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Join NAEA Renew MembershipInfusing Arts
We need to extend the reach of the arts. The research on the causes of the drop out problem portrays a group of seemingly faceless students who fail to connect with anyone or anything before they vanish. Now we’re learning that the more challenged or disengaged the student, the more likely high-quality visual arts instruction can make a difference. We’re also learning that the more vibrant schools become, the more they overflow with the arts and the more successful they become.
Schools and Communities Infused with the Arts Video Clips 
Scott Shanklin Peterson on a Great South Carolina Middle School
Olivia Gude on Schools Overflowing with the Arts
Deborah Reeve on a New Breed of Leader Behind Many School Successes
Louis West on Exhibiting Student Work in Government Offices
Terry Peterson on After School Programs
Integrating the Arts Across the Curriculum Video Clips
Scott Shanklin Peterson Reports on her Small Group Discussions
Susan Sclafani on the Need for Expertise to Integrate Instruction
High Hopes for the Arts Video Clips
Jack Davis on Intergenerational Learning
Bonnie Rushlow on Supporting People with Special Needs
Discussion Prompts: Infusing the Arts in Schools and Communities
Several Aspen summit participants spoke about how the arts had played a critical role in transforming the lives of their children or other loved ones.
How have the arts impacted you or others around you?
During the Aspen Summit, Elliot Eisner shared his vision of a world where art education prepares students to function as artists as they work in a wide range of occupations. The most immediate way to realize such vision would be for instruction in the arts to be infused through out the curriculum.
Are you seeing such a vision realized in schools around you?
And, if so, how?
If not, what gets in the way of realizing this dream?
Discussion Prompts: Integration
In the move toward realizing such a powerful vision, Aspen Summit participant Susan Sclafani said she sometimes saw an unfortunate situation where teachers lacking the needed expertise attempt but fail in efforts to integrate the arts into their instruction.
What expertise and attitudes do teachers need to have to successfully integrate the arts with their instruction?
In your experience, what’s working? Why?
Discussion Prompts: High Hopes
What are your highest hopes for the arts?
Discussion Prompts and Transcripts 
BECOME A LEADER
Host an Aspen-like discussion in your community. Get started by reading NAEA's Guide for Community Conversations in a Visual Age
PREPARE FOR TRANSFORMATION
Read NAEA's New White Paper on Learning in a Visual Age
HONOR TRADITION
Read NAEA's classic 1977 statement on "What We Believe and Why"