The Road Ahead for Arts Ed: It’s Wilder Than You Think
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” ~Yogi Berra
Arts education has big implications for the future of education though it may be a grain of sand in the scope of world events. Human creativity—what distinguishes us from artificial intelligence—will take the spotlight if we work together to make it so. Are we are fulfilling the promise of arts education? Is our thinking expansive enough to outweigh the challenges that hold us back? There are opportunities in policy development and accountability, research and data, and expanding the role of media arts. What follows is an examination of where we are and thoughts about where we go next.
The Policy Paradox
Arts education has made significant gains in recent years when we look at federal and state policies.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the 2015 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, put the arts in the frame as being part of a well-rounded education and opened new avenues of funding through Title I, II, III, IV-A. State policy indicators are known and tracked with ArtScan by the Arts Education Partnership, giving advocates and policymakers a better understanding of foundational policies seen as essential for advancing arts education.
History tells us that education policy at the federal and state levels play an important role in what happens in the classroom. That said, education policy, including arts policies, have long been beset by the so-called policy paradox, having strong policies on paper but no accountability for implementation.
What happens after the laws are passed? Anecdotal evidence suggests that accountability for implementation of those laws is inconsistent at best. Nonexistent at worst. States may have content standards in the arts; however, many do not have actual instructional requirement to teach the standards. In my experience, regulatory language that directs the how (accountability) by a specified agency (e.g., state department of education), is just as important as the what (policy).
What’s next? Define accountability and create a system of reciprocity among local, state, and national networks.
Research Re-Direct
Arts education research has come a long way. Prompted by the ongoing desire to affirm the benefit and value of arts education, research has led to some awesome as well as weird claims. (Remember the Mozart effect?) We’ve been effective in hitching our wagon to stars that might sway decisionmakers and the public, such as linking the arts to cognitive and behavioral gains, mental health and wellness, cultural engagement, student engagement, attendance, graduation rates, and SAT scores.
Arts Education Partnership’s ArtsEdSearch provides a treasure trove of vetted studies that are searchable by discipline, grade level, learning outcomes, type of study, etc.
A relative newcomer to the conversation is Neuroarts Blueprint Initiative, “the transdisciplinary study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the body, brain, and behavior and how this knowledge is translated into specific practices that advance health and well-being.” This new resource is a model of how multiple disciplines can work together to advance well-being—a big tent.
Extant studies represent decades of good thinking and positive gains for the field. We can stipulate the benefits, both extrinsic and intrinsic.
What’s next? Examine the facets of creativity and the creative experience in education as manifested in body, mind, community, culture, and society.
What We Measure
Advocates now have access to better data to make a stronger case for arts education. The field has come to understand that 1) access to and participation in arts education; and 2) policy indicators that support arts education are important measures that drive systems change.
A primary example is the work of the Arts Ed Data Project, working in partnership with state departments of education, state arts councils and private philanthropy to collect and publicly release arts education data for an entire state (searchable by state, district, and school). The intent is to ultimately increase access and participation by shining a light on where arts education exists and where it does not.
Chicago’s Ingenuity State of the Arts Report goes even deeper in surfacing data that indicates investment in arts education. Data is collected from 99% of Chicago Public Schools across equity, access, quality, and partnership metrics and scores participating schools in a Creative Schools Certification Rating matrix. The result is data + incentives = accountability.
Now that the field recognizes the power of data, we see the need to do more:
As an accountability measure, track states and districts that do (or do not) implement existing policies
Track the efficacy of existing arts education policies. Do positive policies in fact drive greater access and participation? If not, why not?
Track the teacher workforce pipeline. Is the total number trending up or down? Where and how many arts teachers are licensed? Where are the gaps? Is the teacher pipeline the proverbial canary in the coalmine? What are the lessons of Prop 28 in California on meeting demand for arts educators?
States like to tout the creative sector as a boon for the economy and workforce development. What is the link between K-12 arts education and the creative workforce?
Consider additional indicators of success beyond access and participation, including a measure for creativity. (Stay tuned for more on that from Jeff Poulin at Creative Generation.)
What’s next? Expand capacity to measure new indicators that drive advancement of arts education.
A Juggernaut: Media Arts Education (MAE), Arts, Media, and Entertainment (AME) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We live in a digital age, where technology has transformed every aspect of our lives. In the education sector, we face enormous challenges and opportunities beyond the fact that artificial intelligence is becoming synonymous with “needing fewer people to do more.” In conversation with arts leaders in several states, it seems that traditional arts courses are losing ground to Arts, Media, and Entertainment courses. This is the moment we must be bold and re-imagine how human creativity is centered in educational outcomes.
An early harbinger: In 2010, when I was at the California Alliance for Arts Education (now Create CA), we published a paper titled Both/And: Understanding the Vital Link Between Both the Arts And Career and Technical Education in California Public Schools.Despite an aggressive lobbying campaign, the California State Legislature passed AB1330 in 2011, changing the high school graduation requirement from one year of arts to one year of arts or CTE or foreign language.
First, a primer if this isn’t your everyday world.
Media Arts Education: Dain Olsen, President & CEO, National Association of Media Arts Education, tells me “Media arts education (MAE)... is an emergent arts discipline, alongside dance, music, theatre and visual arts, now initiated through adopted standards in 40 states. [It consists] of all the digital arts (e.g., imaging, graphics, video, sound, animation, 3D design, interactive, virtual).”
Arts, Media, and Entertainment (AME) is a career and technical education (CTE) sector focused on preparing students for careers in creative fields like graphic design, film, photography, and game design. CTE is an educational approach that provides hands-on, job-related learning to develop academic, technical, and employability skills for a specific career path.
Here’s the rub.
CTE classes and traditional arts classes (including media arts) have separate (but overlapping) content standards, yet different funding sources and licensure requirements.
There may be several reasons for the push me/pull me dilemma:
CTE courses are better funded.
Schools are moving toward career development pathways in middle and high schools, emphasizing specific job training over arts learning that focuses on creativity and skill development in an arts discipline.
Arts graduation requirements have gradually eroded to include a year of arts OR CTE OR foreign language.
The education system is full of silos. On the arts side, folks are feeling protective and fearful while the AME/CTE pathways are thriving and doing just fine without traditional arts.
Many curricular (and staffing) decisions come down to money. In this case, CTE courses are better funded and have the promise of future jobs. Either/or choices become the norm, making it difficult for schools to embrace the idea of providing both arts and CTE.
In his recent book and forthcoming article, Dain Olsen’s vision for Media Arts is broad and futuristic. He sees Media Arts as a huge opportunity for higher order creative thinking, if we have the imagination and the will to make it so. “MAE is essentially a ‘Digital Creativity Studio.’ Placed at the center of every school, as a schoolwide network of laboratories and devices, it is capable of transitioning the 19th century ‘factory’ system into a 21st century, cognitively based ecosystem." Olsen goes beyond sugar plum visions and lays out an exciting re-design of public education where schools are student-centered and learning focused. The design stems from those priorities.
What’s next? Articulate a shared vision with traditional arts, including media arts, and AME/CTE.
Keep It Human
So much to think about. I leave you with a compelling case for the power of human creativity by the illustrator Christoph Niemann of the New York Times in his June 2025 illustrated article, Sketched Out: An Illustrator Confronts His Fears About A.I. Art. (gift article)
“The power of a Georgia O’Keeffe painting is not that she witnessed better sunsets than the rest of us. She saw what we see. But then she sat down and spent her life trying to capture the experience in a new and exhilarating way.”
~Christoph Niemann