ODESSA, Texas —
On a surface level, art seems like any other side hobby, but it’s an important part of education.
According to the Ellen Noel Art Museum, not every K-12 school can focus on the arts with their students.
“I think that we're because we're free, we just want to have exposure to art. So, any time that we have like when we have our third graders come through, when the kids' classes come through, we always invite them to come back and bring their parents," said Annie Stanley, educator at the museum. "A lot of these kids are not going to get art in their classrooms. I think we have just a handful of elementary schools that have art teachers, so that's why we try to provide a lot of free activities.”
According to the University of Florida College of Arts, besides allowing students to express their creativity it can also lead to things like improved writing achievement, reduced disciplinary infractions, more student engagement and improved college aspirations later on.
However, the lack of art teachers or programs in a school doesn’t always mean there’s a lack of interest.
“It has nothing to do with interest. It's all funding. It's anytime you add things like art and music and anything that's outside of the regular curriculum, that's all just about funding," Stanley said. "That’s why we try to get a lot of people in to see our exhibitions, get into our programming. We have a couple programs for adults that are 18 and up, but almost everything else is for all ages.”
Learning about art doesn’t always have to come from school; the museum is just one of multiple organizations in the community that holds events focused on the arts.
Even if a child can’t get their art fixed at school, all they need to do is just look around their community to find it.