Why teach the arts? The answer is simple.

The arts can help educate the whole child.

Arts integration into a school’s core curriculum creates well-rounded students who are better able to succeed in everything they do.

Schools and communities should do all they can to nurture the whole child by making the arts a key component of education and the teaching of all subjects.


Meet Roxboro Middle School Student, Eli Stone Harlan.  


Eli is a bright and friendly 11 year old in 6th grade at Roxboro Middle School in Cleveland Heights.

He has a distinct voice and is often called on to read out loud to his classmates. He has a warm personality and loves to help others.

Through Young Audiences’ arts and theater programming at Roxboro Elementary, Eli has developed his artistic talents as well as learned how to better express himself.

Because of the arts programming, teachers and even Eli’s parents have seen a side of Eli that they might not have otherwise.



Eli’s parents, Bob and Lisa, have observed that Young Audiences’ teaching artist Jonathan Graham, encouraged Eli to read and act:

Mr. Graham is a fantastic director who instantly gains a great rapport with each student and brings out the best in each child. Eli has benefited in the same manner. He was encouraged through Young Audiences and his teachers to use his creative abilities to become the actor that he strives to be. This has helped him to land roles in school plays, Cain Park School for the Arts, and the Ohio Shakespeare Festival.

Young Audiences has helped him make his dreams come true. He most recently played Syrra (the son of Macduff) in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and he was fantastic! Young Audiences helped Eli and his teachers to recognize how his talent for dramatic reading could help him to grow as a person and to make friends.

So, what are the facts? Click here to learn what the research shows.