Our Commitment to Education:
The Bologna Performing Arts Center is dedicated to providing exceptional artistic and educational opportunities to children in the Mississippi Delta region. Through our affiliation with Delta State University, we are able to offer a variety of programming to suit the needs of local families, school children, and educators. Through programs such as the School-Time Matinee Series, the Janice Wyatt Mississippi Summer Arts Institute, the Partners in Education program through the John F. Kennedy Centers for the Performing Arts, and several other arts education initiatives, the Bologna Center is able to provide access to outlets for artistic enrichment to the local community.
Why is Arts Education Important?
Exposure to the arts contributes to the overall cognitive and social development of children. Providing students with a creative outlet of expression can improve academic achievement, accommodate a wide variety of learning styles, promote diverse multicultural perspectives, and aid in the development of positive self-esteem in adolescents. Arts education is an essential component in preparing youth for their future careers. Aspects such as team-work, self-discipline, and communication skills are promoted throughout the fine arts curriculum, and provide students with useful tools that will help them achieve goals and aspirations.
“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…music, dance, painting, and theater are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.”
–William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education
“Arts education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate, the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence.”
– Joseph M. Calahan, Director of Cooperate Communications, Xerox Corporation
“The future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create.”
–President Barack Obama