NATIONAL VISUAL ART STANDARDS
National Core Art Standards - Custom Handbook
The affirmations below describe the values that can inform what happens when the Standards, students,
and their teachers come together. These expectations draw connections among the arts, the lives
of students, and the world at large:
The arts have both intrinsic and instrumental value; that is, they have worth in and of themselves and
can also be used to achieve a multitude of purposes (e.g., to present issues and ideas, to teach or persuade,
to entertain, to design, plan, and beautify).
The arts play a valued role in creating cultures and building civilizations. Although each arts discipline
makes its unique contributions to culture, society, and the lives of individuals, their connections
to each other enable the arts disciplines to produce more than any of them could produce alone.
The arts are a way of knowing. Students grow in their ability to apprehend their world when they
learn the arts. As they create dances, music, theatrical productions, and visual artworks, they learn
how to express themselves and how to communicate with others.
The arts have value and significance for daily life. They provide personal fulfillment, whether in
vocational settings, avocational pursuits, or leisure.
Lifelong participation in the arts is a valuable part of a life fully lived and should be cultivated.
Appreciating the arts means understanding the interactions among the various professions and roles
involved in creating, performing, studying, teaching, presenting, and supporting the arts, and in
appreciating their interdependent nature.
Awakening to folk arts and their influence on other arts deepens respect for one’s own and for others’
communities.
Openness, respect for work, and contemplation when participating in the arts as an observer or audience
member are personal attitudes that enhance enjoyment and ought to be developed.
The arts are indispensable to freedom of inquiry and expression.
Because the arts offer the continuing challenge of situations in which there is no standard or
approved answer, those who study the arts become acquainted with many perspectives on the meaning
of “value.”
The modes of thinking and methods of the arts disciplines can be used to illuminate situations in
other disciplines that require creative solutions.
Attributes such as self-discipline, the collaborative spirit, and perseverance, which are so necessary
to the arts, can transfer to the rest of life.
The arts provide forms of nonverbal communication that can strengthen the presentation of ideas and
emotions.
Each person has a responsibility for advancing civilization itself. The arts encourage taking this
responsibility and provide skills and perspectives for doing so.
As students work at increasing their understanding of such promises and challenges presented by the
arts, they are preparing to make their own contributions to the nation’s storehouse of culture. The more
students live up to these high expectations, the more empowered our citizenry will become. Indeed,
helping students to meet these Standards is among the best possible investments in the future of not only
our children, but also of our country and civilization.
National Core Art Standards - Custom Handbook
The affirmations below describe the values that can inform what happens when the Standards, students,
and their teachers come together. These expectations draw connections among the arts, the lives
of students, and the world at large:
The arts have both intrinsic and instrumental value; that is, they have worth in and of themselves and
can also be used to achieve a multitude of purposes (e.g., to present issues and ideas, to teach or persuade,
to entertain, to design, plan, and beautify).
The arts play a valued role in creating cultures and building civilizations. Although each arts discipline
makes its unique contributions to culture, society, and the lives of individuals, their connections
to each other enable the arts disciplines to produce more than any of them could produce alone.
The arts are a way of knowing. Students grow in their ability to apprehend their world when they
learn the arts. As they create dances, music, theatrical productions, and visual artworks, they learn
how to express themselves and how to communicate with others.
The arts have value and significance for daily life. They provide personal fulfillment, whether in
vocational settings, avocational pursuits, or leisure.
Lifelong participation in the arts is a valuable part of a life fully lived and should be cultivated.
Appreciating the arts means understanding the interactions among the various professions and roles
involved in creating, performing, studying, teaching, presenting, and supporting the arts, and in
appreciating their interdependent nature.
Awakening to folk arts and their influence on other arts deepens respect for one’s own and for others’
communities.
Openness, respect for work, and contemplation when participating in the arts as an observer or audience
member are personal attitudes that enhance enjoyment and ought to be developed.
The arts are indispensable to freedom of inquiry and expression.
Because the arts offer the continuing challenge of situations in which there is no standard or
approved answer, those who study the arts become acquainted with many perspectives on the meaning
of “value.”
The modes of thinking and methods of the arts disciplines can be used to illuminate situations in
other disciplines that require creative solutions.
Attributes such as self-discipline, the collaborative spirit, and perseverance, which are so necessary
to the arts, can transfer to the rest of life.
The arts provide forms of nonverbal communication that can strengthen the presentation of ideas and
emotions.
Each person has a responsibility for advancing civilization itself. The arts encourage taking this
responsibility and provide skills and perspectives for doing so.
As students work at increasing their understanding of such promises and challenges presented by the
arts, they are preparing to make their own contributions to the nation’s storehouse of culture. The more
students live up to these high expectations, the more empowered our citizenry will become. Indeed,
helping students to meet these Standards is among the best possible investments in the future of not only
our children, but also of our country and civilization.