As a Teaching Artist (TA) for the past 12 years, the author has visited hundreds of schools in western Pennsylvania. She has had an opportunity to work with many talented and dedicated classroom teachers, arts teachers and administrators who all share an enthusiasm for making the arts central to quality education. The teachers and administrators who spend their time, energy and resources to invite TAs into their schools are already convinced of the value of the arts in education. In this article, the author discusses the impact of social and political change on the role of arts in education. She presents a study that explored classroom teachers' practices and perceptions regarding arts integration. Teachers in this study rank planning time with other teachers, and individual planning time, as the most important arts integration resource. (Contains 6 graphs.)