Studio to School Impacts

I have seen many students grow a great deal in their confidence in their creative abilities. Being able to see something that they created come to life and be viewed by others was a very powerful experience for many students.

CLASSROOM TEACHER

One-on-one instruction with a professional musician at Agnes Stewart Middle School in Springfield (John G. Shedd Institute).

Arts education opportunities developed students’ diverse artistic skills and knowledge. They learned to read and play music, explored visual arts and videography, and expressed themselves through the written word. Students developed and acted in plays, learned the history of art and music, and painted murals that will endure on the walls of their schools. 

We’ve seen students grow from reluctant writers to prolific storytellers.

Project team member

Students gained valuable skills and knowledge in and through the arts while building their identities as artists. When arts learning opportunities were available in early grades, teachers saw students entering middle or high school better prepared to engage in existing arts programming and bringing a base of discipline-specific knowledge—such as musical concepts like rhythm or composition, or an understanding of media, tools and terminology—to build on.

Over the course of the year, arts educators observe students’ capacity for performance blossom. Students who start out with stage fright and limited capacity to speak lines audibly begin to improve with regular practice and peer encouragement, and step into larger roles. Participants who rely on other dancers for the choreography begin to rely on experience and memory.

Arts educator

Last year, I scored a random sample of journals for each grade level, and a majority of students talked about their art “being bad” or “not being good at art.” This year, reflections are more positive. Students are more willing to try new techniques, knowing that failure or mistakes are part of the process. During art lessons, students are excited about what they have learned.

Project team member

After introductory classes, many students elected to continue building their artistic practice through more advanced sequential arts programming. In some cases, these students became mentors, guiding and encouraging their peers and younger students. Students also started to view their artistic or musical ability as part of their identity. Exposure to the arts gave students an expanded understanding of future careers, planting the seeds for lifelong interest in the arts and possibilities for creative pursuits.

Instrumental and vocal teachers describe students who are confident, motivated and willing to be challenged, holding themselves to increasingly higher standards and taking initiative in their preparation and performance.

Project Year 5 report

SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES & APPROACHES

• Providing varied opportunities for students to engage in ways that suit their interests and comfort level. Providing multiple entry points was especially important for students who hadn’t previously engaged in the arts. Some programs included high- and low-commitment options or multiple roles within a discipline (such as back and front of house opportunities for students to participate in musical theater). Other programs offered programming in school and after school or gave students the chance to try out an art form before committing to a whole term or year.
• Designing more rigorous programming. Because some students took beginning courses and wanted to continue, programs needed to include opportunities for students to go deeper. They responded by adding advanced courses or differentiating programming and splitting courses into multiple sections. Many projects, particularly when building on existing sequential programming, increased their rigor to strengthen student skills.
• Engaging professional artists and musicians supported skill-building and raised the quality and caliber of programs. Introducing diverse artists expanded students’ definitions of who musicians and artists are and modeled potential career paths. The involvement of professional artists also lends real-world credibility to arts programming; this can enhance students’ sense of professionalism and pride in their artistic work, helping students see themselves both as artists and as part of a larger artistic community.
• Encouraging professional artists and musicians to work with students individually forges meaningful relationships and pushes students further in their practice. This was important for advanced students who continued to develop their artistic skills and for students with less skill. Personal connections with professional artists and musicians encouraged less-skilled students to stick with it during times when they might become discouraged or quit. This was particularly important for music programs. Making private or small-group instruction available to students who wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise is another way to support equity. In some cases, access to free or heavily subsidized instruction and tutoring outside of the school day narrowed opportunity gaps.
• Investing in quality materials, from “expendables” like reeds, paints and markers, to instruments and iPads, to professional and large equipment, such as a whole lab full of keyboards, cameras, and video gear. Access to professional-grade equipment and materials raised the bar for many programs, exposing students and teachers to resources they might otherwise have lacked. In a deeper way, the use of quality materials cultivated a sense of professionalism, rigor and trust that students rose to meet.

Art really helps with your mood and depression and anxiety. It’s a big contributor to good mental health.

Middle school student

Green screen capture with Open Signal at Open School in Portland.

Adolescence is an important time for identity development, as young people consider different educational and professional paths and form an image of who they are and who they want to be (Verhoeven et al., 2019). Through arts programming, students saw themselves and their peers in new ways and built the social and emotional skills to help connect with, understand and navigate the world. They found space to expand their imaginations, stretch their creative limits and follow what made them curious. They persisted through frustration, made mistakes, engaged in critical thinking, solved problems, and tested new approaches to finding solutions. 

