Assembly Concurrent Resolution
No. 174
CHAPTER 27
Relative to Arts Education Month.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
April 02, 2004.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 174, Kehoe.
Arts Education Month.
This measure would proclaim the month of March 2004 as Arts Education Month and encourage all educational communities to celebrate the arts with meaningful pupil activities and programs that demonstrate learning and understanding in the visual and performing arts. The measure would urge all residents to become interested in and give full support to quality school arts programs for children and youth.
Digest Key
WHEREAS, Arts education, that includes education in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, is an essential and integral part of basic education for all pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive; and
WHEREAS, Instruction in the basic skills and knowledge of the arts develops critical and creative thinking and perceptual abilities that extend to all careers and areas of life; and
WHEREAS, Study of the arts relates naturally to much of the content of the state’s educational curricula; and
WHEREAS, The arts are collectively one of the most important repositories of culture; and
WHEREAS, It is recognized that in our multicultural state the arts build bridges and help pupils broaden their perspectives; and
WHEREAS, Arts education programs can help pupils to understand and be engaged by their world and the diverse cultural influences that surround them; and
WHEREAS, Arts education programs have great potential for the future. Communication, imagination, and information are keys to economic growth, education, and the enjoyment of leisure time. Further, jobs and careers that involve artistic expression and creative problem solving are becoming increasingly important; and
WHEREAS, The arts are recognized as part of a quality education, and the University of California and the California State University have instituted a policy that includes visual and performing arts as a college preparatory subject for all high school pupils wishing to enter the institutions of higher education of the state; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 1390 of the 1999–2000 Regular Session of the Legislature authored by Senator Kevin Murray and signed by Governor Gray Davis on September 12, 2000, requires the State Board of Education to adopt visual and performing arts content standards and states that instruction in the visual and performing arts should be made available to all pupils; and
WHEREAS, Many national and state professional arts education associations hold celebrations in the month of March, giving California schools a unique opportunity to focus on the value of the arts for all pupils, to foster cross-cultural understanding, to give recognition to the state’s outstanding young artists, and to enhance public support for this important part of the curriculum; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims the month of March 2004 as Arts Education Month and encourages all educational communities to celebrate the arts with meaningful pupil activities and programs that demonstrate learning and understanding in the visual and performing arts, and urges all residents to become interested in and give full support to quality school arts programs for children and youth; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.