Arts participation in the IB Diploma Programme has fallen every year since 2015, even as the programme itself has grown by 43 percent. Unlocking the Arts sets out to explain why — and what schools can do about it.

Written by Dr Mike Bindon, former IB Curriculum Manager for DP Arts and Executive Director of ISTA Global Arts Learning, the book draws on nine years of doctoral research across IB World Schools on four continents. It examines the structural, cultural, and informational barriers that shape whether students choose arts subjects, and presents 36 practical strategies drawn from the schools that are getting this right.

Organised in three parts — understanding the problem, making the case, and sustaining the culture — it is designed to be used rather than read once and shelved. It includes tools for department audits, leadership conversations, counsellor briefings, and quarterly action planning.