TCG Bulletin
October 2008, Volume 31, Issue 10
Improving Arts Education is Key to Stemming Audience Decline, RAND Study Finds
Policymakers have underestimated the critical role of arts learning
in supporting a vibrant not-for-profit cultural sector, according
to a RAND Corporation study issued in September. The study was commissioned
by the Wallace Foundation and conducted by RAND, a not-for-profit
research organization.
Despite decades of effort to make high-quality works of art available
to Americans, demand for the arts has failed to keep pace with supply.
Audiences for classical music, jazz, opera, theatre and the visual
arts have declined as a percentage of the population and the percentage
of these audiences age 30 and younger has fallen even more.
Calling upon evidence that experiencing and studying the arts in childhood increase the likelihood of arts participation later in life, the study urges policymakers in both the arts and education to devote greater attention to cultivating demand for the arts by supporting more and better arts education. Synthesizing previous studies, researchers find long-term involvement in the arts is most likely to be stimulated by arts education that develops a range of individual capacities:
- the ability to see, hear and feel what works of art have to offer
- the ability to create within an art form
- the historical and cultural knowledge that enriches the understanding of works of art
- the ability to draw meaning from works of art through reflection and discussion with others.
National and state arts content standards in music, the visual arts, theatre and dance embody just such a comprehensive approach to teaching the arts. But the study finds evidence that relatively few American youth are getting this kind of education.
At the public school level, researchers note, arts content standards have been almost universally mandated by the states and are broadening teaching practices, but state, local and district policies are not providing the resources or time in the school day to implement these standards. In fact, there is evidence that No Child Left Behind has led to reduced class time for both the arts and humanities in the past five years, according to the study.
“For policy change to happen at the state level, the entire arts community needs to get behind it. Arts educators can’t do it by themselves. But if they were joined by other policymakers, including directors of arts organizations and the civic leaders who sit on their boards, who knows what they might be able to accomplish?” said report co-author Laura Zakaras, an arts researcher at RAND.
Action: Visit the Rand Foundation website or the Wallace Foundation website to download a free copy of the full report, Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy, or a summary of the report.
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