I have never played a sport in my life, nor have I ever had any desire to. In high school, my extracirricular activity of choice was theater. I can (and will) sing the praises of being part of the drama department for the rest of my life. I met so many amazing, diverse people, people I don't think I ever would have met had it not been for drama. I have always regarded my fellow Thespians as kindred spirits. We were fun and artsy (before being artsy and wearing ironic glasses became a cool thing to do. Our glasses were real, thank you very much), nonjudgmental and ridiculously hilarious. If I had any fun in high school at all, it was because of these guys.
I learned so many things through theater classes including self-confidence, imagination, collaboration, concentration, communication skills, self-discipline, memorization skills, trust, social awareness, and aesthetic appreciation. I learned many things as a teenager that even adults struggle to master and I got to have a ton of fun while doing it. Talk about getting the most of of my extracurricular activity.
Okay great, so what does this have to do with anything?
Let's face it. We live in a society where art isn't really appreciated, in any form. What are the last programs to get funding in schools? I'll give you a hint: It isn't football, baseball, or basketball. Not even track or golf. It's theater programs, art programs and music programs.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against sports. In fact, I really enjoy watching sports, but for the sake of full disclosure, any recreational activity where I get to sit on a couch, drink beer and yell at people for accomplishing physical feats that I could never replicate in my lifetime is A+ in my book. But let's face the facts: How many times have you seen people walking down the street handing out flyers, begging you to check out the Superbowl? What? Never? Interesting, because through my theater experience, I participated in enough fundraisers, constructed enough sets, brought in enough props from home, and begged enough people to attend shows to wonder if drama teachers had to take turns selling off kidneys just to produce a show. While the athletics department got banquets and award ceremonies, we had cast parties at Denny's where everyone paid for themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter about it. I had an amazing experience and learned how to make due with what we had (always a good lesson in any context), but I noticed the snub and it's implications. There were no pep rallies for our production of "Little Shop of Horrors" or "Alice In Wonderland" or "The Odd Couple". When the choice was between Theater (or music or art) and sports, sports always won. And that was that.
My point of all of this (I do have one, I swear) is that the arts rarely get any love. The arts don't get the funding, support, or recognition they deserve. I know for a lot of people the whole "shut down PBS" issue in the upcoming election isn't a big one. But maybe if we really look at the implications of "Killing Big Bird" (to use an overused euphemism), it's a bigger issue that it might appear to be. And while I am personally concerned first and foremost with how the state of my uterus should not be up for debate political or otherwise, the state of PBS is also an issue for me.
First of all, shutting down PBS will kill off a whole lot of jobs and would only shave off a meager 0.0014% of the budget. Which is interesting because I thought the whole point of running for president and/or maintaining current Presidency was to create jobs, unless I've been watching the wrong debates. Anyway, just by digging around a little to write this blog, I discovered that the Federal Government only provides PBS with 12% of their funding (around 300 million dollars) and the rest is provided by viewers! Like you! (Gosh, that sounds familiar...) 300 million dollar is chump change in the government world. That's what we paid to bail out like three people at Goldman Sachs, maybe even less. In other words, in the grand scheme of how much money the government blows on things like covering up John Edward's affairs and various "married", "straight" Congressmen soliciting BJs from undercover cops in public bathrooms, it's really not much. But still, let's just cut it, right? Make it one less check we get from China to keep our heads above water. What does it matter?
Only, it does matter. Hear me out.
The decline of art as we know it is everywhere. Programs are hanging on by their nails and even popular foundations like VH1 Save The Music are suffering. Possibly because no one has any idea that VH1 actually has an affiliation with music and isn't just a 24/7 screening of Basketball Wives. Movie tickets sales have been decreasing for years and movies continue to suck more and more thanks to actors like Megan Fox and increasingly bad writing. Speaking of writing, the fact that Snooki has a book should be evidence of either a decline in the art of writing or a sign of an impending apocalypse. Music sales and concert ticket sales have also been steadily decreasing over the years due to....well, Justin Beiber, basically and the fact that the radio plays every horrible, auto-tuned musician over and over until your ears are ready to bleed, while great bands are deemed "too indie for the general public" and struggle. And while we're talking about music, did you guys know that in 2011 alone, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Syracuse Philharmonic, the Louisville Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony, and the Honolulu Symphony all declared bankruptcy? So adios to enriching your child's life with classical music and hello to being at the mercy of whatever is on the radio. God help us all.
If these statistics haven't depressed you enough here's the kicker: PBS just might be the only exposure someone has to art in any form, be it Big Bird, Nova, Austin City Limits, or The Joy of Painting. Is that ideal? Absolutely not. But PBS is free and you don't have to be wearing pants to learn something, see something really beautiful, or hear great music. And if you're not willing (or able) to go to a museum or take music classes, it might be all you have. And yes, Big Bird is just a muppet, but he is a muppet who, along with his furry muppet friends, has promoted literacy and taught four generations of children in an artistic, creative, and often hilarious way. That means something, you guys. ART means something.
I know there are so many things to take into consideration this coming election and maybe the fate of PBS isn't that important to you. But consider the fact that art is dying and this move would just be another nail in the coffin. I want my kids to be able to take music, theater, and arts classes someday (and if they also want to play sports, I am fully supportive of that too) and to have the amazing experiences that I had. But I know that these programs are struggling and might not make it much longer.
I don't know, guys. Maybe I'm waxing poetic about this whole thing or stretching way too hard to make a correlation between PBS and the increasing loss of art in the world. I just can't get past feeling like they are interconnected somehow and that a loss of art (both in the form of PBS and in life in general) would be catastrophic to mankind.
To make sure I wasn't alone in this thought, I took my question to the streets (at least, the social media streets) and asked what people thought would happen if we took away the arts away, from school and from our lives, including outlets like PBS. This is what a few people (two of which are teachers) had to say about it:
"Then we wouldn't be educating the whole child. It is important for all student to excel in an area that appeals to them." ~N.H.
"I think this will result in an even more obese and undereducated society over the next ten years. The art program, as well as athletic departments, are essential in exposing cognitively developing children to subject matter with hopes that they will be well rounded in life (and education)." ~A.P.
"Art and music exposes kids to reading in math in a new way...if we want them to do well on all these high stakes tests, they need as much exposure as possible." ~D.T.
Again, I realize there are an overwhelming amount of issues to take into consideration when voting this year. All I ask is that you take the time to consider the issue behind the issue. Try to imagine a world devoid of art and filled with Honey Boo Boo and Nickelback, with no drama troops, school bands, or art classes, where no one will be able to tell Georgia O'Keefe from Fran Dresher. Do you really want to live in a world like that? Think about it.
And if you have some extra time, get out and go to a museum. It might be your last chance.