I like how everyone's answers were different because you're expressing your own imagination and stories and how you feel.  In second grade, we learned that there are only right and wrong answers and no in between. But now I think when it comes to art, I wouldn't say it’s right or wrong; I'd say it's in between. It's an expression of your imagination.

Elementary school Student

Arts programming gave students space to explore their ideas and feelings. Many students felt a sense of emotional safety and made deep connections to their peers and teachers. Through the arts, some students were able to express feelings that they were not able to share elsewhere in their lives. This strengthened their relationships and cultivated their ability to process emotions and express themselves in a healthy way.

Students mentioned that art helps them look at things differently and conceptualize ideas and concepts in other classes. They talked about what role art might play in their future work and lives. But perhaps most significantly, they highlighted the emotional value of having a creative outlet.

Project Year 5 Report

As the number of participants in arts programs grew and students became more advanced, many found confidence and pride in their art and in themselves, exhibiting leadership among peers and mentoring younger students. Within some programs, student voice and leadership grew slowly and organically over the years.

Students lead or participate in group or shared projects, building self-confidence, cooperative skills and improved problem-solving. In each project, students are sharing space, equipment and often ideas, which forces cooperation and problem-solving.

Project Year 3 Report

SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES & APPROACHES

• Cultivate learning environments that support risk-taking and experimentation. Some projects found that a low-stakes environment for risk-taking was especially important for students from less-resourced backgrounds, who have fewer opportunities to be “wrong” without consequences in their day-to-day lives. Projects established safe settings, encouraged trusting relationships, and demonstrated that there is often no one right answer in the arts.
• Providing project-based, self-directed and collaborative learning opportunities. Project-based arts learning can have less structure and looser connections to formal curricula. In some projects, arts learning was self-directed, giving students the freedom to think creatively, dream big and make a project their own. Through project-based learning, students had opportunities to work with their peers in new ways and connect to concepts and issues impacting their lives and communities.
• Encouraging student leadership and voice. Projects created opportunities for students to have their voices heard and to teach and learn from their peers. Some projects gave students agency to pursue  ideas that interested them and to influence the arts curriculum, take ownership of projects and processes, and reflect on their work and the work of their peers. 

Teachers note that students are asking more questions and are more confident and motivated to do their best when they are expressing themselves creatively. The word “excitement” comes up again and again as teachers describe the impact of the arts and art integration on students’ attitudes and learning.

Project Year 5 Report

Flash mob at the farmers market in Cave Junction (RiverStars Performing Arts).

The arts were an opportunity for a broad range of students to engage and excel, and this was particularly important for students who had not experienced success in academics or athletics. Students felt seen, heard, valued and celebrated through the arts, and some found a place for themselves within their school for the first time.

One of the more amazing evaluative measures was how scared kids were to be seen, to even stand up in front of other kids. Because their class sizes are so big, it’s hard for teachers to do that—getting kids over that initial hump of even being seen, and that pressure you feel in middle school. That vulnerability was one of the hugest things about arts integration in the classroom.

Teaching artist

Participating students tended to feel more comfortable expressing themselves and standing out within their school or community. This was especially important for marginalized students. Students also forged deeper connections to their communities, engaging with issues they care about through the arts. In some communities, students spoke to school and community leaders about the importance of art in their lives, advocating for themselves and the things that matter to them.

Through the arts, we get to see the kids that don’t show up in all those ways that the school system says they have to show up in order to be validated by the system. We see those kids finding a place where they didn’t have one in the classroom before.

School administrator

This school can be a difficult place for new people to find success. Many of our students are survivors of trauma and do not trust easily. The arts educator was able to come in with such grace, patience and cool that she was able to break past the protective barriers many students put up and get them to open up and find a new way to express themselves.

School administrator

Student work is projected onto Open School in Portland (Open Signal).

A number of programs created space for students to engage in social justice and connect to the long tradition of arts activism. Students engaged with big ideas, real-world issues and emotionally charged topics such as equity, history, mental health and trauma in a personal way. This exploration was important to understanding their role within our society and claiming their unique perspective and voice.

Students are thinking deeply and seriously about their lives, social and political issues. They were greatly impacted by a video about modern-day slavery and abolitionists. This led to a discussion around social justice themes as curricular connections.

