advocacy or arts advocacy - Advocacy is the act of pleading or arguing in
favor of something, such as a cause, an idea, or a policy. Active
support. This term is often used to refer to efforts to support
specific art disciplines, or
organizations, etc., as well as of support for the
arts in general.
The benefits associated with participation in the arts are both intrinsic (valuable in themselves) and instrumental (in promoting achievements in other disciplines, social and economic spheres), and that they are valuable in both private and public ways. See the Framework for Understanding the Benefits of the Arts from McCarthy's (2005) Gifts of the Muse, a RAND Corporation study funded by the Wallace Foundation.
Arts education talking points:
1. The arts are central to life long learning.
We are surrounded by the arts.
cars and homes reflect complex and expressive design. We hear music
throughout the day. TV
and cinema are filled with dance and drama. More and
more we go to museums,
to the theater, music and dance
The arts have been central to
every culture past and present.
Often the best way to understand other societies is through their
arts. The arts are a reflection of our society. They inform and
engage us, both subtly and deeply, and give meaning to our shared
2. A comprehensive, sequential
arts education is essential for all students.
Students can develop unique
expressive skills through
their creation of the arts, and the arts present ways for students
with differing learning styles and abilities to "find their
The arts present a powerful
way for students to perceive
the world around them. Thinking starts with the ability to perceive.
Experience with the arts transfers
to and strengthens basic thinking skills in a variety of areas,
e.g., spatial-temporal thinking for higher level mathematical
reasoning (research by Gardiner and Shaw), language and analytical
thinking needed for verbal thinking and communication.
Experiences in creating the
arts are highly motivating
ways for students to develop social / group skills, e.g., collaboration, loyalty, responsibility,
reliability, respect for others and their work.
Many state school boards have
mandated all arts for all students through junior high, and proficiency
in one art form for high school graduation.
3. The arts should be integrated into the
curriculum and taught as independent disciplines.
Dance, theater, and the visual
arts are each a distinct discipline and students must learn to
critique and understand the role of each in society. They should
also be introduced to creating in each art form.
The arts are basic to the study
of social studies and language arts since they are found in all
social contexts and are
a means of communication.
The arts are a highly motivating
method for students to learn about many subjects including math,
science and foreign languages.
4. Arts education prepares students for
There are many well-paying,
interesting job opportunities in the arts, or that use an arts
background in the technology / communications and entertainment
industries and in education.
Business seeks students with
arts degrees because they have developed valuable reasoning,
creating and communication skills.
5. Arts education prepares students for
The U.S. Department of Education
recommends that college bound middle school, junior high and
high school students study the arts. Many universities require
one high school arts credit for admission. The skills and behaviors
students need to learn for successful job performance are directly
impacted by their training in the arts.
A 1998 study by the Arts Education Research
Center at NYU argues that achievement test scores in academic
subjects improve when the arts are used to assist learning in mathematics, creative writing,
and communication skills. ("Theory and Practice in Arts Education: A Report on the National Arts Education Research Center at New York University" by Jerrold Ross. ERIC #: ED356977)
Arts Rich Schools
had a 3% lower dropout rate before graduation than Arts Poor Schools. (Champions of
The writing quality of elementary students
was consistently and significantly improved by using drawing
and drama techniques that allowed the students to experiment,
evaluate, revise and integrate ideas before writing began, thus
significantly improving results. (B.H. Moore and H. Caldwell)
High-risk elementary students with one
year in the arts-unfused "Different Ways of Knowing" program gained eight percentile points on standardized language
arts tests; students with two years in the program gained 16
percentile points. Non-program students showed no percentile
gain in language arts. (J.S. Catterall)
"I must study politics and war that
my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography,
natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and
agriculture in order to give their children a right to study
painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and
John Adams (1735-1826), America's second president, wrote in
a letter to his wife Abigail from Paris, while on a diplomatic
mission to the France during America's Revolutionary War, July,
"Art in all its distinct forms defines,
in many ways, those qualities that are at the heart of education
reform — creativity, perseverance, a sense of standards, and
above all, a striving for excellence."
Richard W. Riley,
U.S. Secretary of Education under President William Clinton.
Americans for the Arts has been running rousing campaigns in the mass media, leading with
such questions as "There's not enough art in our schools.
No wonder people think Martha Graham is a snack cracker."
And, ". . . No wonder people say 'Gesundheit' when you say
Take a good look at their varied and ongoing art advocacy.
During the past decade, arts advocates have relied on an instrumental approach to the benefits of the arts in arguing for support of the arts. This report evaluates these arguments and asserts that a new approach is needed. This new approach offers a more comprehensive view of how the arts create private and public value, underscores the importance of the arts’ intrinsic benefits, and links the creation of benefits to arts involvement.
