Having a proper grounding in the arts will be essential for schoolchildren in the future workplace, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has said.
Mr Quinn said the idea that the arts were a luxury in the curriculum no longer held because they introduced children to a “new way of thinking” essential in fields like information technology.
“There is an intrinsic and fundamental link between mathematics and music on the one hand and between music and computer programming on the other. It is a different way of conceiving the world. ”
Mr Quinn and Minister for the Arts Jimmy Deenihan attended the launch of the Encountering the Arts Ireland yesterday. The project is a critical part of the Arts in Education charter launched in January.
