Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” A quick glance around an African-American friend’s home recently showed me that he and many of his relatives have, delightfully, not grown up. At least, not in the way that concerned Picasso. Read more…
Actually, the decline in school and community arts education offerings and extra-curricular programming began when Ronald Reagan became President and slashed NEA funding by millions of dollars, giving that money to US military bands. Almost overnight their was nowhere for anyone to look except their overstretched PTA’s for money for “extras” like artists-in-schools, and arts and culture programming of all kinds. Every state and local arts organization, and almost every school in America was impacted by Reagan’s decimation of the NEA budget. (And he did it the same year that his own son was beginning to see his own dance career take off)! “Back to Basics” was the cry before NCLB! And that was the beginning of the end of our country’s collective intellect. Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero Classroom has extensively studied the effect of the arts on student achievement for over 25 years and they have all the empirical research anyone could ever want to see about how the arts create Minds for the Future. Any teacher or school board member, or citizen who wants to change the world by bringing the arts to their school or community would do well to spend a week at Project Zero-or at least investigate their many published books and studies!
I think everyone has an artist in them, but people (kids and adults) tend to think society’s standards of “art” and “talent” is right, but I find it dead wrong in many cases. Let your inner artist out of the prison created by societal opinion and experience the freedom of creativity!