Main Navigation
free musical theater enrichment Going Strong Since 2011!Music Advocacy
4 x as likely to be recognized for academic achievement
3 x more likely to be elected to class office at their schools
4 x more likely to participate in math and science fairs
3 x more likely to win award for attendance
Participate in youth groups nearly 4 x as frequently
Read for pleasure nearly 2 x as often
Perform community service more than 4 x as often
(Study by Stanford University and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; 1998
Due to the current budget crisis, the Los Angeles Unified School District plans to eliminate 50% of the Elementary Arts Teachers (dance, music-general/vocal and instrumental, theatre and visual arts), or 173 of 345 teachers for the 2010-2011 school year, eliminating the remaining 50% in 2011-2012.
“Art is an irreplaceable way of understanding and expressing the world. There are some truths about life that can be expressed
only as stories, or songs, or images. Art delights, instructs, consoles.
It educates our emotions.”
- Dana Gioia, Poet and national endowment for the Arts Chairman, 2007 Commencement Address at Stanford University
“Kids who are struggling academically can get hooked. You
live for the moments when the kids shine—when a pathologically shy girl
shows up for mural making on a Saturday morning and stays all day long.
Or when a child paints a tile about his family, then brings his
grandmother to the unveiling of the mural and says proudly, ‘I made
that.’”
- Josef Norris, San Francisco Artist
"To put it simply, we need to keep the arts in education because they instill in students the habits of mind that last a lifetime: critical analysis skills, the ability to deal with ambiguity and to solve problems, perseverance and a drive for excellence. Moreover, the creative skills children develop through the arts carry them toward new ideas, new experiences, and new challenges, not to mention personal satisfaction. This is the intrinsic value of the arts, and it cannot be overestimated."
- Rod Paige and Mike Huckabee, Arts Education, Children's Music Workshop
More music teachers are role models for minority students than teachers of any other
subject. Thirty-six (36) percent of surveyed minority students identified music teachers as their role models, compared to twenty-eight (28) percent for English teachers, eleven (11) percent for elementary teachers, and seven (7) percent for physical education teachers.
- “Music teachers as role models for African-American students,” Journal of Research in Music Education, 1993.
"The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania School District analyzed its 1997 dropout rate in terms of students’ musical experience. Students with no ensemble performance experience had a dropout rate of 7.4 percent. Students with one to two years of ensemble experience had a dropout rate of 1 percent, and those with three or more years of performance experience had a dropout rate of 0.0 percent."
- Eleanor Chute, “Music and Art Lessons Do More Than Complement Three R’s,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 13, 1998.
- Jessica Hoffmann Davis, a cognitive developmental psychologist and founder of the Arts in Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education,Why Our Schools Need the Arts.
“In every successful business…there is one budget line
that never gets cut. It’s called ‘Product Development’ – and
it’s the key to any
company’s future growth. Music education is critical to the product
development of this nation’s most important
resource – our children.”
- John Sykes — President, VH1
“Music is an essential part of everything we do. Like puppetry,
music has an abstract quality which speaks to a worldwide audience in
a wonderful way that nourishes the soul.”
- Jim Henson – television producer and puppeteer
“It is our job, as parents, educators, and friends, to see that
our young people have the opportunity to attain the thorough education
that will prepare them for the future. Much of that education takes place
in the classroom. We must encourage our youngsters in such pursuits as
music education. In addition to learning the valuable lesson that it
takes hard work to achieve success, no matter what the arena, music education
can provide students with a strong sense of determination, improved communication
skills, and a host of other qualities essential for successful living.”
- Edward H. Rensi – President and Chief Operation
Officer, U.S.A. McDonald's Corporation
- Robert E. Allen – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Corporation
Disadvantaged and at-risk youth are often barred from school arts programs in favor of remedial instruction in reading and math. "This practice contradicts research evidence that quality arts education provides even greater learning benefits to disadvantaged youth than their advantaged classmates."
- California Alliance for Arts Education
