Being an Art Smart Business = Support for Arts Education
Monica Kasley, Vice President of Development for South Shore Arts, has announced a major new campaign to garner support for its extensive Youth Outreach Program from area businesses and professionals.
"We have selected the name Art Smart for this campaign," says Monica, "because art education can play a significant role in helping children to be better students now and, eventually, better employees in our work places and better citizens in our communities."
According to a 1996 study by the College Entrance Examination Board, students of the arts consistently outperformed peers with limited arts exposure on the SAT, scoring an average 48 points higher in verbal skills and 34 points higher in math.
Moreover, findings from a recent Quality of Life Council study indicate that funding arts education is a priority for our region, one that can make a high impact on the lives of children and adolescents.
"Don’t we all want to put our money where it will make a real difference?" Monica asks. "When I was in school, I loved art and music. But in many schools throughout the region today, the time and money devoted to these subjects is being reduced more and more all the time. In East Chicago, for instance, there hasn’t been art or music on the elementary level for many years. I can’t imagine what all those years of schooling would be like without having a single art project to take home or a single choral concert being held."
South Shore Arts served over 15,000 students through its Youth Outreach Program last year alone and hopes to serve even more this year. In fact, South Shore Arts and its grantee partners in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties collectively served nearly 112,500 children and youth with educational arts programs in their most recent fiscal year.
As support for in-school arts programs continues to decline there is a growing need for programs like the South Shore Arts Youth Outreach Program that is conducted not only in schools, but at YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs, at neighborhood parks facilities––really, just about anywhere that children and youth can be found.
"That’s why my business is an Art Smart Business," Monica says. "I feel that businesses like ours need to become Art Smart."
For further information on becoming an Art Smart Business that supports arts education opportunities for children and youth in the Calumet Region, contact South Shore Arts Development Director Tricia Hernandez at (219)836-1839, ext. 107.
Use the button below if you would like to make an online donation for Art Smart:
