Arts education policy refers to the decisions that legislators, funders, and administrators make with respect to teaching and learning in the arts. Policies on arts education address not only in-school course work in art, music, drama, and dance, current attention is also aimed at out-of-school arts programming offered by community organizations and arts providers. In the last two decades, proactive policy related to arts education has become increasingly important as accountability and high-stakes testing prompt mandates for school learning that exclude time for the arts.

This entry looks at the primary policy issues facing arts education in four topic areas: (1) equity in access and opportunity for the arts in diverse communities; (2) preparation and training for in-school arts teachers, visiting teaching artists, and performing artists ...