How Schools Can Boost Happiness by Embracing the Arts:
A Valentine’s Day Letter
by Stuart Grauer

Dear Educators and School Leaders,

We are constantly looking for ways to enhance students' well-being and create thriving school communities. We bemoan the loneliness and depression reports constantly spooling out about schools. Let the spooling stop for a day or more!

Back in the day, I remember loading the Suburban up with students, driving down to Pacific Beach to hear the legendary Jewel perform—she was not famous yet, but the connection my students and I formed on those trips was permanent, and we all knew she was the real thing. Likewise, the music at our expedition campfires, and the musicians we’ve met in far flung places have bonded us. We create this bond at every music café and theater night at The Grauer School.

 A recent study from Cambridge University, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry [1], reveals why. As a strategy for student and teacher connection, you can hardly do better than engaging in cultural arts activities. Attending or performing in a play, visiting a museum or creating something to display, and watching or performing in live music normally reduces the risk of depression and increases the sense of connection and joy. Imagine these benefits incorporated into our schools—not just for students, but for teachers, parents, and the broader school community.

The Science of Culture and Well-Being

A British study followed 2,000 adults over a decade and found that attending cultural events even once every few months reduced the risk of depression by 32%. When this became a monthly habit, the risk dropped by nearly half (48%). The researchers controlled for variables like income, showing that these benefits aren't just about privilege but stem from the inherent value of cultural engagement.

But as Bob Dylan said, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” We can sense this data, feel it, and hear it.

How and why do the arts work? Cultural activities combine social interaction, creativity, mental stimulation, and even gentle physical activity—all key elements in boosting mental health. Put another way, they inspire awe, and a sense of connection to something larger than ourselves—and to one another. Research shows us that all this is a powerful stress reducer. Neuroscientific studies further suggest that experiencing art—whether through music, dance, visual arts, or theater—activates areas of the brain associated with pleasure, emotional regulation, and cognitive flexibility, reinforcing its potential to enhance well-being [2]. They belong in the schools first and foremost!

The Small School Advantage in Arts

Despite the proven benefits of arts and culture, participation rates in school arts programs often tell a different story. At most secondary schools, only a fraction of students—well under 50%—are actively engaged in the arts. By contrast, at The Grauer School, more than 85% of students participate in arts programming. This contrast reveals why small schools are uniquely positioned to leverage the power of the arts for student well-being—and why Grauer kids and teachers express much higher levels of happiness, purpose and connection than norms.

At Grauer, much like at small schools world over, 89% of all students are enrolled in at least one Visual and Performing Arts class. Breaking the numbers down further:

Middle School (Grades 7-8): 100% participation (53/53 students)
High School (Grades 9-12): 83.25% participation (87/105 students)

Let’s remember that engagement in the arts extends beyond formal coursework. Arts participation may be even higher when factoring in student involvement in arts-related clubs. The California Education Code mandates that schools offer courses in dance, music, theater, and visual arts for all K-12 students; and yet, despite this requirement, only 38% of students in California public schools had access to arts programs as of 2018 (California School Boards Association—it seemed to rise a little post pandemic).

Why Small Schools Lead in Arts and Well-Being

Small schools, by design, make arts and culture an integral part of the student experience, and they do so in ways that large schools often cannot. Here’s why:

Guaranteed Participation:
On paper, large schools often catalog an astonishing array of attractive and elite arts programs, and some families are naturally drawn to them. The trouble is, those programs can be exclusive. The big-school play is probably cast the year before the rehearsals begin! Students can hardly dabble in the arts or try out new friendship groups or explore those little notions they are drawn to.

The arts are not just for a select few—they are for everyone. Small schools like Grauer ensure that every student can take the stage, display their artwork, or contribute to a production. The irony of wanting to be creative in large, competitive environments is that many students come to feel that the arts are only “for the creative kids.” The percentage of failure or lack of inclusion in such settings is high. Of course, appropriate failure is valuable for growth, but being routinely marginalized from activities that attract and inspire you can be demoralizing.

