts, they are more
engaged, focused, and attentive.”
Kennedy says the experience with
arts builds children’s self esteem.
“Working with your hands is very
rewarding,” she says. The experience gives children “a sense of
accomplishment,” she says.
Local arts experts concur with the
Champion of Change studies: the arts
improve performance in other areas.
“It teaches them problem solvArts educators see the benefits of children being able to work (and learn) with
their hands, as opposed to passive learning seated in a classroom. Above: Hand ing,” says Kennedy. “They see that
Workshop art student, Amina, takes a fine touch to her artwork.
continued on page 39
RICHMOND PARENTS n SEPTEMBER 2002 n 35
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“Parents need to demand as much
there are more ways to solve prob- of an arts education as they can,”
lems, and the students give more says Micas. “We need to create a
detailed descriptions of problems. It habit of demanding that arts be a
part of education.”
activates all of the brain.”
The importance of art education
The arts also provide new challenges for those students already has received attention at the nationconsidered successful and connect al level: President Bush reautholearning experiences to the world of rized arts in education programs in
the No Child Left
real work.
Behind Act of 2001.
Many of the stuThis legislation proA study of the
dents who particimotes projects that
pate in the American
Department
strengthen and inteYouth Harp Ensemof Education’s
grate arts into eleble, a local ensemble
database of
mentary and middle
of harp students, for
school core academ25,000 students
example, are also
ic curriculum.
learning how to be
demonstrates
In her online
professional musi“students with
Letter
from
the
cians. The students
high levels of arts
Director, Kennedy
provide entertainsays this act is
participation
ment at weddings
viewed by many as
and other events,
outperform ‘arts
the most significant
where they earn
poor’ students by
revision of federal
money and learn
virtually every
education policy in
responsibility and
four decades, and
measure.”
professionalism.
will
hopefully
result in federal
Bolstering Arts Education
Art education in the school sys- funds being targeted toward art in
tems is victim, as many programs the schools as well as community
are, to competing issues about after-school art programs.
Just as importantly, she says,
how the government educates
children, to funding and financial studying art should come to be recconsiderations, and to pressures ognized and accepted as a fundato meet SOL standards and mental way of learning, knowing,
and expressing oneself.
national achievement levels.
For example, art classes are typically an elective by middle Introducing Arts to Kids
The Richmond area offers many
school, limiting art education to
elementary school for all but the opportunities to provide arts educacontinued on page 40
most interested students.
continued from page 35
No Child Left Behind Act 2001
The U.S. Congress established the Arts in Education Model Development
and Demonstration Program to provide grants to school districts and
other entities to help them develop promising models that strengthen and
integrate arts into the elementary and middle school core academic curriculum.
In addition to the Arts in Education Model Development and
Dissemination grants, the Department of Education is supporting work in
professional development for music instruction and cultural partnerships
for children and youth at risk. This program supports projects that develop, document, evaluate and disseminate promising models that demonstrate their effectiveness in:
• integrating arts into the core elementary and middle school curricula by
strengthening use of high-quality arts in academic instruction and strengthening the place of arts as a core academic subject in the school curricula,
• strengthening arts instruction, and
• improving students’ academic performance, including skills in creating,
performing and responding to the arts.
Source: US Dept of Education
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Landmark Theater
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RICHMOND PARENTS n SEPTEMBER 2002 n 39
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gallery & studios
Children and Teen
Art Classes beginning
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3451 W. Cary St., Carytown
804-353-8101
See our updated schedule at:
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Program offer a variety of classes in
continued from page 39
tion beyond the school day. Some the different art forms.
Community partnerships enprograms, such as summer camps,
are short term and introduce stu- hance formal arts education prodents to areas of art to which they grams and increase awareness of
might not otherwise be exposed. educational issues. These partnerOthers are long-term, where stu- ships bring community resources
dents learn an area of fine arts in and talents together to provide arts
more detail. These programs often opportunities to students and to
give students a venue to put their enhance teaching skills.
The Arts Council of Richmond is
skills to the test by performing or disan example of such a partnership. It
playing their work for
is a non-profit comothers.
munity organization
Professional organ“We see students
whose mission is to
izations such as the
who are not
advance the role and
Richmond Ballet and
recognition of the
focused, who are
the
Richmond
arts as a vital force in
Symphony engage
bouncing off the
the cultural, economstudents in fine arts
walls. After a few
ic, educational, and
opportunities by tapweeks of arts,
social life of the
ping the wealth of
R i c h m o n d
they are more
talented professional
Metropolitan area.
artists in Richmond.
engaged, focused,
The council’s Arts
Besides benefiting
and attentive.”
in
Education
the students, these
Program,
which
programs offer a way
involves public and
for adults to become involved in
most private schools, encourages
children’s lives.
