Study and practice in the arts refine students' abilities to perceive aesthetically, make connections between works of art and the everyday lives of people, and discuss visual, kinesthetic, and auditory relationships. Students are taught to locate works of art in time and place, make reasoned judgments about them, and investigate how works of art create meaning.

- From the Visual and Performing Arts Framework, Introduction

CDE - Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards

Guiding Principle 3

Definition of a balanced, comprehensive arts program as one in which the arts are studied as discrete disciplines related to each other and, when appropriate, to other subject areas in the curriculum.

Students in a comprehensive program are expected to master the standards of an arts discipline, which are grouped under the following strands:

Artistic perception

• Refers to processing, analyzing, and responding to sensory information through the use of the language and skills unique to dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts.

Creative expression

• Involves creating a work, performing, and participating in the arts disciplines. Students apply processes and skills in composing, arranging, and performing a work and use a variety of means to communicate meaning and intent in their own original formal and informal work.

Historical and cultural context

• Concerns the work students do toward understanding the historical contributions and cultural dimensions of an arts discipline. Students analyze roles, functions, development in the discipline and human diversity as it relates to that discipline. They also examine closely musicians, composers, artists, writers, actors, dancers, and choreographers as well as cultures and historical periods.

Aesthetic valuing

• Includes analyzing and critiquing works of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts. Students apply processes and skills to productions or performances. They also critically assess and derive meaning from the work of a discipline, including their own, and from performances and original works based on the elements and principles of an arts discipline, aesthetic qualities, and human responses.

Connections, relationships, and applications

• Involve connecting and applying what is learned in one arts discipline and comparing it to learning in the other arts, other subject areas, and careers. Students develop competencies and creative skills in problem solving, communication, and time management that contribute to lifelong learning, including career skills. They also learn about careers in and related to arts disciplines.

- From the Visual and Performing Arts Framework, Guiding Principles.