Children should be encouraged to learn in, through, and about the arts by actively engaging in the processes of creating, participating in/performing, and responding to quality arts experiences, adapted to their developmental levels. As they engage, children learn they can observe, organize and interpret their experiences. The arts experience becomes a source of communication and interaction. (The Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight; Sarah Goldhawk 2)

Arts can improve academic performance. Research by James Catterall at UCLA and others has shown students engaged in the arts perform better academically. Students maintain higher grade point averages and standardized test scores and lower drop-out rates—across all socio-economic strata. (Cohen and Kushner 10)

Arts integration helps youth become more engaged citizens. The artistically-engaged individual combines intense awareness with a strong belief that he or she can shape the world—a belief at the core of any democratic society. Students must believe they can make a difference. (Gude)

The Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight; Sarah Goldhawk. Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections. Task force report. Washington, D.C.: Arts Education Partnership, 1998.

Cohen, Randy and Roland J. Kushner. "An Annual Measure of the Vitality of Arts and Culture in the United States." National Arts Index. Americans for the Arts, 2009. 1-11.

Gude, Olivia. Art Education for Democratic Life- Lowenfeld Lecture. Speech notes. Reston: National Art Education Association, 2009.

Dan Pink video blurb

In placerat, felis et viverra tincidunt, sapien lacus feugiat nulla, in vestibulum velit diam nec orci.

Nulla suscipit dignissim dui et.