To neglect the contribution of the arts in education, either through inadequate time, resources, or poorly trained teachers is to deny children access to one of the most stunning aspects of their culture and one of the most potent means for developing their minds."
Elliot Eisner, Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of Art at Stanford University, Music Educators Journal, 1987

Actors, writers and artists work at the interface between the real and the imagined. They coax us out of the numbness of the everyday – where life passes in a blur – and into a heightened space where we can inhabit other lives and find ourselves in other circumstances. The mind opens, stretches, takes in more than it knows, and returns again to the ordinary world, richer. This is not just relief – it is revelation. If art has not that purpose – it is not art."
Source: Author Jeanette Winterson (www.jeanettewinterson.com)

"The Arts contribute to the development of an understanding of the physical, emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, social, moral and spiritual dimensions of human experience. They
also assist the expression and identity of individuals and groups through the recording and sharing of experiences and imagination."
Source: Creative Connections: An Arts in Education Policy Consultation Paper.

"In arts learning young people become adept at dealing with high levels of ambivalence and uncertainty, and they become accustomed to discovering internal coherence among conflicting experiences. Since young people live in worlds that present them with different beliefs, moralities,
and cultures, schools should be the place where learning fosters the reconciliation of apparent differences."
Source: Creative Connections: An Arts in Education Policy Consultation Paper.

"Ironically, the business community clamors for creative people, seen as the competitve key to innovating in a globalized conomy; but the educational system continues to put greater importance on mathematics, science, and other "hardcore" disciplines, which are seen as more "useful." The arts help to promote both the creative abilities and cultural literacy that are critical to developing fully engaged citizens in the global society."
Source: Art, Artists and Teaching Paper

"To talk about the artist's role in teaching is to talk about a pedagogy that encourages making, attending, problem solving, taking responsibility, and experienceing—hardly revolutionary concepts in themselves, but perhaps revolutionary in articulating the case for teaching art as fundamental—even critical—to developing a healthy and creative post-industrial society."
Source: the Art, Artists and Teaching Paper

"Very few things turn on the kids like [world music] does. What we are really doing is promoting an understanding of the diversity that we have. There are lots of prejudices that are established out of ignorance. This is one way to deal with that ignorance. If we can eliminate prejudicial thought at that level, then we've made a major accomplishment."
- Sal Ferraras, musician and head of the world music program at Vancouver Community College

>> Ten Lessons the Arts Teach