ART EDUCATOR

As artists in the twenty-first century, I believe it is our responsibility to serve as agents of cultural transformation. Schools today are under extreme pressure for students to test well in core subjects. Other subject areas, particularly art, are neglected. As a result schools often send students into the world unprepared, knowing how to take standardized tests, but lacking creative thinking, problem solving skills and agency in their own lives. Ironically, it is the very skills and concepts learned through art that facilitate the learning of other academic and non-academic disciplines. The skills learned through art education can serve as the bricks and mortar needed to build the intellectual connections required for individuals living in the twenty-first century.