Director's Wave | Volume 6 Edition 13

Dear CIS Community,

Something to Ponder

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” - Pablo Picasso 

Festive concerts, learning celebrations, sports days, summative assessments, community fundraisers, thought provoking classes and more are one of the many joys of schools. The month of December tends to be particularly active with events and opportunities beyond the “regular” school day. Thank you for taking the time to see your children in action whether it be on the field, on the court, on the stage, or in the classroom.

The festive sounds, sights, savouries, sweets, and spirit of the holiday season is all around, and often exemplified in the arts. The aspiration is that CIS students can improve their learning, learn more about the world, learn more about people, take risks, apply theory to novel situations, utilize new technologies, and learn more about themselves via different ways of learning, knowing and doing. The unique combination of creativity, resilience, innovation, peace of mind, and discipline that can unfold from engagement in the arts is invaluable whether one can play multiple instruments or just play the radio.

Arts education can sometimes be riddled with extreme highs and lows. From a literal standpoint you have visual expression brightening one’s day to a new height or the folly of society being exposed that brings the view to deep contemplation and self reflection. From a monetary standpoint there are also highs and lows in arts education. For example, in 2021, the arts contributed the equivalent of about 115 billion KYD to the UK economy. In stark contrast, spending on arts education in the UK during that time was just under 10 KYD per student - or the equivalent cost of a box of pastels … imagine if it was funded to the equivalent of 20 kg of clay and one 3D printer each. A sampling of seven other things to contemplate in relation to arts education include:

• Arts education experiences tend to reduce the proportion of students in schools with disciplinary issues.
• Acting together and playing music together brings people together and enhances teamwork.
• Students with high arts participation and low socioeconomic status have a 4 percent dropout rate - five times lower than their low socioeconomic status peers and low-income students who are highly engaged in the arts are twice as likely to graduate college as their peers with no arts education. Access to the arts matters. For example, in the USA, Black and Hispanic students lack access to quality arts education compared to their White peers, earning an average of 30 and 25 percent fewer arts credits, respectively.
• Visual arts teach people about colour, layout, perspective, and balance. These are helpful with respect to invention and design.
• Music education helps with neural pathways and spatial awareness which in turn support creativity and problem solving skills.
• The arts can offer opportunities to explore the human condition and express ideas, learning and feelings in different ways. How often a favourite movie, favourite song, favourite painting result in a flood of memories?
• Sometimes performing arts and visual arts are the first things to be removed from education programs because they are unfortunately considered non-essential, don’t lend themselves well to “hard data” and can be considered unmeasurable. In considering measurement - not everything that can be measured is important and not everything that is important can be measured.

Please be reminded that next week, students have a full day of school on Monday 15 December, Tuesday 16 December and Wednesday 17 December. The student winter break begins as of Thursday 18 December 2025. Students return to classes on Tuesday 6 January 2026 (yes, 2026). Reverting to Picasso’s idea as we enter this weekend, may art wash the dust of daily life off our souls.

Wishing you a pleasant weekend - sincerely,

Jim

Jim Urquhart

Director - Cayman International School