Art Dollar Challenge: Why we need arts in education

ArtFest, a Fort Myers-based non-profit organization that supports arts education in Lee County, is calling on the community to support its mission. Money received through the Art Dollar Challenge will support the arts in the public school system.

Each year, ArtFest provides thousands of dollars in art supply grants to local classrooms. Teachers use the money for supplies and equipment. Through ArtFest grants, students have fired pottery in kilns, woven tapestries on looms, constructed African masks and mastered the technique of block printing.

In addition to funding art supplies and materials, ArtFest sends artists into Lee County middle-school classrooms. Participants in ArtFest's annual art show in February, the artists demonstrate their work and explain to the students how they make a living as artists. Students also participate in an interactive project with the visiting artist.

Cypress Lake Middle School art teacher Carolyn Gora says visiting artists bring "the real world" into the classroom. "My students love to observe and listen to working artists," she says.

Charlie Greenholdt has participated in the ArtFest visiting artist program for five years. He lectures students on the techniques of watercolor and fields questions about being a full-time working artist. "I encourage them," Mr. Greenholdt says. "Although I'm straight with them. This is not the way to get rich."

Studies increasingly show the arts are as important to a child's brain development as academic subjects. In fact, a study linked to the U.S. Department of Education Web site summarizes the findings of cognitive psychologists on the transfer benefits of art: "The argument suggests that experiences in the arts create capabilities or motivations that show up in non-arts capabilities." The study also links visual arts learning with reading readiness, text interpretation and creative thinking.

Ava Roeder teaches at Cypress Lake Center for the Arts high school and has seen the benefits of arts education firsthand. "The arts give students a new language," she says. "It expresses how they feel about the world." Ms. Roeder says art education has both technical and intellectual aspects, as students conceptualize their projects before they create them. Art also involves goal-setting, she says.

Ms. Roeder's students are already working on their projects for the 2009 show sponsored by ArtFest in downtown Fort Myers. The festival Feb. 7-8 and will feature the largest high-school art competition in Lee County. More than 200 professional artists from across the country will also showcase their work.

For information about the show and to learn more about supporting arts in education, visit www. ArtFestFortMyers.com.

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