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CALIFORNIA VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS FRAMEWORK

Components of Arts Education
page 7

The content of this framework encompasses the disciplines of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts. Those arts disciplines have in common the following four components, which bring instructional balance to an arts curriculum and conform with the philosophy established in the 1982 and 1989 frameworks for visual and performing arts:

Artistic perception-- processing sensory information through elements unique to the arts.

Creative expression-- producing works in the arts, either by creating them or by performing original or existing works.

Historical and cultural context-- understanding and appreciating the arts in the time and place of their creation.

Aesthetic valuing-- analyzing, making informed judgements, and pursuing meaning in the arts.

A complete and comprehensive arts education includes each component in the instruction of the arts discipline. Each component contains a body of knowledge and skills unique to the arts discipline and common among all four arts. A fundamental goal embodied in this framework is that every student in every California school must experience each arts discipline and the breadth of all four components in each discipline during each year of school. (See Chapter 2, "A Comprehensive Arts Program for All Students," for an expanded discussion of the four components.)

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