Abstract
The existence of informal arts education centres has raised a lot of controversy in arts education and practice in Nigeria. Often people do not regard the products of these informal arts centres as artists. They regard them as artisans even though most of them are being trained by formal artists and are being imbibed by their artistic traditions. It is, therefore, pertinent to investigate these informal arts centres and assess their existence and their influence on formal arts centres. This study was, therefore, designed to explore the assessment of informal arts education and its influence on formal art education in southeast Nigeria. The research questions were on the: educational relevance of informal arts education on formal art education, the influence of arts education on formal art education and on whether informal and formal art education can co-exist. The questionnaire was used to elicit vital information from the respondents. The findings revealed that the existence of informal arts education is relevant to formal art education, informal arts education influences formal art education and informal arts education can co-exist with formal art education. The paper recommended that the Ministries of Education should encourage and ensure that the formal art schools and informal arts centres co-exist.