Why I Believe the Arts Will Define the Next Generation of Leaders – Jennifer Oaten
Last week, I saw a group of our senior students rehearse for the College production of As We Face the Sun, a play about friendship, memory and growing up. What struck me was not the performance itself. It was everything happening around it. One student was directing her peers through a complex scene change, calmly making decisions under pressure. Another was offering feedback to a classmate with such thoughtfulness and care that I could see the trust between them.
These young women were not just preparing for a show. They were practising leadership.
Watching rehearsals unfold, I have been thinking a lot about what our students will need to succeed in a world that is changing faster than any of us predicted. As a school, we invest significantly in academic programs, and rightly so. But I am increasingly convinced that the arts, often seen as a “nice to have” alongside the core curriculum, are in fact one of the most strategic investments we can make in developing future leaders.
And I say that not as a sentimental argument, but as a practical one.
The skills the future demands
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, released in January 2025, surveyed over 1,000 leading global employers about the capabilities their workforce will need by 2030. The findings are striking. After analytical thinking, the most in demand skills are resilience, flexibility and agility, leadership and social influence, and creative thinking.
These are not skills typically developed through the curriculum alone. They are built through experience, through collaboration, through getting up on a stage when you are not sure you are ready and doing it anyway.
The report also makes clear that while technology skills are growing in demand, human skills, particularly creative thinking and the courage to lead, will remain critical in a workforce where nearly 40 per cent of current skill sets will be transformed within five years. In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, the ability to think originally, to imagine something that does not yet exist, and to bring others along with your vision matters more than ever.
When I read these findings, I do not think about corporate boardrooms. I think about our music ensembles, our drama rehearsals, and our dance studios because that is where I see these exact capabilities being developed every single day.
Why the arts build leaders
There is a common misconception that arts education is primarily about producing artists. Of course, some of our students will go on to careers in the creative industries, and we celebrate that. But the real value goes much further.
When a student plays in an ensemble, she is learning to listen and adjust, to contribute her part while staying attuned to the whole group around her. That is collaboration in its truest form. I think about the students who step onto a stage for the first time, knowing they might forget a line or miss a cue, and they do it anyway. That takes real courage. And then there are the students who choreograph for their peers, quietly making creative decisions, giving direction, taking responsibility for a shared outcome. They may not call it leadership, but that is exactly what it is.
A major Australian study funded by the Australian Research Council, in partnership with the Australia Council for the Arts, found that students involved in music, drama and dance and visual arts showed higher school motivation, greater engagement in class, stronger self-esteem, and increased life satisfaction. The researchers noted that some of the strongest effects came from students who spent quality time in performing arts subjects at school. Research from the National Advocates for Arts Education further confirms that arts rich education increases learners’ confidence, supports healthy risk taking, and builds skills that transfer across every area of learning.
A deliberate investment in what young women need
At Santa Maria, our Connecting Learning to Life framework identifies the attributes our students need for the future, and so many of them, creativity, collaboration, confidence, resilience, and initiative, are developed powerfully through the arts.
This understanding is one of the key reasons we made the decision to build our new Cultural Centre, which will open in Term 2 this year. This was not simply a facilities decision. It was a leadership decision about what we believe young women need to thrive.
With its 642-seat auditorium, black box studio and dance studio, the Cultural Centre will give our students a professional environment to develop their creative, performance and leadership capabilities. It will be a place where they can push themselves, try new things, and grow in confidence. Through the black box theatre, students will also learn technical skills in sound, lighting, and production management, practical skills that develop problem solving and the ability to work under pressure, qualities that serve them well in any career.
What I want parents to know
If your daughter is involved in the arts at school, whether she is performing in a production, playing in an ensemble, or learning choreography, she is developing capabilities that will serve her for the rest of her life. She is learning to think creatively, work with others, manage pressure, and find her voice.
And if your daughter has not yet explored the arts, I encourage you to have that conversation with her. Sometimes the most unexpected experiences are the ones that shape us.
As we prepare to open the Cultural Centre, I feel a deep sense of pride in what this space represents. It is a statement about what we value at Santa Maria, not just academic achievement, but the development of young women who are creative, confident, and ready to lead.
The future will need leaders who can imagine what does not yet exist and have the courage to bring it to life. I see that happening in our arts programs every week, and I cannot wait to see what becomes possible when our students have a space truly built for them.
- Arts education, Confidence and resilience, Creative thinking skills, Cultural Centre, Featured, Future-ready learning, Girls' Education, Mercy Values In Action, Performing arts in schools, Santa Maria College Perth, Student Leadership
Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
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