Dry Creek 2nd grader shows how she interpreted emotion
Dry Creek 2nd grader shows how she interpreted emotion through music, color, and line after reading the story, The Way I Feel. Photo courtesy of Port Angeles School District.

Arts in Education

ArtsWA supports arts learning as a part of basic education for all students PreK-12. This program expands arts education access through grants, professional development, youth leadership opportunities, and ongoing research.

Strategies:

  1. Foster collaboration within the arts education landscape.
  2. Expand learning opportunities for educators.
  3. Strengthen youth, educator, and family civic engagement in the arts.
  4. Ensure arts learning is accessible to all PreK-12 students in Washington State.
  5. Elevate the role of arts education through Data, Research, and Accountability.

*Strategies (language adapted from and credited to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Art for Life’s Sake: The Case for Arts Education (Cambridge, Mass.: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2021)

Arts Integration and Early Learning.

Arts In Education Spotlight

Speak With Purpose, FY24 Arts in Education Grantee

Speak With Purpose (SWP) cultivates inclusive and creative learning spaces that allow young scholars to deconstruct the dominant narratives by using public speaking to uplift their culture, self -authored identities, and communities. The program’s performance-based educational strategies help youth heal from trauma by utilizing public speaking–integrated with performing arts, reading, and writing skills.

Confluence, FY23 Arts in Education Grantee

Confluence Education Programs work to plant seeds of knowledge for both students and educators, as they experience learning through a broader and more inclusive approach to history and contemporary Indigenous existence. The program incorporates Since Time Immemorial curriculum. In 2015, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5433, continuing to require the Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington state or other tribally-developed curriculum be taught in all schools.

Avanti High School, FY23 Arts in Education Grantee

This video highlights a community-based approach to arts learning inside and outside the classroom. Avanti high School’s Apprenticeships for a Creative Economy (A.C.E.) program matches high school art students with professional artists in the Olympia community.