Why is Arts Education important?
We're glad you asked!
Photo: The Youth Pride Chorus live performance - New York City
“In Haiti, we lost our culture. We lost our dancing, we lost our drums, because the young people were not studying it anymore. This has given us our culture back!”
— Jacky Asse, Director, Wings of Hope
Photo: Dance students from L’Ecole Sen Trinite in performance - Jacmel, Haiti
Benefits of Arts Education for At-Risk Youth
Arts education is impactful for all students, but it can be particularly life-changing for at risk youth, like the communities BAE serves, in improving engagement at school, stemming dropout rates, and increasing college enrollment rates, thus increasing the likelihood of social mobility. Catterall (2012) found that 22% of 13- to 17-year old low-arts, low-SES students did not graduate from high school between 1998 and 2008, compared to just 4% of high-arts, low-SES students.
Arts Education Participation and Academic Performance
Catterall, Chapleau, & Iwanaga (1999, from Champions of Change) conducted a multi-year survey of over 25,000 students to examine the relationship between arts involvement-- defined as either taking arts-related classes for credit or being involved in school arts activities-- and various indicators of academic performance and engagement. They found that students with high levels of arts involvement consistently outperformed students with low arts involvement in academic subjects such as English, reading, and history.
“The arts, we feel, is our path to leading the students forward. It is critical to what we do and how we envision moving the children forward as excited, self-confident, and intellectually curious citizens.”
— Lidia Ramirez, Partnership Director, Bronx Academy of Letters
“Through our partnership with BAE, we have seen countless students grow in confidence, find ways to uniquely express themselves, and take on leadership opportunities. It's been a partnership that has deeply enriched Shanti Bhavan and our community.”
— Ajit George, Operations Director, Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project
Photo: The Youth Pride Chorus students in concert - New York City
Photo: An Urban Assembly music class - New York City
Students with high arts involvement tend to perform better academically than their peers. (Catterall, Chapleau, & Iwanaga, 1999)
Students with deep involvement in music, in particular, tend to outperform their non-musically involved peers on indicators of math proficiency. (Catterall, 1999)
Students with deep involvement in theater are less tolerant of racist remarks than students not involved. (Catterall, 1999)
Student involvement in arts education is correlated with decreases in disciplinary infractions, delinquent issues, and dropout rates. (Bowen & Kisida, 2019)
The effects of arts education in high school persist over time: among low-socioeconomic status students, those with high arts involvement were found to be more likely employed than those with low involvement, have earned an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, and to be involved in community service. (Catterall, 2009)
Compared to other types of extracurricular programming, arts-based youth organizations allow program participants to develop and exercise skills beneficial to adult life. (Heath, 1999)
“I can’t believe that something like this exists in my school.”
— Urban Assembly 9th grader
“This was the best thing about school this year! Music brings me comfort, giving me inspiration in moments of loneliness, happiness, or sadness. No matter what mood I’m in, it helps me find something to relate to. ”
— Urban Assembly 12th grader
Photo: Students from L’Ecole Sen Trinite School - Jacmel, Haiti
For a mere $14, you can provide an hour of dance, music, and visual art classes to more than 300 children in Haiti.