Arts should be part of every child's education

As the Seattle City School Board nears completion of its five-year plan, we are concerned about the possible absence of attention in the plan to the arts.

We believe that by incorporating arts education ? including music ? as part of the core curriculum in every Seattle school, the lives of our children will be greatly enhanced, both during the years of formal education and as contributing members of our society.

Providing access to the arts for all children brings us all closer to the board's aspiration for equity in education and overarching goal to eliminate the achievement gap.

Over the years, the number of Seattle city elementary schools with music programs for fourth- and fifth-graders has greatly decreased. In some cases, parents have used their own resources to compensate for this loss. But in poorer neighborhoods and the schools that serve them, the students have to do without this important part of their education and socialization. In a very real sense, this becomes a de facto case of discrimination against a segment of the population as deserving as any of the full benefits of a broad education.

Sustained participation in the arts applies learning from every other core subject area (mathematics, sciences and the humanities), and studies have shown that arts enhance a child's academic performance, motivation, positive personal attitudes, interest in academics and higher levels of cognitive engagement. We will continue to perpetuate the achievement gap if we provide arts education to only a small percentage of Seattle's children. We urge the district to make a commitment to offer sustained arts programming to students at every grade level.

Many arts organizations, including Seattle Symphony, are working to bring the benefits of exposure to the arts to the underserved communities of Seattle. As part of this coordinated effort, the symphony has joined with representatives from the African-American and Latino communities to form ACCESS (Artistic and Cultural Community Engagement with Seattle Symphony), bringing resources to our partner schools and free symphony concerts to economically disadvantaged Seattle neighborhoods. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. The arts organizations need the school district to be a significant partner in building this community through the educational process.

The positive effects of music education in particular on overall academic achievement are well-documented in numerous research studies. The discipline, focus and shared purpose of students in music-making activities provide major long-term benefits for the cognitive and creative development of the individual child while fostering a strong connection to their school peers ? and by extension, to the entire community.

The social integration created by shared musical performance helps create a sense of commonly held goals and the spirit of cooperation that encourages active participation in society as adults.

The arts are an integral part of our history, our cultural heritage and our local, regional and national identity. Since time immemorial, music has played a vital role in bringing people together in times of grief and celebration. The arts serve as a cultural glue, bringing people together in an increasingly mobile society. They transcend divisiveness and increase understanding and respect for the extraordinarily rich ethnic and religious milieu that thrives in our great Pacific Northwest region ? a microcosm of the world's communities.

Seattle's diverse cultural offerings provide a strong link to the economic well-being and healthy vitality of our region. The ArtsFund's recent "Economic Impact of the Arts" study showed that 38 percent of patrons said their first exposure to the arts was through school.

The study also showed that the arts' economic impact on state business sales is more than $1 billion. School instruction in music and the arts provides local students the opportunity to pursue a career with regional institutions, as performer or administrator.

We appreciate the hard work that the School Board is putting into the challenge of creating a five-year plan in the face of undeniable financial constraints. Tough choices must be faced and dealt with. Those we make today will have long-term implications and effects on the future of our citizens, neighborhoods and city.

We respectfully request that the Seattle School Board strengthen its current position and mandate a significant place in its long-range plan for arts education for every child attending Seattle schools.