Teaching artist

Our performances are about important issues facing our community. We use our theatre resources to stimulate dialogue about local and broad social issues. With art as their weapon, students have stood up in their community for what they believe in and are becoming truly engaged citizens.

Teaching artist

SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES & APPROACHES

• Connecting students to the broader world. This included bringing professional artists and others in the community into the classroom and finding opportunities to extend learning outside of the school, connecting students to their community and the issues that affect them. The arts were an entry point for difficult conversations, a way for students to understand and impact the world, and a lens through which to explore issues they care about.

Science classes engaged in a stop-motion animation project to examine climate change in our community. Students who participated in this project spoke about the project a school board meeting.

Project Year 3 Report (Renewal)

Art students were the leaders for our student walk-out in response to gun violence, showing that students were developing meaningful leadership skills and confidence.

Project Year 4 Report

• Actively seeking student engagement. Getting students involved in programming ensured that arts education was not just available, but also accessible and relevant to students’ lives and interests. Team strategies included inviting specific groups of students to participate (e.g., Latino/x students in Hood River), educating families and students about the arts, and alleviating barriers to participation to avoid compounding existing inequities.

The middle school principal commented on observing music classes in which teachers “probably spoke five minutes,” giving students responsibility for critiquing their own performance and taking responsibility for their own learning. She emphasized the value of choice: “We’re giving kids the opportunity to chart their own course about what their area of interest is.” Teachers cited students’ regular exposure to professional artists and musicians as a powerful motivator and inspiration for students.

Project team

• Offering responsive, culturally specific arts opportunities to students. Representation matters. In order to actively participate and seek out arts education opportunities, students need to see their own potential as artists and musicians, and to feel that these opportunities are available specifically to them. When students and families felt seen and validated and had a personal connection to the art and artists, they engaged more deeply.
• Building trusting relationships between students and artists/arts educators. This required program stability, continuity and consistency. Sometimes, this meant longer-term residencies or multiyear commitments from arts instructors. Recognizing the importance of the student-artist relationship, programs chose arts educators carefully, considering instructors’ lived experience and communities of origin, their background working with youth, and their ability to empathize and communicate with young people. Programs wanted arts educators to be a good fit for communities and to feel well supported so that they could stay, build relationships and their practice.
• Incorporating celebrations—like public performances and exhibitions —to showcase student learning and achievement and engage families and communities. This brought new people into the school – artists, families community members -- while creating opportunities for students to be seen, recognized, understood and celebrated by peers, teachers and families. Students care about the visibility of their art and of their status as artists; arts programming gave them opportunities to see themselves, and be seen, in a different light. Teams felt how powerful it was to share student work with the community and have the community perceive students as artists. When students worked up to a public performance or exhibition, it raised their level of engagement, making them feel proud and that their art was valued. 

Tomorrow is the big lip-sync battle. Every homeroom teacher will be performing in some way in front of their kids. They are singing and dancing in front of their school tomorrow. That would never have happened before this project.

School administrator

Right Brain Institute teacher workshop in Hillsboro (Regional Arts & Culture Council).

Projects frequently incorporated professional development for classroom teachers, particularly around arts integration. Through this work, educators built their capacity and confidence, as well as trust among teaching teams, sometimes working together across grades to tackle complex problems. Some teachers took on increasing responsibility for aspects of the project or for arts education more generally. This could look like serving as a liaison between the arts organization and school or by taking responsibility for the care and maintenance of arts materials.

Classroom teachers and arts specialists are constantly asked to do more with less. Many are frustrated, overburdened and stretched thin by current teaching and testing culture. In some communities, teachers are even experiencing secondary trauma (Walker, 2018). While the arts cannot eliminate these problems, arts integration is a way to introduce experimentation, self-expression and excitement into classrooms. This gives students an outlet and a way to understand, process and interact with the world, and helps teachers meet diverse student learning needs.

Teachers began to feel comfortable taking developed curriculum and redesigning it; they felt the ownership and capacity to do so. Teachers began to see greater connection between the process of art-making and curriculum design, and how this could translate into their core subjects. Access to creative instruction inspired a pure, teacher-built form of arts integration to emerge at the school.

Project team member

For many participating educators, seeing and experiencing the effects of arts learning on their students was a turning point. For some, this point came when they saw how art could help with classroom management; for others, it came when they saw their students working together, through the arts, toward a common goal. Teachers were often surprised at the depth their students could reach when given a chance to use materials to express themselves.

