The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the second in its latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief explores afterschool and arts enrichment. The arts have the remarkable ability to positively affect a child in his or her entirety--influencing his or her developmental, behavioral, social and intellectual capacities. Afterschool programs are helping schools and communities ensure that their children have access to the arts and are able to benefit from all the arts have to offer. The role afterschool programs play in providing arts education and enrichment becomes increasingly important as the arts curriculum finds itself pitted against the pressures of standardized tests. Afterschool and summer programs draw on the expertise of arts organizations, arts education organizations, and school arts and music educators, offering broad exposure to the variety of existing art forms and offering dedicated time for deeper learning in the arts. Opportunities for arts education and enrichment, both in school and out-of-school, can help excite children about school, engage them in academic subjects, improve their focus and spark their creativity. The absence of the arts from a student's life is a lost opportunity to inspire change and individual growth. Across the country, afterschool programs are providing a nurturing environment and strengthening students' relationships to the arts and thereby supporting overall student success. (Contains 25 endnotes.) [For the related reports, see "Afterschool: An Ally in Promoting Middle School Improvement. MetLife Foundation Afterschool Alert. Issue Brief No. 55" (ED539794); "Afterschool: A Key to Successful Parent Engagement. MetLife Foundation Afterschool Alert. Issue Brief No. 57" (ED539790); and "Digital Media & Learning in Afterschool. MetLife Foundation Afterschool Alert. Issue Brief No. 58" (ED539789).]