Arts Education

Children Mending Hearts Honors Bethany Hamilton, Carson Meyer at 4th Annual Spring Benefit

Lysa Heslov | Posted 05.18.2012

Lysa Heslov

The sold-out event was bustling and lively and reminded everyone that the everyday, small differences we can make in another's life creates a hero in someone's eyes.

Kindergarteners Will Actually Like Opera, If You Let Them

The Huffington Post | Priscilla Frank | Posted 05.14.2012

Most educational programs, even those with solid art programs, portray art as a reprieve from homework and arithmetic. Frivolous and fun, art is a way...

The Audience and the Educator: A Study in Blue

Kurt Ellenberger | Posted 04.30.2012

Kurt Ellenberger

The education system can certainly expose students to classical music and jazz (hopefully enriching their lives by doing so), but it cannot make them love the music.

Million Hoodie March, Victor Hugo Edition: Les Miserábles in the South Bronx

Kate Quarfordt | Posted 04.17.2012

Kate Quarfordt

In all my years making theater in the Bronx, I've never seen kids give this much of a damn about a show before. Ironically enough, I think it's because we've never done a show that connects so directly to their lives.

Schools Find Time For Art Amid Test Prep, Education Reform

| Melissa Bailey | Posted 04.13.2012

This piece comes to us courtesy of New Haven Independent. Arts leaders who fear that testing is squeezing out creative learning may find some hope ...

Arts Education: Why Is It Important?

Café McMullen | Posted 04.13.2012

Café McMullen

As the arts are continually cut in schools and communities, the private sector needs to respond and find ways to fund these important programs. The arts serve as a way to both bond and celebrate communities.

Betsy Franco Directs Ensemble of Teen Monologues Inspired by 'In the Time of the Butterflies'

Nicole Hammersla | Posted 04.09.2012

Nicole Hammersla

Written and performed by the students of Henry M. Gunn High School, Faceoff seeks to explore the intersection of tyranny and resistance. I caught up with Betsy Franco, who coached Gunn's teen writers and actors through the process.

School Districts Sound Sour Note to Cut Costs

Meryl Ain, Ed.D. | Posted 04.06.2012

Meryl Ain, Ed.D.

A report this week by the U.S. Department of Education paints a dreary picture of arts education in the nation.

Arts Education On The Decline At Schools Nationwide

AP | CHRISTINE ARMARIO | Posted 04.02.2012

MIAMI -- Elementary schools without drama classes. High schools with large numbers of poor students that do not offer music. Those are two of the ble...

The Opening of the Smith Center

Michael Kaiser | Posted 04.02.2012

Michael Kaiser

What is especially exciting is that the rationale for the Center has little to do with the millions of people who travel to Las Vegas every year to enjoy the hotels, gambling and shows for which Las Vegas has become famous.

Dear Los Angeles: Build an Arts High School!

Gabriel Frankel | Posted 05.26.2012

Gabriel Frankel

A top-level arts education for the children of Los Angeles is necessary and would benefit the entire community, not just a select few.

Cuts to Arts Education Would Shortchange Our Children

Robin Bronk | Posted 05.13.2012

Robin Bronk

That leaders are seriously considering devastating cuts to elementary arts education programs in L.A., arguably the American city where the positive economic impact of the arts is most apparent, ought to be a wake-up call to all of us.

Music Unites: Empowering, Inspiring and Uniting NYC High School Students Through the Power of Music

Michelle Edgar | Posted 05.13.2012

Michelle Edgar

The arts and music education is always the first to go during budget cuts. As cutbacks continue, there is a greater need for music non-profit organizations like Music Unites.

Any Given Child: A Progress Report

Michael Kaiser | Posted 05.12.2012

Michael Kaiser

One challenge that is universally experienced is the shrinking pool of public funding for arts education. No one who works in arts education can ignore this reality.

The Artist and Disruptive Technology in Art and Education

Karen Lawrence | Posted 05.05.2012

Karen Lawrence

As The Artist suggests, art can help us understand the dilemmas presented by technological change, just as technology can help unleash the creative possibilities of art.

STEM to STEAM: An Interview With RISD's President, John Maeda

Darby Roach | Posted 04.23.2012

Darby Roach

2012-02-22-pullquote1.jpgJohn Maeda is a world-renowned artist and graphic designer; he's also a computer scientist and an electrical engineer.

Leave Those Kids Alone

Brian D. Cohen | Posted 04.01.2012

Brian D. Cohen

A lesson I learned early on as an art teacher is that the artwork your students make is not your own creation, not in the way the work you yourself create as an artist is.

Artists Bring What Schools Need

Nick Rabkin | Posted 03.31.2012

Nick Rabkin

Could arts education and teaching artists be a strategy for improving the quality of teaching in American schools?

Military Funding vs. Funding for the Arts: What Does the Difference Say About American Values?

Brendan McMahon | Posted 03.31.2012

Brendan McMahon

If we as Americans are so willing to grossly over-fund our military and defund our arts, our deepest expression of ourselves both at home and abroad is simply an expression of war.

Drawing From Both Sides of Your Brain

Brian D. Cohen | Posted 03.18.2012

Brian D. Cohen

Let's stop calling ourselves right- or left-brained, bad at art, bad at math; we share every capacity, albeit to varying degrees. Categorizing yourself just gets you off the hook.

NBC To Fund Musical Theater Programs For Needy Schools

AP | By LYNN ELBER | Posted 01.08.2012

PASADENA, Calif. -- NBC is funding an initiative to create musical theater programs in U.S. schools in need of arts education. The network said Frida...

Book Review: Why Our Schools Need the Arts

Kristen Paglia | Posted 02.29.2012

Kristen Paglia

Why Our High Schools Need the Arts provides arts advocates with the substantial ammunition we need to secure a permanent place for the arts in schools.

What I Want for Christmas This Year

Michael Kaiser | Posted 02.18.2012

Michael Kaiser

Greater public appreciation for the work of grass roots arts organizations which provide education, inspiration and entertainment to the underserved and provide access for new audiences and emerging artists.

The Three Horsemen of Arts Education

Nick Rabkin | Posted 02.14.2012

Nick Rabkin

If more education policymakers begin to recognize the poor returns that school reform has brought, we may, even in this time of deep economic strain, see a new openness to the arts in our schools.

The Chinese Are Coming: Another Perspective

Brian D. Cohen | Posted 02.14.2012

Brian D. Cohen

Much has been written lately about the recent influx of Chinese students to U.S. colleges, universities, and boarding schools. Both a recent Bloomber...