At first, I thought, “I can’t do this art thing. I need to work on my lessons and curriculum.” But that first year, when the teaching artist was teaching, I saw changes in the kids. It is hard to explain, but it felt like a calmness. I got the sense that they had an outlet that made it easier. They were able to focus.

Classroom teacher

At the beginning, teachers were tense. Now, they see arts integration as an opportunity. I think that you don’t believe it until you live it. When teachers were able to see students learning in different ways, they witnessed their students’ success. 

Project team member

Many Studio to School projects also developed the skills and capacity of arts specialists and teaching artists, providing them with peer-to-peer learning opportunities, more formal professional development, and collaborative teaching opportunities that helped artists with less formal teaching background to gain confidence in the classroom. Throughout the Initiative, teaching artists often noted how involvement in the projects was foundational to their desire to teach or otherwise career- or life-altering.

Teachers improve skills in art alongside students. With coaching from artists and coordinators, and focused professional development, teachers develop comfort and proficiency using arts integration techniques.

Project team member

One arts educator said she felt she was “getting a Ph.D.” in developing, implementing and adapting arts education programming for the school in which she was working. Another teaching artist went on to pursue a master’s degree in teaching so that he could take a permanent position in the local schools he’d grown to love. Many teaching artists will carry what they have learned forward beyond Studio to School whether their future work is in the same community or in new ones.

I get more out of the experience being around students' energy: encouraging me—and sometimes forcing me—to think about things I haven’t thought about or considered, making me uncomfortable. That’s good for me; it makes me continue to think on my feet and problem-solve, sometimes in real time. The opportunity to work with young people who don’t know me, where we haven’t yet established trust, is an opportunity for me to grow.

Teaching artist

SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES & APPROACHES

• Giving teachers opportunities to engage in the arts. Through hands-on experiences, teachers and administrators saw the positive impacts of the arts on their own learning, emotional health and creativity. Many teachers initially expressed discomfort, skepticism or reluctance to incorporate the arts into their classroom. When it came to arts education, they had to see it to believe it. But once they saw the impact that the arts had on their students, these same teachers often became arts education champions. Some teachers became very comfortable and adept with arts integration approaches, adapting and updating curricula to fit their classroom.
• Providing opportunities for artists and teachers to co-teach and collaborate. Co-teaching between teaching artists and classroom teachers was two-directional, cultivating genuine, supportive relationships. Classroom teachers built capacity and confidence using art in their work, while teaching artists gained perspective on the challenges and benefits of working in classrooms and developed the capacity to work in these new spaces.
• Providing professional development for teachers. Most programs began by implementing “pull-out” professional development: providing trainings during staff or other meetings, professional development trainings, STEAM nights or other school events. Over time, many programs saw greater benefits in less formal “push-in” approaches, spending time coaching or co-teaching with teachers in their classrooms.
• Encouraging teachers to opt in rather than requiring participation. When it came to involving classroom teachers in arts programming, some projects shifted to opt-in structures. This made participation open and invitational rather than mandatory and offered professional development multiple times in multiple ways. Once teachers were trained in arts integration techniques, they decided how to incorporate arts in their classroom. Strong relationships between teachers and arts instructors—along with ample time and opportunities to participate—were key to teachers developing a personal motivation and commitment to integrate arts learning. More formal professional development provided in early years may have helped establish a foundation that made these less formal approaches viable.

What is happening here is building a community within the broader community: the community of music. Parents start recognizing other parents, kids belong to something bigger than they are and parents feel that they belong to something as well.

Parent volunteer

As the projects were established within schools, families and community members began looking forward to arts-based events—both student art and professional arts experiences—as annual traditions. Culture shifts occurred when families became more likely to attend a concert than a sports event, or when community members enthusiastically collaborated on a public art project with a school.

Our school serves a large territory, and students come from far away…  so when students and their families decide to come back to the school for events, it’s a big deal. Alternative schools have a negative connotation, but the events bring community into the space; the neighborhood meets the students and hopefully sees them in a different light.

Classroom Teacher

The performance sold out every night and was a tremendous source of excitement and pride in the community. The production helped students and families see what was possible and was a strong way to establish the drama program.

