|
Students need equal access to the arts
By Pat Boyd, Executive Director, South Dakotans for
the Arts
One of the most difficult jobs in any community is serving on the
local school board. For many it is a labor of love, but one where difficult
decisions must be made annually in the face of recurring budgetary constraints.
Each spring, school boards meet and carefully weigh the needs of their students
with financial considerations which too often dictate policy.
Coincidentally, spring is the time when school arts programs are showcased.
All-state chorus and instrumental concerts are scheduled, plays and one-act
contests are being held and visual arts exhibitions featuring work from student
artists are being hung in banks and post offices throughout our state. Now is
the time that your community can experience the local vitality of the arts and
the achievement of your own young people.
School board members are proud supporters of this outpouring of artistic
excellence from our students. But they also feel limited by the financial and
political realities they face. School board members need to understand the
critical nature of arts education in the development of each child in our
schools. Sometimes local education leaders see arts funding as part of a
balancing act, rather than an essential part of all learning. Simply put, arts
education is vital to the future of South Dakota.
It is the job of everyone who believes that arts education is a key element in
the acquisition of knowledge—math and history and science learning as well as
cultural understanding—to help our local school board members find solutions
that give all students access to the arts during their education. Equal access
to the arts—regardless of the size of the school—should be on every community’s
action agenda.
South Dakotans for the Arts can help. Our office can provide you with data from around the state and across the nation showing the importance of arts education to our children. We want to aid arts education in your community.
Contact South Dakotans for the Arts at 605-722-1467 or e-mail us at soda@rushmore.com.
Talk to your neighbors, to other parents, to teachers. Together, you can let
your school board know that your community has a strong core of support for arts
education.
Visit www.sdarts.org, the joint website of the South Dakota Arts Council and
South Dakotans for the Arts for more information on arts in education.