10 Benefits of Art Education

Culture encompasses the collective beliefs, traditions, and artistic expressions maintained by a community within a society. Providing students with opportunities to engage in the arts is essential for their growth, as it shapes their initial understanding of cultural identity. There has been growing concern for some time that educational institutions worldwide are experiencing reductions in their arts education budgets, as the focus increasingly tilts towards STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). To ensure that Art education receives the attention it deserves, there is a call to expand STEM into STEAM by including the Arts alongside the traditional science and technology disciplines.

In order to convey the full message, it’s important that we communicate within our social circles the importance of incorporating arts education into school curriculums. To assist you in saving time on research, we’ve identified ten methods through which arts can aid in teaching students about culture and the essential skills associated with an education in the arts.

1. Creativity

Students have the freedom to creatively express their individuality through educational art. Often in arts programs, teachers encourage their pupils to recreate existing artworks in new ways. For example, they might take a classic Renaissance painting like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and reinterpret it through the lens of expressionism, or they could transform a well-known musical piece such as Beethoven’s Für Elise into a modern genre like hip hop through innovative rearrangement.

This procedure is known as remixing, which instructs students to engage their inventive abilities, encouraging them to think imaginatively and unconventionally as they pursue fresh ideas and concepts.

2. Cultural Awareness

Participating in artistic activities enhances critical thinking by encouraging students to approach their observation of the world with attention and detail. The diversity present in today’s society is unparalleled, allowing a multitude of messages and viewpoints to impact students. It is essential for them to evaluate these influences thoughtfully and determine their alignment with their evolving perceptions of the world.

The arts serve as a gateway for students to explore and integrate different cultural art expressions into their own knowledge, simultaneously gaining an appreciation for contemporary lifestyles and perspectives.

3. Improved Academic Performance

The intrinsic creativity of the arts equips students with crucial abilities for success. According to a statement by PBS, research conducted by Americans for the Arts reveals that engaging consistently in artistic activities, at a rate of three hours each day for three days a week over the duration of a year, significantly increases a kid’s chances—by fourfold—of academic recognition. These students are also more likely to be involved in math and science fairs or to receive accolades for writing essays or poetry compared to their peers who don’t engage in the arts.

4. Motor Skills

Various types of art require active engagement and involve a range of bodily movements. During creative activities like gripping a paintbrush, scrawling with a crayon, or playing an instrument, a kid hones their motor abilities.

The National Institute of Health indicates that by the age of three, students are typically able to draw circles and begin handling safety scissors. By the age of four, they are generally expected to be capable of drawing squares and snipping along straight lines.

5. Visual Learning

By engaging in activities such as sketching, interpreting a screenplay, and examining a musical score, kids can enhance their ability to understand and conceptualize spatial relationships.

Dr. Kerry Freedman, serving as the lead for Art and Design Education at Northern Illinois University, emphasizes the importance of understanding that the world extends beyond mere words and figures. She points out that by engaging in art-making activities, students gain the ability to analyze, evaluate, and apply visual data in making decisions about style and beauty. Cultivating visual literacy skills is crucial for young people, as it equips them to adeptly handle the overwhelming number of media messages and visuals they encounter, thus becoming savvy consumers of media and other products in everyday life.

6. Problem Solving

In all artistic endeavors, imaginative and analytical thinking are essential and work together. Engaging both hemispheres of the brain occurs during problem-solving. Helping students use both aspects of their brain allows them to see that issues can be resolved in various ways and inquiries can yield multiple responses.

Stanford University’s Education Professor Elliot Eisner argues that the idea encompasses a worldwide perspective since there are numerous methods to perceive and understand the world around us. This perception regarding the arts shifts our focus from the notion that art is solely about beauty and amusement, allowing parents to recognize that art is also a highly creative endeavor.

7. Decision Making

It has been established that engaging in art enhances skills vital for problem-solving and critical reflection, essential facets of the decision-making process. In their roles as artists, kids are afforded the autonomy to make whatever decisions they desire regarding their creative works.

Artists and students alike may ponder questions such as how to incorporate expressions of sorrow into a dance, what color to choose for a character’s outfit, how to portray a role, or how to adjust their vocal tones to reflect different feelings. Mastering the ability to make creative decisions at a young age can have long-lasting benefits of art classes, especially during adolescence, which can sometimes feel quite tumultuous. Perseverance is essential as well. Many people underestimate the difficulty of learning artistic skills like drawing, painting, acting, or playing an instrument, thinking these activities should be relatively straightforward. However, the notion that these crafts are easy is quickly challenged when the importance of consistent practice in achieving excellence becomes apparent.

Kids tend to get easily upset and might give up if they don’t immediately master a new ability, especially when all they desire is to fully express themselves through drawing, playing, singing, or dancing. They gradually comprehend through regular reinforcement that dedication and persistent effort ultimately lead to success. This attitude becomes crucial in advanced education and professional environments, where they’ll continually be acquiring new competencies and navigating challenging procedures as part of their career growth and advancement.

9. Collaboration

Collaboration is a crucial element in the arts, necessary for achieving exceptional outcomes. Whether it’s in a theatre troupe, a choir, or a musical band, students must consistently engage in teamwork. Sharing the workload and making concessions to align with the group’s unified objective is also essential.

By working together, students learn that their individual contribution plays a significant part in the group’s collective achievement. We, as adults, recognize from our own experiences that teamwork is essential across various aspects of life, from domestic responsibilities and professional environments to advanced educational settings.

10. Accountability

Responsibility plays a significant role in the arts, particularly in collaborative projects. students who are responsible for their individual tasks or roles within a team gain an understanding of being reliable and the importance of their contributions. Should they decide to opt out of a group activity or project, they typically recognize the negative effect their absence has on the group and experience the sense of owning those consequences.

Being responsible in both educational settings and professional environments is absolutely essential, especially when working as part of a team or facing an upcoming deadline. If objectives are not achieved by the end of the day, the whole system collapses due to its dependence on each person’s contribution, placing the burden squarely on their shoulders. While making errors is a natural part of the human experience, it’s equally important to acknowledge and assume responsibility for these errors to rectify them.