2 minute read
Engaging Education and The Arts
from Rhythm Magazine
Kenneth Hutchens, Chief Creative Officer
William Bennett Former US Secretary of Education
Students bring motivation to the classroom every day, but how educators tap into those motivations is the key to personal growth and success. When students bring motivations associated with the arts to school, a powerful opportunity exists. In a learning environment designed to specifically foster education and the arts, students not only learn academic fine arts content, they also experience the richness of the process. At VLK Architects, we understand the correlation of the arts with the benefits of student achievement. We recognize achievement as personal success, satisfaction, student agency, and engagement. We believe that the earlier children can be exposed to opportunities, the better decisions they make about discovering their passions. Exploration is crucial to the learning process in general, but specific consideration of the arts can create a pathway that is cultivated for a lifetime. When students are provided a pathway for the arts to be an expected central part of their educational experience, the skill levels they acquire at each interval of learning increases their knowledge, hones their proficiency, and accentuates their efficacy.
“The arts merit a place in public education equal to the other disciplines.” –Jensen
As students continue through grade levels and campuses, the learning environments that support the arts should evolve with them. Primary level experiences need a developmentally appropriate environment, and by the time students experience the arts at a high school level, the specialized areas that facilitate their instruction and performance should reveal the same levels of expertise that students have been working to demonstrate. Additionally, the environments should also support the community with an opportunity to encounter the talents acquired by students in a space conducive to performance and display.
“It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough—it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.”
–Steve Jobs, in introducing the iPad 2, in 2011
Space planning to adequately support each specific area of the fine arts is crucial to the delivery of the learning and performance experience. Consideration of both the performing and visual arts must be studied in order to create a balanced approach to the arts, given the expectations of the school district. Dance, theatre, art, orchestra, and band all require a thoughtful process with a team of experts who understand the connections to students, their curricula, and the spaces in which they must use as their classrooms and performance areas. This special edition of Experience Magazine: Rhythm demonstrates VLK Architects’ support of arts education, our educational expertise, and a few of our professional design solutions that continue to inspire students involved in fine arts across Texas to learn, practice, display, and perform.
