Financial Literacy

The Globe featured this article today about a new focus on financial literacy in the Ontario curriculum. I think it's important for kids to learn about money throughout school. This can be supported in any subject area to provide a comprehensive approach to financial literacy.

    An example of this for Visual Arts, that I would like to try, is how to plan an art show in Toronto. This would involve many related stages: planning the show, producing artwork, securing participants,  fundraising, organizing entertainment, booking a venue, promotion, establishing working relationships, opening night, sales, and a review of the overall experience from a financial perspective.

   Another example for Visual Arts is planning a small business in the arts or planning a freelance career as an independent contractor in the arts. This would involve writing a complete business plan and investigating need, cost, return, investing, borrowing and projecting results.

   Financial literacy is of course of utmost importance when students are considering post-secondary education and must be examined while addressing the careers in art lessons.

Any of these ideas would serve as the basis for a challenging and rewarding cumulative task.