Arts Education

Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy

Audiences for classical music, jazz, theater, visual arts and other art forms have all declined as a percentage of the population in recent years, and as the new RAND report argues, reversing that trend will require more than simply expanding the supply of art and people’s access to it. It will also require cultivating more demand through arts education and other means to ensure that there are more people sufficiently knowledgeable about the arts to want to engage with them. This study, the third in a series by RAND on the evolving role of state arts agencies in building arts participation, examines what it means to cultivate demand for the arts, why it is important to do so and what state arts agencies and other policymakers in both the arts and education can do to make it happen. The report series was commissioned by The Wallace Foundation as part of its State Arts Partnerships for Cultural Participation (START) initiative.

Issue Brief - Summary
The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation

Human Capital's Role in the New Economy

Human capital has become the primary determinant of a region's economic vitality. Today's challenging workplace demands academic skills (i.e., a college degree) as well as 'intangible' assets such as flexibility, problem-solving abilities, and interpersonal skills.

The Workforce Skills of Today and Tomorrow

Today's knowledge-based economy relies on a combination of academic prowess and fluency with foundation skills relating to communication, personal and interpersonal relationships, problem solving, and management

of organizational processes. The skills necessary to acquire and retain a job in today's workforce include:

The Arts Help Build New Economy Workforce Skills

Research reveals that when young people study the arts they show heightened academic standing, a strong capacity for self-assessment, and a secure sense of their own ability to plan and work for a positive future.

The arts are one tool used by states to enhance workforce readiness for students in both the general and at-risk populations. Programs incorporating the arts have proven to be educational, developmentally rich, and cost- effective ways to provide students the skills they need to be productive participants in today's economy. Arts programs combine academic and workforce development skills in a manner attractive to participants of all age groups and economic backgrounds.

Children raised in higher socioeconomic brackets and exposed to the arts through other sources such as families and communities reap the benefits of these activities. In general, at-risk children lack the resources available to other children, are less likely to be introduced to the arts, and lose out on the important educational advantages that the arts can provide. Arts education can have a beneficial and enriching effect on all children, but in some cases, the effects on at-risk children are even more dramatic, especially among those from low-income situations.

Research reveals that when young people (both general and at-risk populations) study the arts they show heightened academic standing, a strong capacity for self-assessment, and a secure sense of their own ability to plan and work for a positive future. It was found that arts education can enhance academic achievement, reach students on the margins of the educational system, create an effective learning environment, and connect learners' experiences to the world outside of school.

Other studies of the effects of arts instruction on learning have found that children who study the arts are:

• Four times more likely to be recognized for academicachievement;
• Elected to class office within their schools three times asoften;
• Four times more likely to participate in a math and sciencefair;
• Three times more likely to win an award for school attendance; and
• Four times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem

In addition to academic success, students introduced to arts education have heightened soft skills. - children receiving at least three years of in-school arts instruction scored significantly higher on quantitative tests of creative thinking than their peers with less arts instruction. Students with more arts instruction had index scores averaging 20 points higher than their peers on measures of creative thinking, fluency, originality, elaboration and resistance to closure.

Arts education appears to develop cognitive skills and traits that may or may not be easily measured through standardized testing. According to Dr. Elliot W. Eisner of Stanford University , schooling in the arts has cognitive effects that help prepare students for the 21st-century workforce. Eisner identifies key competencies of cognitive growth that are developed through an education in the arts. These include:

• Perception ofrelationships;
• Skills in finding multiple solutions toproblems;
• Attention tonuance;
• Adaptability;
• Decision-making skills; and
• Visualization of goals and outcomes

The arts contribute significantly to the creation of the flexible and adaptable knowledge workers that businesses demand to compete in today's economy.

In addition to supporting general workforce competencies, arts competencies in themselves can be marketable skills in today's economy. For instance, today's media workers are applying arts skills in careers such as television and film production, Web site design, and advertising. Design skills taught through the arts are both professional and technical and can lead students to careers in the architecture or fashion industries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has counted more than 2 million full-time workers in artist occupations.10 In this way, workforce development programs that involve the arts may provide dual benefits, opening up careers in the creative industries for some students while enhancing the overall workforce preparedness of others.

Arts Based Education for General, At-Risk, and Incarcerated Youth Populations

As states continue to focus on the future development of their workforces, arts-based education proves to be a viable option for developing skills necessary for increased productivity and prosperity. The following programs highlight several states' best practices in arts education for general, at-risk, and incarcerated youth.

The Arts Build Skills for the At-Risk Population

Because of challenging neighborhood environments, lack of role models and challenged school systems, at-risk youth are most in need of educational programs and workforce development training; yet, they are the least likely to receive the necessary assistance. Not only are disadvantaged youth likely to earn less money and pay fewer taxes as a result, but significant funds are also spent combating or compensating for poor social and academic environments.

By investing in arts-based prevention programs for youth, states are working to reduce later unemployment, corrections, and public assistance costs. After-school programs have joined forces with the arts to bridge this gap and foster a developed workforce. The programs have been successful through a simple combination of the arts, academics, and social counseling, and the reinforcement of necessary soft skills. Not only have violence, drug abuse and alcohol abuse in communities decreased through arts-based prevention programs, but programs have documented increases in students likelihood to set further educational or career goals. Gains in self-esteem, discipline, problem -solving and decision-making all skills necessary to actively participate in today's workforce have also been noted.

The Arts Develop Skills in Incarcerated Youth

The arts are being used for skill development for a population that is most without resources, role models, or positive futures incarcerated youth. Through the intervention of the arts, young people are taught job skills that will prepare them for a life outside of prison. These programs seek to develop skills that put young inmates on par with others in their age range. Using the arts to help incarcerated youth become productive members of society, with the skills and attributes necessary for personal financial prosperity, contributes to regional stability and vitality.

Conclusion

In a human capital-based, knowledge economy, the loss of workforce productivity is tantamount to throwing money away. In this environment, states do not have the option of excluding at-risk or incarcerated youth populations from the workforce. In the face of such developments as a shrinking workforce, increased globalization, and an aging population, governors can continue to explore methods that guarantee higher levels of productivity and financial viability for their states. Diverse arts education programs in and out of school curricula have proven to be valuable options for states seeking to develop advanced workforce skills for general, at-risk, and incarcerated students. With the help of the arts, governors can ensure that skills are developed effectively, completely, and to the best advantage of the states and their constituencies.

Summary of the Issue Brief - Summary
The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation
Economic & Technology Policy Studies
Contact: Phil Psilos (202) 624-5330 May 1, 2002

Arts education gives students the skills of creativity, problem solving, imagination and innovation

"There is a solid body of research showing that arts education leads to well-rounded citizens, giving students the skills of creativity, problem solving, imagination, and innovation. Now, there is evidence that this is understood by the general public, perhaps in ways that it is not understood by local political powers who shape school curricula. Working at the local level with the forces that shape the agendas of local school systems, the arts can be advanced as an integral, central part of the curriculum."

- Henry Fogel, President and CEO, League of American Orchestras
www.americanorchestras.org