This article was written by Maine Department of Education (DOE) Arts Integration Teacher Leader Fellow Joshua Chard, who currently teaches second grade in Portland and is the 2024 Maine Teacher of the Year.
Each March, Maine schools fill with music, color, and stories. Families gather for concerts. Hallways become galleries. Stages come alive with student performances. Arts in Our Schools Month, alongside other statewide and national observances—including Maine Youth Art Month, Music in Our Schools Month, and Theatre in Our Schools Month—gives us a chance to celebrate that work.
But if the arts only live in performances and displays, we miss their real power. The arts are not simply something students do; they are something through which students learn.
Across Maine, the arts are woven into daily instruction. Students choreograph movement to understand mathematical patterns. They sketch plants to notice scientific details. They step into the roles of historical figures and speak in the first person to explain past decisions. They shape poems with rhythm and sound. They collaborate on murals that reflect their communities.
The product isn’t the point. The thinking is.
When students create, they slow down enough to observe. They revise instead of rushing. They ask better questions because they care about the outcome. The arts make learning active. Students are not just receiving information; they are constructing meaning.
This year, schools and communities across Maine will celebrate Maine Youth Art Month (YAM) 2026, themed “The World Needs Art.” Throughout the month, K-12 students will share their creativity, stories, and perspectives through exhibitions, workshops, and community events across the state.
A centerpiece of that celebration is the statewide exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art, presented in collaboration with the Maine Art Education Association. Running through April 5, 2026, the exhibition features student artwork from across Maine, displayed at the museum and online. In central Maine, Waterville Creates is hosting its annual multi-site Youth Art Month exhibition through March 30, 2026, at Ticonic Gallery and Greene Block + Studios.
These celebrations remind us that student artwork is not enrichment or an extra. It is central to how young people make meaning, build confidence, and see themselves as contributors to their communities.
The same is true in music and theatre classrooms across the state. Music programs highlighted during Music in Our Schools Month demonstrate discipline, collaboration, and creative expression. Theatre in Our Schools Month showcases storytelling, design, and performance as pathways to leadership and communication. For example, the annual Maine Drama Festival brings together high school students from across the state to write, direct, design, and perform one-act plays—work that requires problem-solving, adaptability, and teamwork.
There is also a cognitive reason why this matters: We remember experiences. When students move, draw, perform, or compose around an idea, they connect memory to action and emotion. Concepts stick. Confidence grows. Students who may not always feel successful in traditional formats often discover strengths that carry into other areas of learning. The arts are not preparing students only to become artists. They are preparing them to become capable, adaptable people.
Arts in Our Schools Month is both a celebration and a reminder. When the arts are treated as occasional enrichment, students experience them occasionally. When they are treated as essential to learning itself, students experience school differently—as a place where thinking has many forms and every voice matters. In 2026, “The World Needs Art” is more than just a theme. It is an invitation to listen to student voices and to recognize the creativity already shaping Maine’s future.
Want to talk more about how you can integrate the arts into your school? Contact Joshua Chard, Maine DOE Arts Integration Teacher Leader Fellow, at joshua.chard@maine.gov.
Maine DOE Newsroom 