We live through art in our everyday life. We touch, use and engage with the products of the work of artists daily: the illustrations in our books, the photographs in our newspapers, the design of our buildings, the music on our car radios, the objects on our coffee tables, the performers, announcers and dancers on our televisions. For millennia, humans have decorated themselves and their homes, recorded their feelings and experiences, celebrated their victories, mourned their losses, preserved their stories and communicated their ideas through works in the arts. In fact, the vast majority of the knowledge we have of ancient times and people has come to us from treasured art objects, music, plays and dances that have been preserved for generations. Clearly the arts are a part of what it means to be human and an integral part of the choices we all make daily.
Some students who have experienced a sequential arts education will become practicing artists; others will become scientists, web designers, educators, doctors and more. When people who have experienced a sequential arts education go on into the work force, they bring to their careers habits of working through experimenting, reflecting, problem solving and creating. All students must have comprehensive and sequential learning experiences from pre-kindergarten through graduation in dance, music, theatre and the visual arts to provide this focused training.
The arts encompass skills, techniques, elements and principles that can be learned, studied, refined and practiced. Learning about and through the arts develops citizens who can make meaning from their experiences, analyze their choices, identify and creatively respond to problems, take risks, and tolerate ambiguity. A comprehensive, sequential arts education develops lifelong learners by offering students the chance to learn and practice as performers, creators, critical thinkers, informed audience members and stewards of their cultural heritage.
In the Curriculum Frameworks for Arts & Humanities, we have attempted to cultivate the skills that students will need in the 21st century. We have focused on Concepts and Competencies that give students the ability to express their ideas and experiences through the creation of works in dance, music, theatre and the visual arts. By focusing the entire program on active learning and creation, students will use the arts as another language with which they can synthesize knowledge and express their individual viewpoints.
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