Students Deserve the Arts, Period. 

During Campaign 2020: Arts and cultural Education as a Fundamental, Civil, and Human Right, we are featuring a spotlight of people and projects which share this vision. 

Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS) is an organization whose mission is ensure that all students in the state of Maryland have access to high quality arts education by mobilizing power to communities through advocacy programs, professional and leadership programs, and resource building and sharing.

History & Formation

Before sharing their current work, let’s review how the organization came to be? Founded by Mary Ann Mears, AEMS came into fruition as a response to growing concern about the diminishing quality and equity of access to arts education in Maryland’s public schools, the Maryland State Arts Council, in partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education, formed Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS) in June 1992. Several beliefs, including Mary Ann Mear (founder and sculptor), inspired this effort: the importance of cultural literacy in teaching and learning; the arts’ intrinsic value in childhood development; and the ability to enhance learning and create positive school environments. In order to expand the scope of its activities, AEMS was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) Maryland non-profit organization in November 1997.

Today, AEMS pursues its work through the lens of the arts as a civil right. This is predicated on the nation-wide framing offered by Arne Duncan, former U.S. Secretary of Education, speaking to Miner Elementary School: 

For a host of reasons, high-quality arts education is absolutely critical to providing all students with a world-class education. The study of the arts can significantly boost student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and increase the odds that students will go on to graduate from college. Arts education is also essential to stimulating the creativity and innovation that will prove critical to young Americans competing in a knowledge-based, global economy. And the arts are valuable for their own sake. They empower students to create and appreciate aesthetic works. Creating by doing is a uniquely powerful way to learn. I want to add that last, but not least, the arts are also fun. They give students a reason to look forward to coming to school.

Yet, with all the positive benefits, all students do not have equitable access to arts education. Students from promising communities facing disadvantage are experiencing an arts gap that derives from equity and civil rights issues. 

Once COVID-19 struck the globe, the disparity in arts education was amplified due to insufficient resources including technology, space and a myriad of other factors. As AEMS acknowledged the effects both pandemics were inflicting on their students, Executive Director Quanice Floyd sent out a letter entitled #WeAllDeserveArts: Students Deserve Arts Education Now More than Ever to Maryland’s public school district superintendents and the chairs or presidents of Maryland’s public school boards of education. 

As a form of advocacy for arts education, Floyd urged for support upon a field that aids in developing 21st century skills and fostering student motivation and participation. Continuing on, the letter even endorsed the notion that COVID-19 has created new traumas and is exacerbating existing traumas for our students, therefore, more priorities to mental health and adolescent psychology to utilize the healing and therapeutic power of the arts to support our students’ mental health. 

AEMS honored that community is the only way to succeed and has worked to provide stakeholders resources to navigate the virtual, hybrid and in-person forms of teaching, which include: 

Using the Past to Shape the Future

In a interview from 2019, Floyd talked about arts education priorities: 

I believe that Arts Education is a civil right because of the effects that it has on students regardless of their background, socio-economic status, race, etc… I know the power of having an arts education and what it can do for people. My priorities for this coming year looks at the arts from two lenses: the arts as a critical and vital tool to achieving educational equity, and achieving equity within arts education. This means understanding the arts as a tool for change no matter the topic (ex. Arts & trauma and healing, STEAM, Arts Integration, etc..) as well as ensure that arts education is equitably accessible to all.

Now that it is 2020, AEMS is following through in several ways including: 

  • Programs - Professional Development, Conferences & Convenings, Recognition Programs and State-wide Student Showcases

  • Policy and Advocacy - AEMS believes that sustained advocacy is necessary to mobilize individuals to spark changes in arts education policies at the local, state, and national levels. Advocacy that effectively transforms policy on the state and local level is critical to ensuring high-quality arts education for all Maryland school children at all levels of education. 

  • Resources - Information the most important for effective decision making. 

Just recently (AEMS)’s artlook® Maryland launched, which is a free-to-use, easy-to-navigate web platform that paints the portrait of arts education in your community to increase equitable access to the arts. By visually mapping data about arts access and resources, artlook® Maryland will allow for unprecedented transparency about arts education in Maryland’s public schools and drive connections between educators, arts partners, advocates, and funders. 

Much of our developmental years occur within the classroom, therefore, every student deserves a well-rounded education that acknowledges the arts as a core academic. We are teaching humans, humans who must be able to comprehend the inner-workings of the world beyond passing grades. Skills such as empathy, mental health and cultural competency can be learned within the arts and lessons you cannot necessarily gain within a math class. AEMS is uplifting students by providing them outlets towards self-discovery and access to resources, because many students once they walk out of the classroom are limited.  

The arts are a human right.

Arts Education in Maryland Schools’ mission is to improve the quality of, and access to, arts education for all Maryland public school students.We use an array of interrelated strategies including supporting arts education policy and advocacy efforts, developing partnerships with schools and school systems, disseminating information, convening the experts in the fields of of arts and education, organizing focused task forces, offering professional development for teachers and artists, providing technical assistance through research and evaluation tools, and hosting recognition programs.

AEMS collaborates with the Maryland State Department of Education, the Maryland State Arts Council, school systems, arts organizations, institutions of higher education, and other arts and educational institutions. For more than 20 years, AEMS has garnered national attention by influencing local and state policies to ensure that high-quality arts programs are available to every child in every Maryland public school.

AEMS acts as a fiscal agent for a number MSDE’s most significant arts education initiatives, including the Maryland Centers for Creative Classrooms, a research-based, professional development series for arts instructors, educators, and school administrators conducted by master teachers, artists, and artist educators; the Best of Maryland Arts Education Festival, which highlights the creative abilities of Maryland public school students across all artistic disciplines; and other vital activities.

Click Here to contact and get involved with AEMS and follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.