Thankful for the arts

For those of us in the U.S.A., Turkey Day a cometh. 

For those of you that don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s a holiday during which we watch sports, eat abnormally large servings of foods that we only prepare once a year (when is the last time anyone had cranberry stuffing?), and we also reflect on the parts of our lives that we are thankful for — usually in that order of importance.

I am thankful for the impact that the arts has had on my life.

Two early encounters with art set me on a path that has taken me to some wonderful places and allowed me to interact with some amazing people. These early experiences were made possible by the fact that we have a society and institutions that support and fund the arts in our communities. I am thankful for that as well.

Early encounters

One of the first encounters I remember with art was being on a field trip to the Fox Theater in St. Louis, MO as an elementary student. I could not, for the life of me, tell you what show we saw, but I do vividly remember the level of detail and ornate decorations in the theater. As a child, the theater seemed like a magical place where extraordinary things were possible. To this day, a large part of the enjoyment I get from going to a performance is just experiencing the venue itself. 

Another very early memory was a televised performance of West Side Story on my local PBS affiliate. My early experience with dance and theater was through the lens of this relatively equally gendered production that took place in the context of gangs in New York City. I ended up spending a large part of my life in white tights dancing most of the classics, but I think that early experience really helped to shape how I saw dance.

These experiences are not uncommon, but I am thankful for the institutions that made, and continue to make them possible for children today. My family was not steeped in the arts and I didn’t grow up attending performances on any regular basis. It was specifically arts in education and public broadcasting that gave me this window into another world. 

What makes this possible

Arts education spending in schools is difficult to ascertain on a national level because so much is at the discretion of state and local legislators. An example of a federal program is the Assistance for Arts Education fund (formally the Arts in Education fund), authorized under the Every Student Success Act (ESSA). According to the U.S. Department of Education’s website, Arts in Education, the fund’s purpose is, “... to improve the connection between arts integration and the other core academic subjects, to strengthen arts instruction, and to improve student achievement.”

The Center for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is funded exclusively through federal appropriations with a goal to, “Promote an educated and informed civil society by supporting high-quality engaging content and services delivered across multiple platforms.” This goal translates into funding for organizations including Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International, American Public Media, and others.

As you can see from the data, national funding for these programs has been consistent, but level over the past five to ten years. After accounting for inflation, the effect is even more pronounced. In the case of CPB, nominal growth in appropriations has tracked well below similar GDP growth since 2015. 

These are just simple examples of what the funding landscape looks like for the arts. States and local legislative bodies do excellent work to fund arts and arts education in their communities and the outlook is not all gloom and doom. What is important is that we stay aware of the landscape in our communities and pay attention to what our local, state, and federal politicians have to say about arts and culture. 

As we approach this celebration of thanks, I am thankful that we live in a society that values the arts. I am also thankful for the opportunities it has afforded me throughout my lifetime. But most of all, I am thankful that what I do can make a difference in how the arts continues to thrive. If we want to maintain this resource in our communities, we should continue to show our thanks to the organizations and politicians that support the arts where we live.