Frequently Asked Questions

 An arts education is a rising tide that lifts all boats, playing a key role in a student’s success and overall well-being. It increases academic achievement and graduation rates, opens doors to new career opportunities and fosters important skills like critical thinking and emotional resilience, preparing students to succeed and thrive in the world beyond CPS.

Research continuously supports the importance of the arts for child development. An arts education leads to intellectual and social development, transferable skills and mindsets, and emotional well-being. Examples include:

• Students who participate in arts programs are 4x more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and 3x more likely to be awarded for attendance than students who do not participate in the arts​.
• Low-income students engaged in the arts are 3x more likely to graduate college (Source).
• An arts education is proven to contribute to emotional balance, confidence and self-esteem.

This plan will focus on the student experience, leveraging their voices and perspectives to advance our arts initiative to build a better life for them, their families, and our community, both now and in the future.

At CPS, the daily student experience is rigorous, joyful and equitable. This means that every student engages in a high-quality curriculum and is in front of a high-quality teacher every day. It also means every school offers opportunities for students to feel as though they belong and are connected, with additional programming throughout the year like after school clubs or athletics. Our overarching philosophy extends to the arts, creating arts education opportunities for students every day.

In a post-COVID world, student needs have changed dramatically, putting us at a critical point in time to build upon the success of the 2012 Arts Education Plan, while identifying opportunities to improve and expand the arts education experience and address current challenges.

Under this new budget model, every CPS elementary school will have at least three holistic teachers - one for the arts, one for physical education, and one that principals can use for a position of their choice, be it a world language teacher, a STEM specialist, a librarian, or another type of educator to meet their school’s unique needs. This is a landmark change from prior years, where some CPS schools lacked the resources to hire teachers for these holistic subject areas.

Arts Education Plan 2.0: Cultivating Creativity is intentionally designed to support all students, no matter the state of their school. This plan is intended to provide resources to students across the city, improving access to a quality arts education.

Outside of Cultivating Creativity, every CPS school receives equitable resourcing based on the needs of their student population.

This arts education plan includes students ranging from PreK to Grade 12. The programming includes in-classroom experiences in music, theater, dance, and visual arts.

In arts education, CPS prioritizes our certified arts teachers. While we are fortunate to have arts partners who provide added experiences and resources for our students, their partnership is not intended to compete with the roles of our trusted faculty.

CPS students recently participated in the Democratic National Convention’s “Welcome to Chicago” art competition, where young artists were invited to create a piece of artwork that will be displayed at 2024 convention events. As the site of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, the competition took place in Chicago. While the top winners were CPS students, the competition was open to any full-time student at a public or private high school in the Chicago metropolitan area.

While we are excited for our students to showcase their artistic talents on a national stage, their participation is not an official endorsement by CPS for the Democratic Party.

We are collaborating closely with the Mayor’s Office, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and CPS Board of Education to ensure this new Plan is widely supported. As a former CPS teacher himself, Mayor Brandon Johnson has a soft spot for our city’s students at CPS. Although he supports this initiative, it is the Department of Arts Education that is leading the charge on its creation and implementation.

This plan is being co-created with students, parents and guardians, CPS teachers and administrators, and arts ecosystem partners to chart the path forward for continued advancements in access, equity and quality of arts education for all students. Planning with these stakeholders will kick off this August, with the full plan in place for the 2025 school year.

We need your help! Your voice is critical in the development of this plan and ensuring arts education remains a priority. From a simple, electronic survey to engaging round table discussions, there are multiple ways to get involved.

Today’s CPS students are tomorrow’s leaders, for Chicago and beyond. By supporting this arts education plan, you are supporting tools to improve students’ overall well-being. An arts education plan increases academic achievement and graduation rates, opens doors to new career opportunities and fosters important skills like critical thinking and emotional resilience, preparing students to succeed and thrive in Chicago once they leave school.

CPS Department of Arts Education is developing a new phase of the Arts Education Plan – Arts Education Plan 2.0: Cultivating Creativity – co-created with students, parents and guardians, CPS teachers and administrators, and arts ecosystem partners to chart the path forward for continued advancements in access, equity and quality of arts education for all students. In a post-COVID world, student needs have changed dramatically, putting us at a critical point in time to build upon the success of the 2012 Arts Education Plan, while identifying opportunities to improve and expand the arts education experience and address current challenges.