While one adult’s art may be another’s garbage, in the world of children, every artistic expression is a treasure. This is true not just because Mom and Dad simply adore the source and any production therefrom. It’s also true because the benefit for kids is all about process.
This is on my mind today for several reasons, stimulated by an NPR story on how involvement in art helps children to learn, even do better, in all other academic subjects. NPR reported that kids who play music, create visual arts and perform or create theater do better in “harder” subjects like math, science and language arts.
It makes sense. Graphic art requires the ability to measure and determine spatial relationships. Theater demands reading, and promotes good grammar and verbal expression. Music utilizes math skills and hand-eye coordination. In art, unlike the “harder” subjects, kids get to make mistakes and try again until they’re satisfied with the outcome, teaching persistence and all the rich benefits of failure.
And, perhaps most importantly, art teaches children critical thinking. As they learn to pay attention while they’re totally engaged in an artistic endeavor, they are also learning to listen to their own inner voices and growing as whole human beings able to analyze and insert their own view into any situation. This ability is crucial to the maintenance of democracy, yet — in our cash-strapped society — arts programs are being cut from school curricula first.
Which begs the question, “How do we pick up the slack?” Vashon is uniquely positioned to answer that question, and well on the way to doing so. While our schools have yet to cut arts programs specifically, this Island is blessed with a plethora of arts opportunities. Art, in fact, is probably Vashon-Maury Islands’ most plentiful product and our most common export. One summer edition of The Beachcomber says it all, as it strives to stuff into its pages the multitude of arts camps offered by Vashon Allied Arts, Vashon Library and individual artists. We offer a smorgasbord of arts events for young and old, from Drama Dock plays to Theatre in the Park, VAA concerts, Vashon Park District concerts and First Friday gallery tours.
Because of this Island’s collective devotion to the arts, King County 4Culture and other arts granting organizations have generously bestowed funds on several Vashon organizations. If our schools decide to cut arts programs to save cash, can we confidently answer that it’s no loss to our children because we have plenty of extracurricular programs to offer them? And, if we’re satisfied that we do, are we prepared to sustain them indefinitely?
Most of the arts programs not in our schools survive on participation and the fees that go with it. So, if you can, pick an arts camp for your child this summer, both to help him or her grow and to make sure such programs will be there to support his or her growth tomorrow.
Apparently, other parts of the country are discovering the value of art in its absence. Let’s make sure Vashon-Maury Island kids never get that lesson.
— Susan McCabe lives and writes on Vashon Island.
