Field trips are some of the most memorable moments in their child's school days.

These are the days when students get to make the world their classroom as they look at life beyond the school yard.

Cincinnati organization Arts Wave is looking to give every Cincinnati student an opportunity to go on a arts field trip through their More Arts More Kids program.

We'll see how in their recent efforts, how a trip to a show can make timeless lessons come to life.

Take a look.

Are we ready y'all?

Are you ready, y'all?

Second grade teacher Pickens is gathering the students from the SHI Elementary School to see a ballet.

We went to the Aronoff to see Pinocchio and it was excellent.

This trip is a part of the More Arts More Kids program from Cincinnati organization Arts Wave.

Let's go have some fun.

We ready sir?

The goal of the program is to introduce and captivate elementary school students with the arts by bringing them to Cincinnati's premier art institutions.

Arts Sways, vice President of Community Impact.

Ray Gargano says This program builds the greater arts community And as arts Wave, one of our missions is really developing the next generation of audiences.

So what better way to do it than reach kids before they grow up?

More arts, more kids has been active for three years.

One of the core beliefs of the program is to remove barriers to the arts.

That's why in their inaugural year they partnered with the Cincinnati public schools to develop a program that's equitable and sustainable.

Most kids, never, a lot of the kids never seen ballet in real life.

A recent study done by the federal government showed that only about 50% of students in the nation get arts field trips.

And Ray says, these experiences help make better students.

We know that students who have a an education rich in the arts are less likely to drop out, actually five times less likely to drop out than their peers.

We know that students that have had music and art all through their education score higher on their SATs, some up to 150 points.

A study by the Wallace Foundation shows that a meaningful arts education for youth has benefits beyond the classroom.

The arts provide empathy, all of those social emotional skills, putting yourself in others' shoes, finding that perspective, connecting with others.

Youth who have a a rich arts education really become more civic minded.

They become better voters.

They're engaged in the community and even before they graduate from high school, they become more engaged in their school days.

And as the curtains opened and the show started, the students were in awe of the performance.

I mean, the kids were so in tune to what they were seeing, but we had one little ballerina that was in our midst and she was like, oh, she was retelling the story and everything, you know, using the tools that we use here at school.

So that was, that was wonderful.

But the, the sight of their faces, you know, that was just, that was priceless.

After the finale, I asked some of the students about their thoughts on the show.

Ocean White wants to go back to the ballet because, Because you get to make new friends.

Clea Johnson loved the choreography.

I like the moves and I should learn some.

And one day when you get tickets to see the Cincinnati Ballet, you might see Ava Shabazz.

I am a ballerina.

Ooh.

Okay.

So you might be on that stage one day.

Yes.

Okay, cool.

Awesome.

These are the moments that make a lasting impact on students' lives.

Some of the chaperones attested to this by recalling their own experience with the arts, like third grade teacher aid.

Shelby Young.

I was definitely a dancer growing up, but I was able to see that telling a story really helped me show, like really helped me in school dancing and being in arts and anything like art or anything, I feel like it just built my confidence as a student.

I love it and I feel like it's doing that for them as well.

Like a lot of them came back to school today, recreating the dances and everything.

And I felt like it was amazing to see Joe Wes from the Cincinnati Public Schools remembers his art field trips as a kid and the teacher that instilled the appreciation of art in him.

Fourth grade, I remember we got to go see the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Those were some of the most exciting field trips that we got to take.

All year is going to see these different arts groups perform.

And that has instilled in me a lifelong appreciation of the arts in Cincinnati.

Some of my friends from elementary school, some of them went on to become music educators.

All of us have an appreciation for the arts, and we always credit that to Sue Puffin Berger.

Ms.

Puffin Berger, our music teacher from Coraline Elementary.

And Ray says his first art experience is the reason he's in the arts in the first place.

I was in ninth grade in high school and my high school English teacher, who was a drama teacher, set a script down in front of me and she said, you're gonna run lights for the fall play this year.

I did.

It changed my life, really like, and here I am today working in the arts.

You never know how these art experiences will affect the lives of any audience, but you'll never know.

They don't have the opportunity to go.

When you read a book, when you see a play, when you hear a piece of music, it transforms you and, and opens up a line of communication and a new world that you don't normally get if you're just sitting in a classroom every day.

And how happy I am to have become a real boy.

The More Arts More Kids program currently costs about half a million dollars a year in order to give their school partner students from first to sixth grade an arts field trip experience.

They currently serve as at Cincinnati Public Schools, the Ludlow Independent Schools in northern Kentucky, Catholic inner city schools, the fit and center for the Creative Arts and Pyramid Hills Sculpture Park and Museum in Butler County.

They hope to one day give every student in a region an arts field trip experience for Brick By Brick, I'm Hearns Leger, Jr.