Arts Education

Arts Education Advocacy

The effects of COVID-19 continue to reverberate through all of our lives, as communities across our state and nation suffer devastating consequences. Our students are at the center of this crisis – facing everything from obstacles to learning, increased homelessness, food shortages and increased mental health challenges. Our students and community need to heal, and arts education is necessary to the solution.

The arts are core curriculum with standards and mandated in the education code that requires schools to provide visual arts, music, dance, theater and media arts classes to each K-12 student…it is not an optional program only to offer when times are good.

Multiple studies show arts education not only decreases feelings of anxiety, depression, and isolation, but also positively impacts all-around academic performance. The arts are essential to our students as they process their present and futures.

Students with an arts education are:
– 5 times more likely to stay in school;
– 3 times more likely to get a bachelor’s degree; and
– 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.

Arts4MC currently provides enriching visual and performing art classes to more than 26,000 students in 40 partner schools, but Monterey County has approximately 75,000 K-12 students, so our goal is to ensure that all students have access to a quality arts education. Your support of this effort is vital to our students’ education and well-being.

What can you do?
Decisions about how to ensure all students receive the arts education they need and deserve happens at the local level and you, the voter, have the power to make your voice heard. We encourage you to join us in expressing support for our students’ learning at our local school board meetings. Please download the School Board Template, edit as needed and send to your school district as soon as possible.

NOW is the time for our community to make our values clear and make sure the next generation is not left behind.

Monterey County School Districts: