STANDARDS PUT NEW EMPHASIS ON ARTS

New state education standards put a greater emphasis on the arts in public schools.

Fine arts used to be an elective. The new standards approved by the State Board of Education have elevated fine arts to equal status with core subjects such as math and science.

That is good news to arts advocates like Margaret Brommelsiek, executive director of the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education. The organization, headquartered in a St. Louis suburb, helps fund programs to improve art education and integrate art into school curriculums.

The alliance makes use of state, federal and private money. It then awards matching grants to public and private schools and colleges for everything from development of innovative arts curriculums to artists in residence.

Many of the grants are in the $2,000 to $5,000 range.

Brommelsiek said public schools in the future will need a strong fine-arts program to retain their accreditation.

As a result, schools will focus more on the visual and performing arts, she said at a meeting Thursday night of 15 area educators. The meeting was held at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri office and gallery in Cape Girardeau.

Brommelsiek said there has been a renewed emphasis on art education across the country.

"It is not as hard a sell as I think it used to be," she said.

Brommelsiek said art can make learning any subject more interesting. "Complicated math can be taught through dance," she said.

Public funding for the arts has come under political attack in the past. But Brommelsiek said she believes the Clinton administration will continue to provide arts funding.

Still, it is hard to predict the availability of government funding over the long term.

"While the money is flowing, go for it," she said. "It might not always be there."

Brommelsiek said school districts should develop arts programs that suit their individual needs.

"We are pretty open to just about anything," she said.

Art was one area emphasized by the Southeast Missouri town of East Prairie in setting up an enterprise zone.

That led to the establishment of an artist-in-residence program in the community, she said.

Schools can join forces with arts councils in providing the needed local match for grants, she said.

Beverly Strohmeyer, who heads the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, said her group assisted a Catholic elementary school with an artist-in-residence program.

She said the organization would be interested in working with other schools.

Schools increasingly must demonstrate that students are learning in the classroom.

Brommelsiek said such assessment always has been a part of education in the arts. Music teachers, for example, know if a student is singing off key.

She said the arts promote a more compassionate society and greater tolerance of other cultures.

A greater emphasis on arts in the schools helps educate students and foster public interest. That is critical for future funding of the arts, she said.