(MintPress) – In a time when our nation is politically and economically divided, the value of funding arts in education has become a hot-button issue. Many Republicans are ready to induce major cuts, especially in the form of federal funding for the arts, in order to balance the budget. Yet many Americans, such as those involved in nonpartisan groups like the Creative Coalition, are advocating for politicians to rethink the cuts, saying the arts are more crucial to the success of an individual, as well as our country, than many realize.
Evan Handler, a professional actor and member of the Creative Coalition, said during an interview on MSNBC that art is an easy talking point in a cultural war. He explained to host Chris Matthews:
“It’s easy to rally working people who feel they are overtaxed to say look at these namby-pamby liberals who want to teach people to be singers and dancers. [But] it’s not what we’re talking about at all. We’re talking about the facts.”
What he means by “the facts” is that an early education in the arts, which includes visual arts, music, dance and theater, has been proven to keep children in school longer, increase scores on the SAT by 100 points, and increase the likelihood a child not only goes to college, but stays enrolled longer than those who were not exposed to the arts.
Politics of the arts
It’s impossible to escape art — from music playing in an office, to paintings decorating the walls of the White House, art is everywhere. Art education classes on the other hand, have become an endangered subject in schools across the U.S. as budget cuts and legislation, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), have increased schools’ focus on math and reading dominated curriculums.
While the NCLB Act included the arts as a core subject in public schools for children in grades K-12, this piece of legislation doesn’t require that school districts offer any arts programs whatsoever. Similarly, most states have an arts education mandate, but school districts are usually left themselves to fund and implement any art programs.
The 2012 budget for the National Endowment for the Arts is slightly more than $146 million, and that money has to cover all grants and programs for every artistic discipline across the country. Now compare the $155 million given to the arts in 2011 to the more than $1.7 trillion allocated for defense spending in 2011, or the combined $100 million that was spent on security at the 2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Funding for the arts is chump change in comparison.
Actor Johnny Galecki said he and other members of groups like the Creative Coalition recognize that the U.S. and many nations around the world are dealing with an economic crisis but argued politicians should not forget that the entertainment industry annually brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to the U.S. economy.
Professional actor and president of the Creative Coalition Tim Daly said, “The National Endowment for the Arts is a miniscule part of the federal budget, and for every dollar spent they reap seven dollars in taxes.” An investment in the arts is just “good business.”
Still, not every politician sees the value of funding the arts. Part of the problem is related to the fact that, “We have a whole generation of teachers and parents who have not had the advantage of arts in their own education,” says Sandra Ruppert, director of the Arts Education Partnership.
In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said if he were elected, he would eliminate subsidies for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, right after dismantling Obamacare and subsidies for Amtrak.
“Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to stand on their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf. …”
President Barack Obama campaigned in 2008 on a platform that included a pledge to advocate for and invest in arts education, among other arts policies. Over the past four years of his presidency, Obama has not been able to fund art programs like he promised, but it’s unclear whether the reduction in funding to the arts is a result of the down economy or another factor.
In 2012, Obama maintained that he is a friend to the art community, reminding voters that he is himself an author and understands the value of an arts education. Despite this, in 2013 the budget for the arts is expected to be $14 million less than the current budget, with just $132 million going to the National Endowment for the Arts.
Blame can’t solely fall on either the Obama or George W. Bush administrations as arts education has been falling through the cracks for more than three decades as a result of tightened budgets.
However, funding for the arts comes from three levels of government: federal, state and city. If federal funding for the arts is eliminated there is a fear that state and city governments would follow suit, forcing arts organizations to solely rely on endowments and private donors.
Pro-arts education organizations warn that piecing together small grants from various organizations is not likely to lead to quality arts education, resulting in many to advocate for school boards to begin working toward a sustainable plan for keeping arts education a main staple of a school’s curriculum.
Privileged vs. Impoverished
According to the Creative Coalition, exposure to arts education has been found to promote self-directed learning, improve school attendance and sharpen critical and creative skills. On its website, the group wrote about the importance of fostering the creativity and imagination of children and realize the arts play a vital role in development. “The arts serve as an essential bridge across language and cultural differences – they become the shared link, the glue that shapes our understanding of how we see ourselves, and others.”
For wealthier Americans, using tax dollars to fund an arts education is not necessary, as many are able to afford to send their children to after school arts activities. But for many low-income families, the art programs offered as part of a school’s curriculum are all they can afford, making this issue a class issue as well.
Paraphrasing Dr. Condoleezza Rice’s speech at the Republican National Convention, Daly said, “Our K-12 education system is in a crisis that threatens the fabric of our society. Those with an arts education are three-times more likely to graduate high school, and since the U.S. is facing an education crisis with a high school dropout rate around one-third,” many predict the U.S. will likely have a hundred-million people without a high school education within a few generations.
“Talk about people with their hand out, asking for welfare, in the criminal justice system,” Daly added. “One way to prevent this [high dropout rate] is to teach the arts.” The Creative Coalition is “interested in making a strong, well-educated innovative workforce in the community by exposing children to the arts.”
Handler agreed with Daly that funding arts programs is crucial in reducing the amount of people who dropout of school and become a burden on society. He continued on to say that people don’t just come out of the womb ready to design Apple computers or the MARS rover. Many of these people working in design had their imagination stimulated by reading comic books and were taught the mechanics of drawing, Handler said.
After spending time at the Republican National Convention, Handler took to Twitter to write about the importance of helping fellow Americans have access to programs like the arts. In a series of tweets on Aug. 31, Handler said,
“My father started and ran his own business, for over thirty years. … He supported his family, and often worked 80+ hours per week, and watched the business nearly go under several times over the years. But, lo and behold, my father also payed taxes willingly, and was happy to endorse, support, and pay for social programs that protected the weakest in our society from destitution. He understood that he could easily be one of them, and it wasn’t merely his hard work, but his good fortune, that he was not ….”
Arts in action
Despite disappointing participation numbers across the U.S., such as the Council for Basic Education reporting students participating in music has reached its lowest point in 20 years, many schools across the U.S. have begun to implement arts into their curriculum. Some schools like the Arts for Academic Achievement program in the Minneapolis Public Schools, have also used the arts as a learning tool, using music notes to teach fractions, or writing and performing a play to understand issues like slavery.
When it comes down to the importance of an arts education, it’s crucial to remember the goal is not to find our country’s next prima ballerinas, actors and Picasso’s – it’s about giving children a place to use and grow their imagination. Unlike math, there typically isn’t a clear right or wrong answer in the arts, which allows children the chance to practice thinking out of the box. Even if most students don’t end up in an arts profession, creating a well-rounded student savvy in a variety of subjects including the arts is likely to lead to a more successful person.
Tom Home, state superintendent of public instruction in Arizona and founder of Phoenix Baroque Ensemble, said, “When you think about the purposes of education, there are three. We’re preparing kids for jobs. We’re preparing them to be citizens. And we’re teaching them to be human beings who can enjoy the deeper forms of beauty. The third is as important as the other two.”