Project team member

In some communities, local press wrote about arts events and programming

Supporting activities & approaches

• Engaging families in programming. Many project teams made concerted efforts to reach out to families, believing that inclusive arts education programs should include opportunities for families to experience and participate in the arts. Multiple projects focused on families who had been less likely to participate in school activities, whether because of real or perceived barriers or because they were unaware of some opportunities. Sometimes, teams found that families needed to be encouraged to attend student performances, or that music instructors needed to explain why tutoring was important for students. When families began attending events, this represented a meaningful shift for many projects. In some instances, families engaged in program planning and development, providing input into the types of arts programming they were most interested in. This created a deeper sense of belonging as arts programming shifted to reflect their cultures and values.

Having a consistent, regular presence over time built trust and deeper conversations. Together, staff and families had conversations about topics ranging from community history to cultural oppression. Families showed up at activities outside of the school and community, such as the teaching artists’ shows, to show their mutual appreciation.

Project team member

• Giving families a variety of ways to participate in and support arts programming. This was a precursor to culture change within many schools. Families engaged with schools through events or showcases, as volunteers, or simply as appreciative observers and listeners when students came home excited to share what they had done at school that day. Some families also had opportunities to attend performances and showcases of professional artists and musicians.

Mariachi for Latinos has always been one of the roots of music. More parents come to attend events because they’re like, “I'm familiar with that. I know what that is.”

School Administrator

The team talked about arts education becoming a cultural norm in [our town], and for students and the community to recognize that the arts are part of what it means to grow up and live here—part of what makes the community unique.

Project team member

Oaklea Middle School carnival designed and led by fifth graders (Lane Arts Council).

Project teams routinely saw schools develop a culture of arts learning. Arts programming created shared experiences for students and school communities through performances, concerts, plays or art shows that students participated in or experienced as audiences. When programming was required for all students (e.g., sixth grade band), it also engendered a sense of community and cohesion.

Once the song and video were completed, an end-of-residency celebration was held at the school. Students and families gathered together with community members and the teaching artist to commemorate students’ successes. Friends, families and the greater school community were moved to tears by the debut of the music video. Songwriting became a medium for self-expression that extended well beyond the classroom.

Project team member

Arts programming often culminated in school and community events that soon became normal and expected aspects of the school year and students’ educational experiences. Once these events were established, they gave people something to rally around and got younger students and their families excited for what was to come, which added momentum to the program.

School and community participation in the art show has grown each year. Students look forward to displaying their work for the public. Active participation in the arts has become a source of community pride. More than 100 student, staff, parent and community members attend this event every year.

Project team member

We get invitations to perform now. People see it as a cultural thing that just happens here. That has been a huge change. Being able to build that culture into our community—it’s really rewarding to see a shift. Art is everywhere, and it shows up in unexpected places. It’s really beautiful and fulfilling.

Project team member

Supporting activities & approaches

• Developing systems and structures – curricula, instrument libraries, processes – that made art education possible and more permanent in schools. A few projects built instrument libraries, developing processes for renting, tracking and repairing instruments. Others created curriculum modules, documenting how others could replicate or adapt various activities.
• Improving school environments to make arts learning visible. Teams made student art conspicuous by displaying it throughout the school or community and by finding creative ways to showcase students’ learning. Through student-centered mural projects, students transformed their school walls into art. Many teams built or repurposed underutilized arts spaces—such as art studios, band and choir rooms, and performance spaces—and created libraries of art materials and equipment, finding storage areas to hold supplies and maximize the creation of student artwork.
• Cultivating support from school leadership. This helped remove barriers both large (scheduling, busing students to activities) and small (getting permission to put student art up on hallway walls). School administrator support legitimized arts education efforts and helped put the arts front and center.
• Integrating arts ed into existing school and community events. In addition to developing arts education focused events like performances, exhibitions, showcases and fundraisers, many of the Studio to School projects also worked to infuse arts education into existing school and community events—at football games; family nights, STEAM nights or back-to-school events; student orientation; or at community arts events not focused on arts education.
• Connecting arts experiences across mediums and grade levels, considering students’ experience over time. This happened for several projects, both within disciplines and across multiple disciplines. Some were able to expand programming to multiple grades, both above and below initial grades of focus. This provided educators and students with clearer “pathways,” where music class in kindergarten leads to keyboard class in fourth grade leads to strings class in middle school. The arts become an ongoing, long-term activity, not a “one-off.” This can set different expectations for what arts learning means to students and within schools, and how the arts are integrated across students’ educational lives.