From Picasso to fingerpainting with frosting, Beethoven to Hot Cross Buns on a recorder, art appreciation should be a priority and value for all teachers and parents educating young people. At Self Development Academy (SDA), we focus on the arts, starting with our very youngest students.
Our toddlers at Self Development Preschool — a privately run school in Mesa — dance, sing, paint, and explore the world through their senses. Older students at SDA participate in music programs, including percussion and violin, as well as art classes, cultural field trips, and extra-curricular activities and clubs that integrate the arts with learning. There are so many studies on why the arts matter.
The Wallace Foundation works nationally to foster equity and improvements in learning and enrichment for young people. They rounded up resources and reports to help educators improve and expand access to the arts, especially in low-income areas. According to their research, “the arts generate a range of benefits for people and society, from bringing individuals pleasure and expanding their horizons to helping communities build stronger social bonds.”
SDA agrees. As a school based on the belief that education should be rich with exploration, discovery, and connections to everyday life, we make the arts a priority. Consider these benefits of art appreciation to children and adults alike
ART ENABLES SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
Regardless of age, artists memorialize, celebrate, lament, and capture a moment or idea to share with their audience. Children sing songs when they are happy. Or scribble wildly when they are angry. Or make playdoh hamburgers just like mom made for dinner last night.
The act of creating art is a full-body experience. While the brain is firing up thoughts and ideas, hands tickle the ivory keys or dab paint. Ears tune in to melodies or deep breaths take in a fresh box of crayons. Observing a painting of an orange can elicit smells in the viewer, who might imagine exactly how it feels and tastes. Or a song composed by a heartbroken musician can bring a listener to tears.
ART CULTIVATES A POSITIVE WORLDVIEW AND OUTLOOK
When children learn to appreciate a piece of music or visual art, they find beauty and meaning in the work of art. Once we begin to recognize what we like about certain artists’ work, we find examples and inspiration everywhere. A rainy day that may bring gloom and melancholy to one person will inspire another with the rhythm of raindrops, the smell of a storm, and the beauty of steam dancing above hot asphalt.
Even pain and tragedy can be used for good when they inspire pieces of art and unify the community in shared grief and healing. Consider war memorials that draw viewers from around the world or headstones made of beautiful marble and embellished with blooming flowers.
ART CREATES WELL-ROUNDED STUDENTS AND IMPROVES OUTCOMES ACROSS THE BOARD
Anyone can be an artist. We should all consider ourselves one, regardless of talent or skill. Appreciating others’ art and creating our own uses both the left and right sides of the brain. We analyze, investigate, emote, ponder, and so much more.
A study by American Institutes for Research shows that art integration — that is weaving the arts into other subjects — improves outcomes across the board, especially for students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. Performance in subjects like mathematics, reading, social studies, and science benefits from exposure to art in connection with the subject matter.
While taste in music, prose, and design — certainly culinary creations — varies drastically from person to person, there’s no disputing the value in the arts. We use art to express ourselves and communicate through it. It unites us and broadens our perspectives. Enjoying the arts benefits our brains and actually makes us more successful.
If you are looking for a school that values the arts, check us out. SDA is recognized as one of the best K-8 charter schools nationwide. We are tuition-free and have campuses in Phoenix and Mesa. We can’t wait to hear from you!
For more information, please call Self Development Academy or Self Development Preschool at (480) 641-2640, or visit selfdevelopmentacademy.com.