Kehaulani Nakamoto's fifth-grade class at Kailua Elementary worked as a team on a set of batik wall hangings, donated to the Hawai'i State Hospital in Kane'ohe. But if not for a grant sought by parents and the school's community, her students might not have gotten the lesson from local artist Karen Kiefer that sparked the project.

"Thank God for this grant," Nakamoto said.

In an era of content standards, adequate yearly progress and test scores, art education is sometimes overlooked, she said. Visual art, dance, music and theater are often seen as nice rather than necessary.

Luckily, programs that nurture artistic expression in students continue to thrive.

It's hard to quantify support for arts education. But Marilyn Cristofori, CEO of the Hawai'i Arts Alliance, says "art education has dwindled since No Child Left Behind came along."

Today, teachers must take an integrated approach — mixing art with social studies, for instance — to keep art in classes, Cristofori said.

Here are two programs that give students the opportunity to creatively express their ideas through artwork.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.