St. Louis ArtWorks | in-depth art instruction, employment training, and 21st-century life skills
We strengthen Missouri education through the arts:by direct funding, partnering with others, and programming.
The Missouri Arts Council has long recognized the value of a strong arts education and the corresponding impact on the state: better educated students, more effective workforce, and economically vital communities. Unlike many other states in the U.S., Missouri has consistently maintained requirements for students to study and experience the fine arts in its public schools. With this in mind, the Missouri Arts Council’s grants for Arts Education support exposure to the arts, discipline-specific sequential learning in the arts, and the integration of the arts with other classroom subjects.
Our Arts Education program extends beyond these grants through partnerships with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education. Resources are committed to strengthen the position and impact of fine arts specialists, improve student achievement through arts integration, develop teaching artist’s skills and opportunities, and support the development of quality community arts education.
Strengthening the position and impact of fine arts specialists
Improving student achievement through arts integration
Developing teaching artists’ skills and opportunities
ARTS EDUCATION GRANTS
The Missouri Arts Council offers three different grant programs for K-12 schools: the Big Yellow School Bus Grants, the Touring Express Grants, and the Express and Annual Arts Education Program Grants. Schools are limited to receiving three grants, one from each category, within the fiscal year of July 1-June 30. For details about each type of grant, start with our Arts Education Grants page.
For assistance, contact Jenni Ryan, arts education specialist. | 314-340-6857 | jenni.ryan@ltgov.mo.gov
ARTS EDUCATION STUDIES | MISSOURI ALLIANCE FOR ARTS EDUCATION
The Missouri Arts Council has long recognized the value of a strong arts education, and the corresponding impact on the state: better educated students, a more effective workforce, and economically vital communities.
The Missouri Alliance for Arts Education, with the assistance of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the support of the Missouri Arts Council, has created two studies that analyze the relationships in Missouri school districts between student participation in fine arts courses (music, visual art, theater/drama, and dance) and attendance and graduation rates, disciplinary infractions, and statewide tests in language arts and mathematics in the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP). The first study was published in 2010: Arts Education Makes a Difference in Missouri Schools. The follow-up was published in 2015: Arts Education STILL Makes a Difference in Missouri Schools.
You can download the complete studies as 32-page PDFs and the key findings in two-page summaries.
The reports reflect our unequivocal belief: every child benefits from art in their education.
Our partnership with the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education in funding this study is a key part of understanding the public value of the arts in our society. Appreciating and supporting the arts in general benefits from graduating students with necessary critical and creative skills. We know that adults that have encountered the arts as youth are more likely to engage with the arts as adults. Pablo Picasso recognized the challenge when he said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
These reports underscore, once again, the unique and complex benefits of the arts.
ARTS EDUCATION RESOURCES
Since its founding in 1995, Arts Education Partnership (AEP) has become the primary forum and meeting ground for organizations to explore how the arts can transform American education. AEP publishes research and advocacy materials supporting the role of arts education in schools. AEP’s ArtScan is a searchable clearinghouse of the latest arts education policies from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. | aep-arts.org