Altoona Area School District

Arts Advocacy

Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network

Why are the Arts of importance to education? We should start with the place of the arts in the "American Dream" and the future. "I believe that a strong grounding in, and exposure to the arts is one of the concepts at the heart of this new "economy of ideas. In nearly every field in which we need to foster these new ideas in order to succeed -- from computers to communications -- people with an education in the arts are playing critical conceptual roles."(Richard Riley,U.S. Secretary of Education  1998) This supports need for the arts as essential for the health of the nation.

As Bill Ivey,Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, stated "the arts should play a central role in the education, development, and creative skills of our children, and in the revitalization of our schools. To navigate the changing times we live in requires an education that builds persistence, creativity, and production skills. And a democracy that survives -- and thrives -- requires imaginative, creative, and productive citizens"