Summer camps such as The teachers to consider ways to incorpoNeighborhood School of the Arts, rate the arts into the curriculum. The
council funds projects that may
Cat’s CAP at St.
range from one classroom to the
Catherine’s
entire school.
s c h o o l ,
Micas describes a physics
Summer Art
teacher, for example, who
Camp
at
invited a glass artist to his
Stony Point,
class to help illustrate how
a
n
d
glass is made and proCollegiate
duced as a way of reinS c h o o l
forcing a physics lesson.
S u m m e r
Quest
Arts
continued on page 43
Art through photography
opens up new worlds for
students such as Miles.
40 n RICHMOND PARENTS n SEPTEMBER 2002
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A Sampling of Richmond Arts Programs
Art takes so many forms that finding a medium that appeals to each child is
possible. Above: Students in a mosaics class at the Hand Workshop Art
Center dig into their “studies”.
continued from page 40
At another school, a ceramic artist
helped children make clay tiles
using everyday objects, which
were then fired and formed into a
tile mosaic. The project was then
used to illustrate how fossils were
made, and then in language arts
class as a point of discussion
about different societies.
After-school programs and summer art camps are another way for
children to dabble in art or to have
more focused attention on a particular area of interest.
The Hand Workshop Art Center
is just one of many organizations
that offer such opportunities.
“A lot of children love art,”
says Kennedy. “There are so
many areas and mediums,
there’s sure to be one where the
child feels comfortable.”
The center partners with several
local schools to offer supplementary art education. The ArtSmart
program, for example, reaches at
risk fourth graders at Clark Springs
Elementary School. Based on the art
SOLs, the students created a quilt
that described Virginia history. The
children also made their own pottery and then related it to how pottery was used in Jamestown.
In the Art After School program,
the center works with three
Richmond schools, Binford, Fox,
and Maymont. The students choose
from a menu of visual arts courses
that are offered on the premises in
after school classes.
“We see a tremendous change in
how children feel about school,”
says Kennedy. “They see [the art
classes] as an extension and part
of school.”
Minds in Motion, an initiative of
the Richmond Ballet, is another
program that integrates arts with
academics. In the year-long program, Richmond Ballet dancers
introduce fourth grade students to
the joy of movement. The program
does not teach ballet as much as it
teaches students how to apply
themselves to a task. RPM
The appeal of any region as a place to live and work is based in part on the depth
of the arts in that community. According to Dr. Stephanie Micas, executive director of The Arts Council of Richmond, “For a metropolitan area this size, it’s
amazing what we have.”
While this list is by no means exhaustive, it offers a sense of the many youth arts
opportunities in Richmond.
• Richmond Boys Choir, www.richmondboyschoir.org.
• Minds in Motion Program, Richmond Ballet,
www.richmondballet.com/mindsinmotion.htm
• American Youth Harp Ensemble, 353-7001
• DramaKids, www.dramakids.com
• Richmond Symphony, hands-on introduction to instruments, interactive concerts, three youth orchestras, www.richmondsymphony.com
• The Hand Workshop Art Center, year-round classes and summer camp programs, www.handworkshop.org.
• Neighborhood School of the Arts, extended day classes, summer camps, private piano instruction, community choirs, and fine arts workshops, www.neighborhoodschool.org.
• HATTheatre, theatre arts classes for children ages 6-18, www.hattheatre.org
• Latin Ballet, www.latinballet.com
• Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen, classes in the arts, 261-6200, www.
artsglenallen.com
• SPARC, School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community, acting,
singing and dancing, ages 5 to 18, www.SPARConline.org
• Swift Creek Academy of the Performing Arts, lessons in music, dance, art, and
drama, (804) 744-2801
• Cat’s CAP - St. Catherine’s school, creative arts camp, www.st.
catherines.org/summer/index.html
Additional Resources
• Virginia Commission for the Arts, state agency supporting arts through
funding, offers links to arts organizations, plus information about the
“Catch A Star Program,” that recognizes student attendance at arts
events. www.arts.state.va.us/
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, offers programs just for students,
www.vmfa.state.va.us/LearnMoreKids.html
• Young Audiences of Virginia,a non-profit arts-in-education organization
dedicated to bringing arts to children. www.yav.org. Be sure to check out
YAV’s magazine for kids, Artvark.
The Hand Workshop Art Center is one of many Richmond area resources for arts
education for children. Above: Leah participates in a mosaics class.
RICHMOND PARENTS n SEPTEMBER 2002 n 43