Americans for the Arts

At a recent training session on Chicago’s South Side, I discussed the challenges and opportunities of providing arts education in CPS with a small group of arts instructors. One spoke of overcoming the violence and acting out that are a part of everyday life in her elementary school. Another shared the triumphs of their school’s out-of-school-time dance club. Access to the club, especially given the difficult circumstances these young people face, is making a difference in their lives.

Music has always possessed the remarkable power to engage and empower young people. Personally, I cannot recall any time from my teenage years that came even remotely close to empowering me as much as the days I spent devoted to bringing music to others.

I was not charitable in the traditional sense; you wouldn’t find me at 6 a.m. on a Sunday scooping soup. Instead, I’d be on a three-hour drive to Goldsboro, North Carolina (a town seriously lacking in live music venues at the time), unloading equipment, playing my heart out for a hundred other teenagers, running sound, packing up, sleeping on floors, and finally driving home, all on my own dime.

For the last century, modern healthcare has been tremendously beneficial to humanity, both in extending and improving quality of life. But now many physicians and hospitals across the country and around the globe are once again recognizing a significant role for the arts in healthcare.

The power of music cannot nor should not be underestimated. It helped my ancestors communicate through the Underground Railroad for freedom; it is a healing agent to the body, mind, and soul. The beauty of art is that it speaks to different people in different ways. Art—more specifically, music—intertwines with every part of my life.

I’m entering my third year on the council, and it’s been a valuable experience to grow in my field. It’s provided me the opportunity to meet and work with people from across the nation who focus on the same goals and face similar challenges. We have meaningful conversations about where we are and where we need to go—individually, as a group, and as a nation.

An amazing collaboration in the state of Maine occurred when the Maine Arts Commission enlisted Noel Paul Stookey (the famed singer-songwriter) of Peter, Paul, and Mary to champion the statewide arts education census. The year-long effort achieved a stunning 95% response rate—making it the highest voluntary response rate on record nationally for a survey of this type. Responding principals noted that an important outcome of the census would be to advocate for assessment polices for arts education in order to gather Maine-centric, rather than national, data points that demonstrate the impact of arts education on student performance.