VIDEO: Performing Arts Contribute To Students' Success

Elizabeth Perry says one of the wonderful things about working for the Wellesley Public Schools is that the community appreciates the value of arts education.

As the director of the Performing Arts Department, Perry says she is grateful to be working in a place where the performing arts are part of the core curriculum.

Over the course of the past three years she and members of her department have completed a curriculum review and developed new learning goals that included adding some units and going over exactly what is taught in each course at each level.

“It was finally decided that it was still OK to teach Opera at the elementary (level), although now each teacher can choose which Opera instead of all of us doing Hansel and Gretel,” Perry said in an overview of her department given to the School Committee recently.

“And we finally came to the tough decision that, sadly, Rock and Roll is actually old enough to be studied now,” she said.

Perry said she appreciates that Wellesley is a community that recognizes the contribution that the arts make to a person’s overall success.

“Learning in the arts instills creativity, problem solving and critical thinking skills,” she said, adding that performing on stage doesn’t hurt either.

“After you’ve played a solo on stage at Lincoln Center imagine how much better you’ll be at those job interviews,” she said.

Perry looks at the Performing Arts Department and sees a lot of similarities to the Athletics Department

Both have daytime class components, and both have after school pieces.

She said after school performances teach “students to work in teams, play for audiences and sometimes go to competitions.”

Perry said there are many opportunities for students at the middle and high schools to become involved in performing arts and said she believes the program provides “a solid start for any student wishing to pursue a career in the arts.”

But, she emphasized, the department focuses on contributing to the whole education of all students.

“The fact that students learn how to be creative, how to present themselves with confidence, and how to listen to and analyze what they experience will affect the world greatly,” she said.

Perry also praised the teachers at all levels throughout the system.

“Teachers, here, across disciplines, continue to be interested in learning and educating rather than coasting along from year to year,” she said.

“Many of the performing arts staff continue to perform as actors and musicians in their own lives,” she said.

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