Imagine! Introducing Your Child to the Arts

Introduction by Chairman Dana Gioia

A number of research studies over the past several decades have drawn a clear correlation between early exposure of children to the arts and increased long-term critical reasoning, communication, and social skills. Since its inception in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts has devoted its resources to the arts and arts education, including studies on their tangible, positive impact upon the nature and quality of our communities and citizenry.What we have learned about arts education can be stated simply: the arts matter profoundly and should be introduced into the lives of children at the earliest possible age.

The Arts Endowment has revised and reissued Imagine! to help parents and teachers share the arts effectively with children. This essential publication is divided into seven focused areas of learning: reading and writing, dance,music, dramatic play, visual arts, folk arts, and media arts. Easily adapted to the home or classroom setting, Imagine! explains how to share the joy of learning and artistic creation with children during their most critical developmental years.

As a parent, I want my children to live complete and fulfilling lives. For many people, true fulfillment is closely linked with finding an early path toward excellence. It does not matter whether one’s early interest develops into an adult career.What matters is that every child finds a positive, meaningful activity that instills self-confidence and self-worth. For some children, excellence will come on the athletic fields. For others, it will come in the class spelling bee. But for many children, fulfillment will arrive on the stage, at the piano, or with a paint brush in hand.

As parents and teachers, our responsibility is not to dictate rigidly which path ultimately is the right one, but rather to expose our
children to constructive educational opportunities, especially those grounded in the arts and humanities.With our hectic modern lives, it can be a struggle to make time for our children’s proper education, but we must not shirk this fundamental responsibility. To do less is to impoverish our children. Impoverished minds do not lead to enlightened lives. And it is enlightenment our children deserve.