How the Arts Impact Students and Adults

Creating art or music can bring ample rewards, in the moment and in individuals and community’s future. Consider these research-based examples:

Students who had arts-rich experiences in high school were more likely to have higher GPAs and attend college than students who lacked the arts.
 
Some 61 percent of 12th graders with ample arts in high school planned to earn a bachelor’s degree compared to 42% of those with low arts involvement, according to National Endowment for the Arts, or NEA, research. Students with arts-rich experiences in high school were more likely to have higher GPAs and attend college than students who lacked the arts.
 
Students with intensive arts experiences in high school were three times more likely than students who lacked such experiences to earn a bachelor’s degree, according to the NEA.  And they are also almost twice as likely to have volunteered within two years.
 
Learning to play Chopin or paint like Monet could lead to business or scientific rewards later. Eventually, children who had art or music classes were far more likely to become a CEO or research scientists with patents to their credit, Michigan State University researchers found. See this article in Quartz, “CEOs and inventors most likely took art or music lessons as a kid.”  and this one by Michigan State University Today,  “A Young Picasso or Beethoven Could Be the Next Edison.”
 
Mint’s free arts and crafts engages children – and helps our youth who lead it with increased wellbeing too. (Photo: Mintern Zaire Turner)

Young people who have a passion or identity project – such as making art or dancing – are more likely to graduate from high school – and also more likely to be in college or working – than those without it. These passions serve as a life raft, keeping them out of gangs and off the streets and in school, according to researchers Coming of Age in the Other America research in Baltimore found. Read the first chapter of Coming of Age in the Other America, ‘“Different Privileges That Different People Inherit”: Social Reproduction and the Transition to Adulthood.’ Or this article from The Atlantic gives a quick overview of their findings: Read “Why Do Some Poor Kids Thrive?” here.

Engaging in crafts brings greater wellbeing and improves individuals’ mental health, researchers at Anglia Ruskin University found. “Governments and national health services might consider funding and promoting crafting, or even socially prescribing these activities for at-risk populations as part of a promotion and prevention approach to wellbeing and mental health,” Dr. Helen Keyes, a cognitive psychologist who was part of the research, told CNN.

Mint arts and crafts focuses on children
People of all ages who make crafts report improved wellbeing. Here, Mint’s Alexis Bagley leads a craft project in Palmer Park. (Photo: Vickie Elmer for Mint)

Children in Houston schools who experienced a wide array of arts educational experiences – dance, theater, music, and visual arts – showed gains in academic, social, and emotional outcomes than children who did not have such enrichment. Their standardized writing scores were 13 percent higher, and they showed a higher level of compassion for others and had 3.6 percent fewer disciplinary infractions. Elementary school students also found school more engaging and enjoyable,researchers found.  Read more in this Mint blog post.

Children at one of Mint's Art in the Parks draw and create books.

Are you a young artist who’d like to get involved? Read more about our programs and application process here.