Children and Education
Many of the world's greatest cities are vastly rich in culture and have numerous museums with substantive permanent art collections that reflect their cultural history, (many of which are thousands of years old). However, many of these museums, as cultural institutions, are situated on foreign soils and therefore are far from reach from most school children and individuals in the United States. These include museums such as The Louvre, in Paris, and the National Gallery of Art in London and The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Others, although geographically located in the United States are just as difficult to visit as some of the foreign museums. These include The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan in New York.
The Goal
Art Masters in the Schools has as its goal to annually expose hundreds of thousands of children to fine and decorative art. Children and their families will no longer have to arrange for costly travel to these museums far away because Art Masters will bring the museum directly to them. Imagine having Leonardo's "Mona Lisa" displayed at your fingertips for children to view.
Art and New Jersey; Great Collaborators
Through art related research, whether public or private, it has been demonstrated that those cities and towns who have made an investment in the arts are more likely to create a culture of vitality. In the state of New Jersey the economic impact of art related projects on cities has been phenomenal and amounts to almost $2 billion in business revenue annually. In addition, the arts support almost 20,000 arts-related businesses and employs or supports the employment of over 100,000 New Jerseyans. There are more than 50,000 professional artists who call New Jersey home and public events attract more than 20 million people annually. The arts create and sustain public value in a wide range of ways, and are uniquely important because of their transformative power.
On a personal level, they provoke inquiry and thought. They engage us and connect us as people and cultures; they connect communities. They inspire us to be tolerant and empathetic to all kinds of people and cross boundaries and transform our thoughts. The arts encourage all of us, including children, to be receptive to others.
When surveyed by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the NJ State League of Municipalities, more than half of New Jersey mayors indicated that the arts address numerous municipal challenges by:
- beautifying the town
- enriching recreational opportunities
- directing focus on the downtown areas and drawing people in these areas
- increasing property values
- encouraging cross-cultural learning
- improving education
- developing tourism
- creating a sense of identity, and pride amongst the citizens
- helping at-risks youth
- contributing health and wellness
It has been demonstrated nationally that people and resources gravitate to places where a creative economy thrives and where the arts industry is an essential component of it.
In recent years several New Jersey cities have benefited from an art investment and include Newark, Jersey City, Morristown, New Brunswick, Englewood, Rahway, Montclair, Cape May, Red Bank, Collingswood, and Millville. The arts industry in New Brunswick has grown to a $35 million business. In Millville, since the inception of the arts-based economic revitalization process, Millville has seen the arrival of more than 100 new businesses, and more than $50 million invested in real estate.
