Every year, the Council for Art Education celebrates Youth Art Month in March. The Council chooses a theme for students to consider while making their artworks, and the theme for this year is “The World Needs Art.” The CAE is a national organization, but this theme hits close to home through the Arts Council’s partnership with Cumberland County Schools on the High School Juried Art Show. The yearly show brings together digital art, sculpture, drawing, multimedia, and painting by students from CCS. To help support students, the works are juried by a panel of judges, and winning artists receive cash awards. As CCS Director of Arts Education Daniel McCloud notes, “This show provides students with a rare, firsthand look at the professional standards of the industry, proving that their creative ambitions are achievable career paths.”
Cumberland County Schools is finishing a year-long process to develop a new strategic plan that their website says will “provide a safe, positive and rigorous learning environment to prepare lifelong learners to reach their maximum potential.” No doubt art will be an important part of it.
“The arts at CCS serve as a vital laboratory for critical thinking and cultural literacy, directly supporting our mission to develop well-rounded, empathetic citizens,” McCloud said.
In a recent study from the National Endowment for the Arts, arts participation among high schoolers provided positive social-emotional responses, and arts course completion was linked with greater academic achievement, including improved graduation rates.
And sure, art helps art-makers and students, but going to view a gallery also helps the viewers. I certainly experience joy walking into an art gallery, but a new study shows a measurable physical response. A 2025 study from the Art Fund and the Psychiatry Research Trust placed groups into art galleries and measured their hormonal responses while they viewed art. The study found that participants saw a 22% drop in cortisol, more dynamic heart activity, and a 30% drop in inflammatory hormones when participants were looking at art in a gallery space. So, in short, going to a gallery made them feel less stressed and less tired.
It turns out that the Council for Art Education is right; the world does need art; the stressed-out world, the tired world, the world that needs to notice, support, and admire student work. The world needs art. Thank goodness the students in our community can help bring it to us.
The High School Juried Art Show runs March 6 through March 29 at the Arts Center Gallery. For more information, visit www.wearethearts.com/exhibits.