This paper is a cross-cultural comparative study of how the arts and literacy are represented within school curricula in Australia, Canada and France. The relationship between the arts and literacy within these contexts is widely considered to be tenuous, a situation which will be explored by first investigating how literacy has impacted on the arts, and second, establishing a case for arts literacies to be considered unique. A content analysis of the arts and literacy in each of the national curricula and current educational policies is then conducted. Implications of these findings for classroom practice are then shared.