Today, we’re reading a piece by Michael Kaiser, the President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He highlights the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities’ new report and its call for “reinvesting in arts education.” It is the job of those in the arts, he writes, to create smarter, stronger more efficient arts programming for children—programs that ”exercis[e]” creativity:
“Will someone with no arts experiences as a child automatically become a subscriber or donor to the arts when they hit middle age? Will they volunteer at a local dance school? Will they be willing to join the board of a theater company? I doubt it. …
Who better to play a role in exercising the creative minds of our children than we in the arts? How are students going to build confidence in their abilities to create if they are not given access to education that goes beyond reading, writing and arithmetic?
Those who argue that investing in arts education is frivolous are simply wrong. …
[A]rts organizations are going to have to do more and better arts education in the coming years; we are going to have to work together to create smarter, stronger more efficient arts programming for children.
The health of our field and of our nation is at stake.”
Excellent read, I’m Matthew Smith of flint Michigan and I’m a musician and entrepreneur. I have created Matts inner city music center which is a program that teaches instrumental music ,vocals and a collaboration of other programs for the youth. A 501c3 program. When I read things like your passage it just makes me feel good about what I’m doing .