Art|Play

The arts play a critical role in children’s lives, opening opportunities for them to create new connections between themselves, other people, and the constantly changing world around them. They also develop the ability to imagine and experience the world from multiple perspectives (1), a function John Dewey described as a foundational pillar of democracy (2).

While 88% of Americans believe that arts are an essential part of a well-rounded education (3), research has indicated a steady nationwide decline in people’s access to arts education across all tiers of education over the past 30 years (4).

The marginalization of the arts from curriculum has generated significant inequalities across different communities with a recent study highlighting white students being nearly twice as likely than Hispanic and African American students to have engaged in an arts education (5).

Additionally, children whose parents have at least one tertiary education degree are six times more likely to have participated in an arts learning experience compared to those whose parents have less than a high school degree (6).

With engagement in the arts during childhood being the strongest predictor of an individual’s lifelong participation in the arts (7), questions of how to cultivate children’s equitable access to meaningful, engaging, and playful arts experiences through public school systems are now more relevant than ever.

Art|Play is a collaborative action research project looking at the integration of modern and contemporary art practices into Boston Public Schools’ early childhood curriculum.

Led by Dr. Louisa Penfold and Dr. Steve Seidel, the project's pilot phase has focused on the design of both open-source curriculum activities and professional development for teachers and administrators that facilitate connections between contemporary and modern art practices and children’s play.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Art|Play is also being run in partnership with the Harvard Art Museums, the Smithsonian Learning Lab, and MoMA to utilize artworks and archival materials from their collections to design curriculum experiences and pedagogical support materials for educators.

As of June 2024, the Art|Play curriculum and professional development activities, developed as part of Boston Public Schools’ Focus on 3s and Focus on 4s curricula, have been implemented across 228 classrooms, reaching over 4,008 students, and 375 public school teachers.

Outcomes of this project include the final iteration of the Boston Public Schools’ open-source curriculum, instructional videos for educators, and printable resources for families, which can be found under the ‘Curriculum and Resources’ tab on this site.

Acknowledgments

Art|Play has been run as a partnership between Project Zero, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Boston Public Schools. We would like to acknowledge the significant contribution of the following individuals to this project: Marina Boni, Marie Enochty, Melissa Tonachel, and Dr Megina Baker from the Department of Early Childhood at Boston Public Schools. Francesca Brewer and Dr. Jen Thum at the Harvard Art Museums. Harvard Graduate School of Education students Carina D’Urso, Amanda Huggins, Huaya Liu, Nanvi Jhala, Aesther Chang, Feifei Shen, and Missy Arellano who worked as Research Assistants as well as Kaijeh Johnson and Diamond Arrington who helped develop curriculum activities relating to sound art. Ivy Zhang, Ana Isabel Galvan Castro, and Nhi Dang who assisted with translation, and Cherry Wu for her amazing graphic design.

References

1. Greene, M (2000). ‘Imagining futures: The public school and possibility,’ Journal of Curriculum Studies. 32(2), p.267-280.

2. Dewey, John. (1934). Art as Experience. Reprint. New York: Wideview/Perigree

3. Americans for the Arts (2018). Americans Speak Out About The Arts: An In-depth Look at Perceptions and Attitudes About the Arts in America (Washington D.C, September 2018), https://www.americansforthearts.org/node/101584

4-7. Rabkin, N and Hedberg, E., Arts Education in America: What the Declines Mean for Arts Participation (2011), National Endowment for the Arts Research Report no. 52 (Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts, February 2011), https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/2008-SPPA-ArtsLearning.pdf