CORE VALUES AND BELIEF STATEMENTS

Approved by the MAAE Board of Directors 8.2.2025

MISSION - The Missouri Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE) seeks to promote and support fine arts education for the benefit of all Missourians. 

VISION - We envision high quality fine arts education in all Missouri schools, ensuring that every student discovers and develops their fullest potential. 

Definition:  Fine Arts Education refers to instruction in music, visual art, speech and theatre arts, dance, and media arts.

MAAE has a series of core beliefs and values, supported by research, which guide and govern our work. 

MAAE believes:

1. Fine Arts Education belongs in all schools and benefits all Missourians.

2. Fine Arts Education offers benefits to health and well-being.

3. Fine Arts Education creates opportunities for life-long learning and cultivates patrons of the arts. 

4. Fine Arts Education learning occurs in a variety of ways outside of school settings. These include community arts agencies, churches, non-profit organizations, teaching artists, and private teachers in the arts.

5. Fine Arts Education nurtures the creation of a welcoming school environment where students can express themselves in a safe and positive way.

6. Fine Arts Education is best delivered by certified arts educators for K-12 school placements. 

7. Highly qualified community arts educators and trained teaching artists help make valuable connections in the classroom.

8. Professional learning for teachers supports the delivery of a high quality fine arts education, provides support for teachers new to the profession and increases rates of teacher retention.

9. Fine Arts Education and engagement with the arts promotes personal well-being, leads to success in the workplace, resulting in a positive impact on the local and state economy.

10. Student learning is strengthened and deepened when the arts are involved in instruction across the curriculum, which increases student agency, relevance and knowledge retention. 

11. Fine Arts Education is an essential element of a well-rounded school curriculum, guiding  students toward success, supporting social and emotional well-being, and fostering collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking.

12. Fine Arts Education education offers an opportunity to foster inclusion and equity:  

In Music…we sing and play as one

In Visual Art…your expression as an individual matters to all of us

In Theater…together we focus our efforts on the qualities that make us more human

In Dance…we move as individuals and as a unit

Fine Arts Education provides the building blocks for future artists and patrons of the arts, which strengthens communities by creating life-long learning experiences