Abstract

Generally speaking, arts and culture programmes serve two aims. First, arts experiences and participation are expected to have an immediate impact on each individual as a person. Second, most cultural programme projects are constructed for educational purposes (Eisner and Day, 2004; Lindberg, 1991). According to Gee (2004), contradictory educational and cultural agendas seem to agree on a broad range of assertions about the capacity of the arts, which include assisting in spiritual and moral development, improving academic performance, and inducing psychological and even physiological well-being. Nevertheless, arts and cultural education is characterised by multiple voices and hopeful eclecticism and a wide variety of practices (Borgen, 2006; Stankiewicz et al., 2004). The three most common models for exposing pupils to arts and culture in schools are:

integrated: arts and culture are integrated components of general education and school subjects;

partnerships: arts, business, philanthropic and government organisations supportive of arts education cooperate in partnerships with schools;

external: arts and culture institutions offer programmes that schools can purchase.