I was walking around my grandpa’s house a few weeks ago when I spotted a 6th grade art project that I had proudly framed and given to him for Christmas. I remember the assignment vividly: to make something surrounding a quote, painting around it to make a statement of some kind. 12-year-old me chose a quote from Joseph Haj, the artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, that continues to speak to my soul to this day.
“We, all of us, are only here for an instant. How we spend that time, amidst what beauty, what empathy, what love, is perhaps the ultimate question. The fact that we existed, worked like drones, bought a few things, and then died, is not a life well-spent. The arts remind us why we live. They also remind us how we live,” Haj said, in an article from the Star Tribune.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat in a seat in the dark, my face lit up by the stage lights, as I was completely spellbound by a performance unfolding before my eyes. A performance that reminded me of the things I value most, why and how I live, and of the countless reasons why we must fight for the arts.
Recently, this brought me to New York City, where I went to the Association of Performing Arts Professionals Conference with the Luther Performing Arts Committee. At this conference, people from around the world gather to promote the arts, explore works in progress, see showcases of new projects, conduct the business behind arts programming, and lots more. It was a whirlwind week, but the thing that I’ve been continually thinking about since I got back is the power, resilience, and vitality of the arts. This conference was a reminder that people are creating amazing art, that people believe in art enough to represent those artists, and that people present art that speaks to their community.
As a child, I was taught to value music, theater, and visual arts, and spent lots of time in those spaces. Yet, there was always an undercurrent of struggle that ran through all of these organizations. Too often, I feel that the narrative is that the arts are a dying field, and an industry filled only with struggle, but that is not true. The arts are imperative to our existence, to inspire us, make us question the world around us, and see things in a new way. Even if it feels that in some places, support for the arts is fading, there are many places where they are living, breathing, and thriving.
This conference was proof of that, and galvanized me to start thinking about how I view the arts. Even though I have always valued the arts to a high degree, I always saw it as something to pursue as a side gig, never something that could be a “real” job. I feel like when people think about the field of the arts in general, they only think about actors, musicians, and dancers, not all of the people who work behind the scenes to put people on stage. From venue presenters, ticket offices, technicians, agents and managers, the list goes on. Not to go all finance bro on you, but in 2021, the production of arts and cultural goods added $1,016.20 billion dollars to the U.S. economy.
Of course, this is an industry that was crippled by the pandemic, and is still working to rebound, but audiences are coming back. In 2022, 48% of all adults attended at least one arts event in person. For so many of us, the pandemic was a chance to re-evaluate our lives and figure out what mattered most. For me, what matters most is support for the arts: seeing wild and wacky things that make me feel something, regardless of if it’s good or bad.
At Luther and in Decorah, we are lucky to live in a place where the arts do not just survive, they thrive. But they cannot continue to do so without the support of people who engage with the arts. Go seek out something new, a piece of art that inspires or resonates with you. See a friend’s concert or play, take an art class, or get a free ticket for a Center Stage Series show (yes, this is absolutely a shameless plug). The arts are crucial to our human existence, and we must continue to fight for their survival in all spaces.
