Ken Busby

Each day we witness the power of the arts to transform lives – whether it’s a child learning to draw, a teenager taking a class on glassblowing or an adult returning to a favorite hobby like photography.

The arts heal, the arts transform, the arts engage, the arts serve as an economic catalyst.  And yet the arts, especially arts education, are consistently underfunded.  As CEO of one of the 50 largest arts council’s in the United States, I spend the majority of my time raising money for and raising awareness of the importance of the arts, and arts education in particular.   And that’s the job of a CEO.  I’m not complaining.

What frustrates all of us in this line of work is that no matter how much we share research and data that demonstrates the value of arts education to keep kids, especially those at-risk and underserved, in school, performing better on standardized tests, demonstrating fewer aberrant behaviors, doing more volunteering in the community, reading for pleasure, and attending college, there are those who dismiss all this as mere conjecture – and therefore not in real need of funding.  I’m focusing here on public funding for the arts.

The challenge with public funding are legislators that have budget deficits to fill and look for the easiest targets for funding cuts while not considering the larger benefit to society.  Had these legislators left those arts dollars in place, they might not have to build more prisons to house offenders who might not be there if the legislators had spent a few dollars fifteen years earlier to keep those same offenders off the streets and in school, with a little help from the arts.

I’m not suggesting that the arts will solve all of society’s ills.  What I am suggesting is that we have the research that clearly demonstrates a positive correlation between arts education and student success in school and in life.  Let’s try an experiment that properly funds arts education across the country for five years and watch the results.  Then we can determine if this is a better model than the one we are currently using that sees arts organizations constantly fighting for funding, while also trying to serve those most vulnerable in our society.