At Grauer, if you join an arts (or sports) program, we are honored. We don’t lead you into thinking you are going straight to Broadway after our production, nor do we want unrealistic or demotivational barriers of entry or stiff risks for failure. If you’re willing to join in and help, we need you. We want you to try things! That’s the small school advantage.

Personalized Artistic Development:
With smaller class sizes and close student-teacher relationships, small schools nurture artistic talents at every level. Teachers can guide students in ways that encourage them to find their unique strengths, tastes, and interests—no matter how unique they are.

Arts Across the Curriculum: 
Small schools have the flexibility to weave the arts into everyday learning. Flexible curriculum that molds to where students are drawn is one of the greatest small school benefits. Theater can enrich history lessons, music can enhance mathematical understanding, and visual arts can deepen scientific inquiry. And local musicians performing at the school create community. All this integration fosters a richer, more immersive learning experience and learning community.

Sense of Community: 
Small schools cultivate connections between students, teachers, and the local culture. Arts programs are not just extracurricular activities; they are community events that involve families, local artists, and cultural institutions, creating a strong support network that fosters well-being. Arts events are where “the world is our classroom.”

Arts for Life:
By making artistic expression a fundamental part of the school culture, small schools set students on a path for lifelong engagement in the arts. Whether through school-wide performances, student-driven exhibitions, or informal creative gatherings, or arts patronage together with teachers and peers, the arts become a lasting part of students' lives beyond graduation—as patrons or as participants.

Reimagining…: 
Well-being initiatives in schools typically focus narrowly on academics or traditional wellness strategies like physical fitness or counseling. Those are crucial. But going beyond those, when we help students and staff experience the awe and inspiration that art and culture bring, we’re enhancing their mental health and joy now, and enriching their future lives and engagement. Arts education is basic to developing emotional intelligence and resilience.

This sense of awe and connection isn’t limited to cultural experiences—immersion in the natural world has similarly profound effects on our well-being. Whether through time spent in forests, on the ocean, or simply in open green spaces, nature, like the arts, can bring emotional regulation, reduce stress, and enhance cognitive flexibility. Just as we immerse students in music and storytelling, direct, unstructured (or lightly guided) engagement with the natural world is another vital source of human flourishing and teachers who can provide this have a lot to offer.

If there is one thing that kills me, it is that our nation and, really, educators all over the world are talking about a whole education and about student well-being, and then they measure the worth and rank of their schools based upon average math and reading scores. Wake up, educators! We can measure so much more here in 2025! After 50 years of teaching and accrediting, a good friend of ours, The Grauer School knows this to be true:

Every student is an artist, and every teacher and leader is a curator of possibility.

It was Albert Einstein who noted that “Imagination is the highest form of intelligence,” so let’s run our schools that way. As students engage in storytelling, music, or dance, they are learning to express complex emotions, process difficult experiences, and build empathy. In 2025, wherever you are reading this from, demand your school prioritize well-being in education by making cultural engagement just as front and center as math and reading—not an add-on elective. Whether through small or large programs, the arts need to reach every student and our school community as a whole—not just a select few. The benefits are undeniable: happier, more connected students and staff who are better equipped to meet the challenges of learning and life.

Happy Valentine’s Day, with love, kindness, courage, and a creative heart,

Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Michelangelo, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Billie Holiday, David Bowie, J.S. Bach, William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Edgar Allan Poe, Homer, Charlie Chaplin, Oscar Wilde, Marilyn Monroe, Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Muses (Greek Mythology), Willy Wonka, Sherlock Holmes, Atticus Finch, Jay Gatsby, Anne of Green Gables.

[1] Daisy Fancourt and Urszula Tymoszuk, "Cultural Engagement and Incident Depression in Older Adults: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing," The British Journal of Psychiatry 214, no. 4 (April 2019): 225–229, https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2018.267.

[2] "How the Arts Heal: A Systematic Review of the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Arts-Based Interventions," Translational Psychiatry 13, no. 1 (2023): 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02406-8.

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