Performing arts education

Education in the performing arts is a key part of many primary and secondary education curricula and is also available as a specialisation at the tertiary level. The performing arts, which include, but are not limited to dance, music and theatre, are key elements of culture and engage participants at a number of levels. The endpoint for performing arts education varies: some educators integrate arts into school classrooms to support other curricula while simultaneously building students' art skills, and some focus on performing arts as an academic discipline in itself. Performing arts integration in schools Integrating performing arts into educational experiences can help students learn other subjects, such as science, as well as help them develop various non-arts-based skills. As children grow, engaging them in performance arts can help them meet developmental milestones, including those for motor skills and psychosocial skills. For example, teachers can integrate performing arts and the discussion thereof into their classrooms to honor student self-expression. Bilingual youth can benefit from this type of arts integration because it offers them modes of communication that can respond more easily to their culture and language than text-based or test-based learning. Regardless of the language used, teachers have found that using performing arts in the classroom, such as improvisational drama, can help students process and prepare for non-arts-based life situations, including bullying. Performing arts integration out of schools Performing arts integration that empowers students in these ways doesn't only happen in schools; community organizations, such as the Beat Nation Collective in Canada, use hip hop performance to help students deepen their understanding of and broaden their experience with indigenous identity and language. Issues of access and equity Despite the benefits of engaging students in performing arts, many students, particularly minority students such as African American and Latino students, do not have equitable access to performing arts in their school classrooms.