So everyone who reads this blog regularly knows that we are all about arts and creativity and kids. As we end this wonderful year, I would like to offer that hackneyed journalistic device,
The List.
A list of things to hope for as this bright new year rolls on in.
Five. You can count it on one hand. Easy.
1-Arts for All.
Everyone. Not just the black-garbed art opening crowd. Can we please see more community involved public arts projects, for example?
Terry Semel, past chairman of Warner Bros., said, “Art is central to a civilized society. Kids who create don’t destroy.”
So true. We want art in our kids lives. Then they don’t destroy things. They don’t unleash their natural wild, wonderful energy on benches and bus stations and storefronts. Oh, they can pretty up the neighborhood, and do murals and other organized, enriching projects. Kids love to create, and feel pride in their work. And as Dave Wish said, “Higher self esteem leads to less mischief.”
Art is good for kids.
2-Arts in the Schools.
Yes, the economy is the pits right now. Everyone is pinched. People. Schools. The government. But remember, we were hoping to shovel some resources towards important areas, not just standards-signposts that ready the little people for upcoming math tests. Movers and shakers in the thinking world are telling us that the arts are good for little brains and bodies. To understand and produce visual, aural, physical messages will be the defining difference between thugs and thinkers.
Art is good for us.
3-Arts Funded.
There it is. The big hope that this wasn’t all campaign rhetoric but actual calls to action. Our President Elect actually said let’s reinvest in arts education. Let’s create an artists corps. Let’s increase funding to the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts). Cultural diplomacy, yes. The dude pronounces “dijon” like a pro. Let’s back him on his mission to create well rounded citizens throughout the country.
Art is good for the nation.
4-The Art of Hope.
We must keep hopeful. We must retain the concept that what we do has meaning and act with the intention of causing the same. Everything you do matters.
Whether it’s folding laundry, or explaining something to a child, or creating a hand-written note to someone (dying art, wish 5 to revive?)…it matters. We must create a world where items, thoughts, actions matter. Have meaning.
The Art of Hope.
5-Love.
Yes, let’s get through this next year with an eye on the prize but also a hand on the Man. Let’s look out for each other. OK? Look people in the eye. Slow down and listen to someone. Wait a beat before talking. Maybe even take a breath.
This is going to get really important as the whatever hits the fan, as “they” are all predicting. But we can do this. Let our hearts guide us. Like the children. They do it daily.
The Art of Love.
And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.
-Antoine De Saint-Exupery
