Need/Benefit
"Every student in the nation should
have an education in the arts." [1]
You hear platitudes like this a lot. But what does it mean? Does an arts education help a child in other academic areas? Does the child have fun? And, looking far into the future, will it help a child with long-term academic and personal growth? Time and again, studies have shown that the answers to these questions are yes, yes, and yes:
- Training in the arts improves cognition. Music, acting, and dance improve a range of life and academic skills. [2]
- Many after-school educators who incorporate the arts into their programs say that the arts promote interdisciplinary learning, engage students who would not otherwise excel, and help reveal students' hidden talents. [3]
Elysian Charter School Photo Credit: Jay Savulich
Parents know this intuitively: in New York City, three-fourths of recently-surveyed parents say they were looking to enrich their children's education with arts and music. [4]
However, many local public school systems are failing in arts education. Many New York and New Jersey metro area children are given an inadequate education in subjects such as painting, dance, acting and poetry writing. To make matters worse, the least well-served areas often have the most at-risk, low-income children, whose parents often don't have the time or money to take them to out-of-school, private arts programs.
To solve this problem, Arts to Grow focuses on building a better connection between parents, children, artists, communities and schools.
We strongly believe that:
- Uniting the schools, nonprofits and the cultural resources of a community in delivering arts education is a win-win partnership. [5]
- After-school and summer programs can ... provide youth with positive, fun learning experiences that will keep them inspired for a lifetime. [6]
Arts to Grow is Achieving These Goals:
We teach the arts to young people aged five through eighteen. Our classes are led by experienced teaching artists and our programs are designed to allow schools and community organizations to reach out to their neighborhoods. We do this by helping existing organizations expand their offerings to students. We especially target minority communities and neighborhoods filled with low and moderate income households.
The Principles of Arts to Grow:
The Value of School and Community Partnerships
We strongly believe our work with students is best accomplished as a partnership with existing community-based and school-based programs. Every program is tailored to meet the needs of each individual partner organization and the young people served. We meet and communicate regularly with our program partners to ensure strong communications and continued improvement.
Community Outreach: Benefits For All
Arts to Grow offers students the opportunity to share their work through presentations on stage, or on display, in settings such as senior centers, hospitals, community centers, and shelters. Connecting diverse members of the community by sharing young people's artistic work opens important avenues for dialogue and learning between students and community members.
Why Teaching Artists
We believe that working artists - practitioners who are actively making original art - are best able to inspire and nurture young people's creativity. We engage experienced teaching artists who have previously taught young people during both in-school and out-of-school classes. While working with teaching artists, students make their own art and discover the joy of learning.
Evaluation and Program Assessment
Arts to Grow is a learning organization that assesses student outcomes, builds effective partnerships with schools and community organizations, and evaluates our teaching artists' abilities to connect with young people. We engage in a process of continuous evaluation and review of program outcomes. To achieve this, we use site observations, student interviews, and surveys of parents, artists and program partners.
PS 75 Photo Credit: Lori Spears
