Maybe the greatest scientific mind in history, Albert Einstein, did not simply admire the arts; he believed in their importance fundamentally. “Imagination is more important than knowledge… for knowledge is limited… while imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution, he said.” A devoted violinist and pianist, he often turned to Mozart or Bach to clear his mind and spark new ideas, once saying, “Had I not been a physicist, I would probably have been a musician.”

Einstein's life remains a reminder that the arts are not extracurricular luxuries but fundamental to human development, creativity, and problem-solving. Today, research continues to show what Einstein understood: the arts fuel growth in ways that shape young people for life. And in Miami-Dade County, The Children’s Trust has become one of the region’s most influential champions of expanding arts opportunities so all children can benefit from them.

New research shows how the arts can lead the way

A 2023 report from researchers at the University of California, Irvine, funded by The Wallace Foundation suggests that arts education reaches far beyond academic gains. It helps young people build connections to their identities, cultures, and communities. The study explored how learning an art form helped children engage more deeply with the world around them.

The results were impressive. They show that arts instruction can strengthen civic engagement, cultural understanding, and even career aspirations. In a Philadelphia school’s Summer Drumline program, which provided five weeks of free percussion instruction, exposure to professional artists, stipends, and hands-on preparation for future college or career pathways, students not only learned music, but they connected with mentors, discovered new talents, and built confidence that carried into other aspects of their lives.

Researchers concluded that arts learning builds creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and social-emotional skills, traits essential for adulthood. Just as importantly, they emphasized that every child deserves access to these experiences, and that removing barriers such as cost or limited school offerings was essential.

Connection between the arts and social and academic growth

A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, Snapshots of Arts Education in Childhood and Adolescence, showed similar results on a national scale. The study was conducted from 2001-2018 and showed that arts engagement is consistently tied to:

• Stronger social-emotional development
• Higher academic achievement
• Improved problem-solving and communication skills
• Better long-term educational outcomes

For toddlers and preschoolers, being read or sung to at home was linked to better social skills, confidence, and learning skills. Preschoolers who participated in arts activities scored higher on early academic assessments.

From kindergarten through fifth grade, children in out-of-school arts programs showed stronger interpersonal skills, more willingness to learn, and fewer behavioral problems. These same children also posted higher reading, math, and science scores.

The results for high schoolers were even more striking: arts participation correlated with higher GPAs, stronger math scores, increased graduation rates, and higher first-year college GPAs. Completing more fine arts credits significantly increased the likelihood of earning a high school diploma.

Yet the research also exposes gaps in access to arts education by region, school size, and income level, with schools in high-poverty areas offering fewer classes and fewer opportunities.

How The Children’s Trust helps close the gap

In Miami-Dade County, The Children’s Trust invests in after-school programs, summer camps, and arts-focused partnerships that bring music, dance, theater, visual arts, and media arts directly to children in neighborhoods where access is often limited. Trust-funded providers offer high-quality arts instruction that fosters imagination, confidence, teamwork, and self-expression. At the same time, they are also helping children succeed academically and socially. To find a Trust-funded arts program, go to TheChildrensTrust.org/Find-A-Program and search for “music,” “art,” “theatre,” or “dance.”

Parents can find programs that connect youth to programs that introduce them to diverse artistic traditions, help them enhance their talents, and expose them to potential career paths.

Einstein believed imagination “stimulates progress” and “embraces the entire world.” For thousands of Miami-Dade children, The Children’s Trust is helping turn that belief into lived experience - one art class, drumbeat, dance step, story, and spark of creativity at a time.