Arts Attack was established in 1979. Its founder, an art educator, artist, and advisor to one of the largest school districts in the nation, was concerned about the lack of attention art was receiving in schools across the nation. After working with teachers, parent volunteers, and thousands of students over a 5-year period of time, this revolutionary video/DVD-based program was developed. It covers in detail the essential elements and principals of art. Astonished by its wide acceptance and fast growing success, Arts Attack quickly expanded its capabilities, and was able to provide this revolutionary art teaching method to teachers of Grades Kindergarten through 8.
Why is Art Important?
Strategy to Keep Art in Schools
Arts Attack Solution
Components of Arts Attack
Why is Art Important?
Today, schools throughout the US dedicate most of their time, effort, and resources to developing mathematical and reading skills. And, while these subject areas are important, this emphasis has often relegated the arts to a secondary role in a child's development.
Many of our most valuable skills - including creative ability, aesthetic judgment, problem posing and solving, critical thinking, and visualization- are uniquely fostered only by proper art education.
Countless studies clearly prove that art education not only develops the right side of the brain (responsible for all imaging and visualizing aspects of learning), it also develops neural body-brain connections - crucial if children are to realize their full potential in all areas of study (including math, reading, languages, science and writing). This is especially true for children in their formative elementary school years.
Art education helps children develop emotionally and socially and provides them with a greater ability to deal with school and life in general. And, art education makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and helps level the "earning field" across socio-economic boundaries. Research shows high risk students are more likely to stay in school because art education provides an alternative to delinquent behavior resulting in an improved attitude towards school. Art actually helps develop many types of intelligences necessary to experience and understand today's complicated world. Research shows a significant correlation between the arts and student development and academic achievement (i.e. higher SAT scores). Finally, schooling in the arts helps prepare students for the 21st Century workforce and an economy built on knowledge, ideas, and creativity.
Strategy to Keep Art in Schools
Recently, economic and social pressures have significantly impacted education. In many cases, this has resulted in dramatically reduced budgets for the arts (including those for art specialists and training materials). Too often, art is not considered to be part of the curriculum and is taught only at the discretion of the classroom teacher. These teachers usually lack the type of teacher-friendly resources that enable them to teach art in the developmental and sequential fashion necessary to inspire their students and make a lasting difference in students' development and approach to the world.
In the end, one thing is certain - while research studies on the positive benefits of art education continue to accumulate, meaningful art instruction throughout schools in the United States continues to decline.
Arts Attack Solution
The award-winning Arts Attack program was specifically created to address and provide a solution to this problem. It was presented with the prestigious "The Golden Bell" award by the California School Board Association. Developed in the classroom over a five-year period, with the participation of hundreds of teachers and thousands of students, Arts Attack is the most comprehensive and teacher-friendly art program for Grades K-8 ever developed. Specifically designed to meet the needs of teachers with no background, little background, or extensive art experience, its video-based (now offered on DVD) classroom teaching tools have consistently produced inspired students and wonderfully creative student artwork in all types on classroom situations.
Components of Arts Attack
Arts Attack is the only K-8 art program to offer its users:
1. 24 hands-on, developmental, sequential lessons per grade
2. A complete teacher's manual (all inclusive lesson plans, instructional guidelines, drawing aids, materials lists, background information) and 7-8 hours of instructional video/DVD per grade
3. 10 large art prints per grade along with comprehensive class discussion guides.
4. Complete coverage of all essential elements and principles of art including color, line, shape, form, texture, pattern, balance and emphasis.
5. A thorough introduction to art history, media exploration, creative self-expression, and drawing techniques.
6. An interactive art teaching approach that supports up to 1 1/2 hours of training per week throughout the year.
7. A sequential art training program that builds on what students have learned in previous grades and prepares them for the next grade.