(piano music)
-[Voiceover] The ability to
express, through dance and music
and visual arts is amazing.
Every child should have
an opportunity to do that.
-[Voiceover] By them participating
and producing a work of
art, in their own ways, it
gives them a chance to succeed.
-[Voiceover] Through
telling their stories,
they learn about themselves.
-[Ian] I sometimes use
color in my drawings,
but usually it's without color.
I started when I was quite young,
like two or three years old.
It can help you focus
before a big test at school,
or you can do it when you're stressed out.
It just helps you think.
I do gymnastics and I didn't
make it to State last year,
cause I was very very, like tense,
and I didn't do that well.
-[Douglas] He would be
phenomenal halfway through a
competition, and something
would happen where if he
had one error, or two errors, it would
get to him, naturally.
A lot of athletes have this issue.
The coaching staff allowed
him to pull out his
drawing pad and draw during competitions.
-[Ian] It just, like, helps
calm me and makes me feel
just like tune out the
world and just focus on
one thing instead of
how you're going to do,
and what's your score
going to be on the podium.
It just calms me.
This year, when I drew,
I got the top score in
my age division, and I
qualified really, really easily.
- It allows him to not worry
about what could happen,
and letting all of his
emotions and feelings come
out on a pen and pad.
And at the end of the season,
his performance dramatically improved.
-[Rosa] The arts are so important,
because it addresses the
needs of the whole child.
I see the correlation
between academic achievement,
creativity, and the arts.
-[Benjamin] A student might
find his voice within the arts,
and it might start off as a whisper,
and it slowly progresses
into a steady, solid voice
that they can express themselves.
-[Christian] I've seen the
magic that takes place.
Someone who hears for the
first time your story matters.
That is revolutionary in
a young person's life.
-[Jordyn] I love to
read and love to write,
and love to dance.
Dancing helps me get friends
and it feels so good to
get mean stuff and sad stuff out of me.
-[Shantaria] She's always
been an outgoing kid,
ever since she was small, very happy baby.
When it was time for her
to actually start school,
she's very excited about her first day
of school, things like that.
-[Jordyn] What's this word?
- Rattle!
- Uh huh, a baby rattle.
- And she was actually
bullied by two different girls
the entire school year.
And she kind of became introverted,
and she didn't want to
go to school anymore,
her schoolwork started
to fail a little bit.
- I get bullied a lot and
it makes me sad and mad.
It's bad for other
people to get bullied and
then they don't want to
go back to school no more.
- We had to learn how to teach her,
when you're frustrated or
when you're angry and you
can't express it, the
one thing you can do is
get in front of a mirror, on a wood floor,
and dance it out until you can.
And it kept her motivated.
She actually got, the second quarter,
she got hundreds every week,
until the end of the school year.
And I owe it to dance.
-[Jordyn] I really love dancing, and I'm
never going to stop dancing.
And when I grow up, I'm
still going to be a dancer.
-[Alfredo] Arts education is
an integral part of students'
ability to learn.
Students' ability to access,
not just the curriculum,
but also the world.
-[Rosa] It just gives them
a huge boost of confidence,
that will support them through life.
-[Christian] They can
get that empowerment,
tell their story, and
perhaps find a career path.
-[Andrew] Art is really
something that adorns and brings
beauty, it's really influenced school,
and lots of things in my life.
The Composer Fellowship program
was something I discovered
through my youth orchestra
I played in when I was
eleven years old.
I got really excited, I
looked up the requirements.
I had to submit about ten
different pieces with scores,
the sheet music, and the recordings.
-[Gretchen] Andrew's been
in the program for a year.
It's infrequent that we
take incoming freshmen into
this program, but his work blew us away.
He's got, he's got something very special.
Both musically based, but
also as a human being.
- I do school online, I love it.
I've done it since the sixth grade.
This is my world right
here, this is my canvas.
Where things are written down.
The entire orchestra performed
a piece of mine in February,
and it was just unreal.
I've never dreamed of anything like that.
- It's both about
artistry and musicianship,
and the technicality, but
also about citizenship,
and sharing yourself with
the world in a larger way.
- Art greatly influences
other aspects of life,
especially in a school situation.
Art in general, whether
it be drawing, painting,
singing, doing music,
allows for passion and some
deep part of you just to be expressed.
-[Christian] The arts are vital.
People's stories are
precious, and increasingly
arts funding has been
slashed and cut throughout
the public school system in our country.
-[Rosa] Why is it an option?
Why do we have to apply
for grants to provide
arts for our children?
It shouldn't be that way.
It's just as valuable as math,
and reading, and science,
and if we don't voice that concern,
and if we don't demand
the arts for our schools,
it's not going to happen.
We have to be a voice for our students.
-[Alfredo] There has to be
something in our educational
policies that says arts
education is fundamental,
arts education is essential.
We need all levels of
government to see that
importance and to be able to
provide this kind of funding.
-[Voiceover] Our economy,
our future depends on
providing students and
citizens who are capable,
who are thinking, and
who are making decisions
about our world.
- Art is the pathway to
experiencing deep beauty
in this world, and so many children today
have very, very little access to that.
(gentle music)
