It has been two years since I posted my effort at categorizing the benefits of the arts. In both of my international trips this year the subject came up and people wanted to deal with it at length. The subject is an urgent one both because of the social and political pressures to justify funding (the fallback arguments are "instrumental" ones, "How can the arts improve non-arts outcomes?") and our need to be able to articulate the inherent value … [Read more...]