The Bavarian Art Academy Association is dismayed by the Bavarian cabinet's decision to merge and significantly reduce the teaching of music, art and handicrafts at elementary school from next school year. With its decision, the cabinet wants to strengthen the so-called basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. The planned "flexibilization of the timetable" means a fundamental reduction in artistic and creative subjects for all children in Bavaria with far-reaching consequences:

Music and art lessons play a central role in the development of primary school children. Children learn key social skills, emotional expression and creative experimentation through music and art. Cognitive skills are comprehensively trained through art and music: Positive effects on language development have been proven, as have effects on mathematical skills. Both subjects - music and art - contribute significantly to the holistic education of children, which is explicitly called for in the planned "PISA offensive Bavaria". Creative work promotes curiosity, the will to innovate and flexibility - future skills that are urgently needed in a world that is difficult to predict.

Art and music are an important lever in inclusion and integration work. The 2022 PISA study shows that schools do not respond sufficiently to highly heterogeneous classes. Music and art promote intercultural exchange and understanding, and not just among children and young people. If we want to have a vibrant society and an active democracy, music and art need to be firmly established in the curriculum to the same extent as before.

If music and art lessons at elementary school are reduced as planned, children will leave elementary school with very heterogeneous levels of knowledge and skills. This also threatens the promotion of young talent in amateur culture in Bavaria - from children's choirs to youth brass bands. This will particularly affect rural areas, where the cultural infrastructure is more decentralized than in urban centers. Plans like these endanger the Free State of Bavaria as a "cultural state".

Bavaria's art academies are calling for the decision made by the Bavarian cabinet to be revised in dialog with Bavarian educational institutions and cultural associations and for art and music lessons to be given a priority place in the curriculum, especially in elementary school, due to their importance to society as a whole.