Gifts of the Muse responds to the prevailing view that in the public realm, the arts are an instrument for achieving broad social and economic goals (economic growth, improved student learning, community revitalization), while the intrinsic benefits have been viewed as only of private, personal value. Gifts of the Muse is a powerful tool for those involved in public policymaking, because of its findings that the intrinsic benefits of the arts provide the foundation for the creation of instrumental benefits. It argues that the purely "instrumental" approach ignores key benefits that are created uniquely by arts experiences, and is a springboard for discussion about a new approach which recognizes the continuum between intrinsic benefits and instrumental benefits, asserts that the intrinsic benefits must be created in order for instrumental benefits to be realized, examines how both are connected to creating public value, and how benefits are linked to public participation.
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is the principal organization for school administrators in the United States. "In the Front Row - The Arts Give Students a Ticket to Learning" is an article by Rick Allen in the spring 2004 issue of ASCD's jounal Curriculum Update. Rick Allen writes that, "Although the visual arts, music, and theater might seem locked in a losing battle with other subjects for money and time in schools, experts say that a strong case still can be made for increasing the arts in schools. Eric Jensen, author of the ASDC book Arts with the Brain in Mind, argues that the arts should be a major discipline in the schools -- 'one worth making everybody study and learn.'" Not only can the arts be a powerful solution for helping educators reach a wide range of learners, they also "enhance the process of learning" by developing a student's "integrated sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities," writes Jensen. Such brain systems are the driving forces behind all other learning, he adds. Rick Allen writes that although reading and math may grab the headlines, arts education advocates retain a long-term optimism as they push for arts integration, professional development, and community partnerships to advance their cause.
Keep Arts In Schools is a project for the Ford Foundation, for which Douglas Gould & Company is developing messages and conducting opinion research to determine how best to frame arts education for advocates who seek to build a constituency for lasting change. KeepArtsInSchools.org features the work they have executed to date on this project and seeks to arm advocates with the tools and resources they need to be more effective in their work and in their communications to keep arts education in public schools.
The Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Optimizing America's Cultural Resources is Pew's largest
national cultural initiative
ever. Begun in 2000, its goal is to strengthen political and
financial support for nonprofit culture by building an infrastructure
for the development of more effective private and public policies
affecting American arts and culture. This will be a five-year,
multi-million-dollar effort. "Art and culture are the second
largest export in America after technology," said Marian
A. Godfrey, director of The Culture program for The Pew Charitable
Trusts. "And while culture plays a significant role in the
American economy-contributing between three and six percent of
the gross domestic product we have no organizing framework for
this remarkable cultural richness and no overall context in which
to understand and nurture it." The main goal of this initiative
is to usher in a new era of cultural policy development to ensure
that the cultural heritage and artistic resources of the USA
are appropriately sustained and supported. "We hope to make
available, for the first time, a new level of comprehensive,
fact-based information on America's cultural life. This information
can guide a more meaningful and, we hope, a broader dialogue
on the role of arts and culture in our society," said Stephen
K. Urice, the officer of Pew's Culture program with responsibility
for the new initiative. "We are reinforcing the idea that
the arts are a necessary and vital part of the health of our
society." The research component of the initiative consists
of gathering, developing and evaluating data on American arts
and culture. The RAND research study will address the absence
of comprehensive data on the arts by compiling an information
compendium that would include databases, research studies and
other literature on the performing, visual and literary arts
and the major disciplines within each of these branches. Envisioned
as a key element of the Trusts' research strategy would be the
creation of a national cultural information exchange. The exchange
would serve as a repository and resource for cultural statistics,
sponsor rigorous research and conduct polling.
It would deliver
its information to opinion leaders and policy-makers through
the media, cultural service organizations and professional publications.
Promoting a more informed and broader dialogue of the importance
of arts and culture to our society is another major objective
of the strategy. The Trusts will build on their current support
of the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University,
established in 1993 to increase the quantity and quality of
arts reporting, by encouraging the development of arts and culture
news programming on public, cable and commercial broadcasting.
The Trusts will also seek to strengthen the advocacy capacity
of the arts sector by partnering with other cultural organizations
and grantmakers. Recognizing governmental and foundations' demands
for greater accountability, the Trusts will work closely with
cultural institutions and their service organizations to strengthen
institutions' capacities to evaluate the results and impact of
their programs and activities. It will also seek ways to assist
the cultural community to develop the leadership that will be
needed to maintain a strong and vibrant future.
ArtsEdge at The Kennedy Center for the Arts, Washington, DC.
The Arts Education Partnership. The Arts Education Partnership has published a book on arts education titled Third Space. Third Space tells the story of the profound changes in the lives of kids, teachers, and parents in 10 economically disadvantaged communities across the country that place their bets on the arts as a way to create great schools.