We have all had to make sacrifices during these times of economical challenge. I make my food at home, I take fewer road trips, I clip coupons (go here for a coupon for 8^th Continent Soymilk!) But one trend I have been noticing is the cutting of the arts in education. I worry at times that maybe some people don’t understand the vitality of the arts for developing children. The following excerpt from newhorizons.org helps illustrate the importance of arts education:

“Always among the highest expression of every culture, the arts teach us much about every historical period through its literature, visual arts, music, dance, and drama. Today it is recognized that to be truly well educated one must not only learn to appreciate the arts, but must have rich opportunities to actively participate in creative work. The arts are languages that most people speak, cutting through individual differences in culture, educational background, and ability. They can bring every subject to life and turn abstractions into concrete reality. Learning through the arts often results in greater academic achievement and higher test scores.”

Not only do the arts help develop a child’s imagination, creative thinking skills and expression skills, but they also teach tolerance and expand horizons to different cultures that a child may not otherwise learn.

But why? Kinderarts.com helps us understand:

• It’s been proven that early exposure to visual art, music, or drama promotes activity in the brain.
• Art helps children understand other subjects much more clearly—from math and science, to language arts and geography.
• Art nurtures inventiveness as it engages children in a process that aids in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation.
• Participating in art activities helps children to gain the tools necessary for understanding human experience, adapting to and respecting others’ ways of working and thinking, developing creative problem-solving skills, and communicating thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways.

These are not just opinions, these are facts.
We here at 8^th Continent Soymilk recognize the importance of art education. That is why we are giving you the opportunity to give back to your favorite K-12 school and in doing so, help develop your community to become fuller, richer, and more cultured.

All you have to do is go to our site, draw a sun, and submit it. The top voted 100 suns will win their selected schools $1,000 in art supplies. We encourage kids to participate too! Also the winning art may be featured on 8^th Continent’s new packaging!

Make sure to re-post, blog and share this article, because the more suns your school has, the more chances it has to win!

Please help keep the arts in our schools!

Can you think of other reasons why the arts education is so important? Leave a comment or let us know on Twitter or Facebook.

Ready to draw? OK, ready, set, sun!