Arts@School

Department of Fine Arts Mission

The fine arts program of the Ipswich Public Schools will provide all students, in kindergarten through grade twelve, with a developmentally challenging, sequential curriculum by qualified fine arts teachers. The fine arts curriculum will include dance, drama, music, and the visual arts. The Ipswich school community will work together with the greater Ipswich community to provide environments and resources which promote and support life-long learning in the arts for all of its citizens.

Educational Goals

Because it is committed to a comprehensive arts education for all students,
kindergarten through grade twelve, the Fine Arts Department has adopted the following educational goals:

Every student will learn to nurture and validate his or her own inspiration, intuition, creativity,
and recognition of beauty.
Every student will have opportunities for aesthetic experiences.
Every student will be provided with a comprehensive sequential curriculum in
dance, drama, music, and visual arts.
Every student will graduate with a proficiency in at least one of the fine arts.
Every student will learn the value of the creative process, as well as the product.
Every student will experience the power of connections and integration.
Every student, through the arts, will develop problem-solving abilities and such powerful thinking skills as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating.
Every student will become a valuable member of the community because of the insight and
compassion that the arts have taught him or her.

Statement of Philosophy
Knowing and practicing the fine arts is fundamental to human development. The fine arts should be an integral part of every student’s education.

All people everywhere have an abiding need for meaning.
People create art to make connections between themselves and the world around them.
Since its beginnings, the human experience has been recorded by the fine arts.
The fine arts nurture and validate inspiration, intuition, creativity, and the recognition of beauty.
The fine arts nurture aesthetics. Aesthetics is the intellectual and emotional reaction to an
experience provided by one or more of the senses through the fine arts.
The fine arts contribute to the spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual development of people.

All basic subjects, including the fine arts, require time for study, practice, and reflection.

The Ipswich Public Schools define the fine arts as dance, music, theater, and visual arts.
Each fine art has its own skills, sequence, and symbol system, which takes time to develop.
Fine arts education in Ipswich consists of participation with understanding, in addition to
exposure to the fine arts.
The creative process is the total student experience.
The product is only part of the process.

The fine arts make a contribution that reaches beyond their intrinsic value.

The fine arts enhance every learning environment, as long as the integrity of the fine arts is maintained.
The fine arts involve clear intellectual and physical challenges for students. Students can experience intense gratification when meeting and reaching these challenges.

An education in the fine arts benefits society.

Students of the fine arts become valuable contributors to their community. Learning to create
and appreciate beauty enhances the quality of life for everyone.
Through the fine arts, students develop problem-solving abilities and powerful thinking skills
such as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating.
Most important, because the fine arts build bridges between generations and cultures, students
learn to understand and respect themselves and others.

Have a question?

Need more information about the fine arts program or how you can help?
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Supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council