Why We All Need the Arts by Laurel Ferguson

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Jobs in the arts are often seen as below than other careers in fields like science, technology, and medicine.  These fields seem to be more respectable because they further advance our world in the most obvious way.  Compared to that, how important can art be?

Imagine your life without books, television, movies, music to entertain you.  You could come home from school or your job to relax and -- do what?  Especially now, we are all spending our time binge watching T.V. shows to pass the time.  This kind of art is what gives us pleasure in day to day life.

The arts are what give us humanity.  Art can provoke a feeling in a person without physically touching them.  It gives people something to relate to, something to connect them to one another.  Take your favorite song, for example.  Chances are, it's your favorite song because it makes you feel something, or it's attached to a memory.  Maybe someone important to you introduced you to that song.  Regardless, art is meaningful because people give it meaning.

Art is the ability to create something out of nothing.  An artist takes an idea in their head and creates something tangible, or visible, or audible, or some combination of the three.  This is what makes art unique as well as what makes it inspiring.  Creation is what allows the human race and society to keep growing and evolving, to advance our culture.

These are a few of the reasons I believe the arts are as necessary to society as STEM, medicine, law, etc.  Obviously, I'm biased as a Theater Kid, but as someone who also plans to pursue a career in computer science, I felt like I at least had credibility as someone with a foot in both camps.  Anyway, this was a long way of giving you your daily reminder to appreciate art.

OPINION: As climate changes, we need the arts more than ever | Ensia

"Medicine, law, business, engineering -- these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.  But poetry, beauty, romance, love -- these are what we stay alive for."
- Robin Williams  (Dead Poets Society)

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 24, 2020 at 1:19 PM

    The title looked like it said the ants which I was a little confused about I love this piece.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 29, 2020 at 5:30 PM

    Woah that's a really good point. "Art is the ability to create something out of nothing." That's pretty incredible. Professions like medicine and law are important, but only when something bad happens like a broken contract or, right now, COVID. The arts are with pretty much everyone at any time, good or bad, and, you're right, they allow us to feel. I've never really thought about that before.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DanielleJune 1, 2020 at 11:03 AM

    Excellent post. The arts are so important to our growth and well being. I hope people start to realize that after this time when they've needed them to survive.

    ReplyDelete

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