Why We Need To Keep Arts Education In Our Schools

From Disney’s “High School Musical” franchise to “Glee,” it’s clear there’s an appetite for musical theater. But beyond entertainment, performing arts—proven critical to learning—are less accessible in schools than they once were. We're issuing a call to action.

This spring, the National Center for Education Statistics released a study that, sadly, wasn’t very surprising. Arts education is on a dramatic decline in this country. “Most troubling,” a press release stated, “is an equity gap between the availability of arts instruction as well as the richness of course offerings for students in low-poverty schools compared to those in high-poverty schools.” More than ever, parents need to stand up and supplement their children’s arts educations. We spoke with three different teachers in varying performing arts disciplines about how their craft can augment everything from everyday academics to, well, the human race as we know it.

Theater

“We know that a lack of arts programming is evident in the schools,” says Susan Agin, the director of the Queens Performing Arts Center, “and our goal is to enhance in-school literacy programs and provide cultural opportunities to students where a lack of arts programs is evident.” PAC has found a creative way to support both literacy and the theater. Their children’s book club and performance series is a popular program where they dramatize well-known books such as The Little Engine That Could and Fish Face, both aimed at elementary school kids.

“We bring the books that they read in their classrooms to life, which teaches them that reading is about pleasure,” Agin says. The impact of the programs is evident at the performances. “From the moment they take the stage, the students are clapping, singing, gasping, ooing and aahing. We know that we’ve made a lasting impression on them. Reading and theater will be far more likely to become a constant in their lives.”

The educational benefits from theater can reach far beyond the entertainment and even literacy values, and into the realm of social-emotional development. After all, art does imitate life. PAC’s productions deal with real-life circumstances, including bullying, self-confidence issues, or family struggles. “All of these troubling realities are addressed on the stage in a way that’s easy for kids to absorb,” Agin says.

Musical Theater

In September, Ben Hartley opened the Broadway Arts Factory in midtown Manhattan to help children, no matter what their family’s income bracket is, learn how to perform in musical theater. Hartley, who has spent the last five years running a summer program called The Broadway Experience, decided to open the nonprofit and have it run like a school on a year-round basis. Because it’s set up as a nonprofit, he is able to seek private donations to fund the program. It’s not just school budgets getting cut; less discretionary household income has many families saying sayonara to costly extracurricular activities.  

“We want to address that problem,” Hartley says. “We want any talented and passionate kid to be able to come to us and audition.” While programs like those at Laguardia High School (a.k.a. “the Fame School”) exist to focus on the performing arts, he explains, students have to choose one discipline from the very beginning: music, drama, or dance. “Musical theater is a combination of all those things. Our emphasis is triple threat. You have to be able to be a singer, dancer, and act, and that’s what we’re going to teach them.”