Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Virginia Korte:Making A Commitment To Arts and Culture For The Next Generation  


Everyone realizes the role arts and culture have played in building Scottsdale’s brand.  Our city not only has a history of promoting arts and cultural activities, other cities attempting to expand their involvement in the arts measure themselves against Scottsdale.

Arts and culture contribute to our economic development by attracting businesses that create jobs.  And, of course, the arts enhance our special quality of life that we all enjoy.

The topic of today’s email is the seldom-mentioned ways our art galleries, museums and ongoing cultural and entertainment events augment the education of our future generations.

Study after study consistently conclude the same thing: art programs and a community’s cultural opportunities help students improve their learning at every level of their education.  Participation in the arts improves students’ reading and language skills.  Students exposed to arts and culture even perform better in math.  In addition, it has been proven that these types of opportunities also help develop our students’ “higher-order” thinking tasks.

Last week the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board unanimously approved placing two proposals on this November’s election ballot: a bond and a budget override question.  Once again, I will be proudly serving as the Honorary Chair of the “Yes To Children” campaign asking voters to approve these necessary funding measures to keep our schools performing at the highest level and continue to provide all children full arts offerings in their schools.

The citizens of Scottsdale have a responsibility to continue the commitment to arts and culture not just to grow and preserve our city’s brand – but also to provide opportunities for Scottsdale’s next generation.
 
PS:  I encourage you to learn more about the SUSD proposals that voters can approve to rebuild old and outdated schools to make them safe and academically sound for our students. 
Maricopa County Republicans Has NOT received any compensation to post this information, it is a courtesy post