"Art museums know it. So do orchestras. Little theater companies, too. Nearly every arts organization can trace malaise and marginalization to a lack of arts education in schools. Several generations now have made it to adulthood never having been challenged to figure out what’s going on in Picasso’s Guernica, where the “Enigma” is in Elgar, whether the life path of George Gibbs and Emily Webb in Our Town is rote or meaningful - and why all these things should be urgent and important to anyone moving through the world today."
Short piece written by the Classical Music Critic @ the Philadelphia Inquirer on what the ramifications of decreased arts education in public school have had on the current and future role of art in society.
Without being introduced to music and art by my parents I can safely say that my own involvement in the arts would be a fraction of what it is today…. my public school education helped me identify instruments (if that). What can we do as a community (both regionally and nationally) to ensure that children are getting mulitple and frequent opportunities to engage in the arts?
A push to bring back arts in schools | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/25/2008
