Randy Cohen of Americans for the Arts creates an annual list of 10 Reasons to Support the Arts. Here at the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, we are fortunate to see all of these reasons at the local level. This summer we are going to showcase a local example to support each of Cohen’s reasons.

Reason #3
Arts improve academic performance.

“Students engaged in arts learning have higher GPAs, standardized test scores, and college-going rates as well as lower drop-out rates. These academic benefits are reaped by students regardless of socio-economic status. Yet, the Department of Education reports that access to arts education for students of color is significantly lower than for their white peers. 91 percent of Americans believe that arts are part of a well-rounded K-12 education.”

In Sarasota County EdExplore SRQ is a web based tool provided to all county teachers to assist them in finding opportunities for students to participate in the local arts community. This tool features hundreds of ‘explorations’, all of which have been approved to meet educational standards.

Learn about all 10 local reasons here.