The importance of visual arts instruction
Art Reaching Today's Youth, Inc. (ARTY) provides visual arts instruction for children in Broward County who have no access to this kind of educational curriculum. Through the generous support of our donors, ARTY is giving children in kindergarten through 5th grade a creative experience that many would otherwise not have. The students we serve attend area public schools that qualify for federal Title I assistance and are typically located in poorer neighborhoods in the greater Fort Lauderdale area.
Mobile studio concept
The Arty Van Gogh mobile studio is made available through a usage agreement with commercial studio Tropical Heatwave Designs, Inc., giving students access to a fully equipped and staffed maker space that offers just the right environment for creative minds to work. Sessions are fun, engaging, and consist of projects that blend art and concepts from language arts, science, history, math, and social studies. That means children can apply their art experience to skills they must master in academic subjects.
Aiding academic performance
In fact, formal studies have shown a distinct correlation between arts instruction and academic performance. At the conclusion of a 2005 study by the Rand Corporation, researchers wrote, "Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork."
A 2012 report from the National Endowment for the Arts concluded, "(B)y nearly every indicator studied, a student from a low-socioeconomic (SES) background with a high-arts educational experience significantly outperformed peers from a low-arts, low-SES background, closing (and in some cases eliminating) the gap that often appears between low-SES students and their more advantaged peers."
ARTY's president and creative director, Libby Hodges, is an art teacher with more than 16 years of experience in the classroom. She designs art projects for the students which are tailored to each grade level and presented in coordination with today's academic standards and awareness of the needs of diverse learning populations.
Above, Libby Hodges, left, and Rosemarie Davis put the finishing touches on Arty Van Gogh's unique exterior. For more about the Art Reaching Today's Youth program, email Libby at the link here.