Read how arts instruction is making a comeback in Los Angeles schools in this LA Times article Check out the LAUSD’s Student Learning Standards for the Visual and Performing Arts To learn more about the LAEP’s work with humanities curriculum, visit the Humanitas Web page Educators, check out these art resources for lesson plans and curriculum ideas

Creativity Knows no Bounds By Neal Anstead Academic Director LAEP’s Humanitas Program EDUCATORS ARE OFTEN ASKED TO JUSTIFY WHY STUDENTS should be required to study art. Does it have any use in a world of advanced industrial capitalism and information technology? Careful thinkers are eager to answer. To begin with, creativity in all fields is related. The good artist and the good mathematician are both creative thinkers. Furthermore, it is a mistake to think of the arts as simply making pots, drawing figures, or practicing choral works. Good arts education includes an emphasis on reading and knowing history, for the arts are related to cultural developments as are all other fields of study. Remember too, the artist is always making choices -- choices related to quality, to criticism and to good writing. Above all, artists are interested in questions about art: Where does it come from? What does it mean? What is art? What is good art? Discussing these questions requires critical thinking, a habit of mind that is applicable to all fields of study. Most importantly, students really do want to live beautiful lives, and they want to be surrounded by a beautiful environment. Those are facts. Given these facts, isn’t it about time that students study the meanings of beauty and participate in making art.?