Much has been made in the last week or so of the article published in Psychology Today arguing for the value of “supporting the arts” at a time when the Obama Administration and Congress have targeted the National Endowment for the Arts for cuts.
It’s a good article that makes good points about the value of participating in arts and crafts activities, particularly among youngsters, for the impact it has on creativity later on. I believe in the conclusions.
But I’m not so sure I buy the connection with the budget cuts.
The bottom line of the PT article was this: “Hobble the arts and crafts and you hobble innovation. Hobble innovation and our economy will suffer. Conversely, invest in arts and crafts and every dollar will stimulate the economy not only today, but through innovation a host of tomorrows.”
But in the article, the authors asked honors students about their experiences and discovered that the correlation was with those who “had lessons” in arts and crafts — not exposure to the arts. And, they wrote:
lifelong involvement in dance, composing music, photography, woodwork, metal work, mechanics, electronics and recreational computer programming were particularly associated with development of creative capital.
And:
A particularly striking finding was that early hands-on experience [emphasis mine] with arts and crafts was critical to continuing participation in these arts and crafts. And continuing participation in arts and crafts across a lifetime was one of the strongest correlates to generating patents and new companies.
Does any of that have a tight connection with what the NEA spends money on? Not as far as I can see.
Federal budgets are notoriously obfuscatory, but according to the NEA website, here are some potentially relevant programs:
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NEA Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth: $6.7 million awarded in FY 2008 (latest figure): “projects that provide opportunities for children and youth to gain in-depth knowledge and skills in the arts in school and community-based settings.”
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The Arts Education Partnership: “convenes forums to discuss topics in arts education, publishes research materials supporting the role of arts education in schools, and is a clearinghouse for arts education resource materials.” No figure given.
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Coming Up Taller program: “annual award recognizes outstanding community arts and humanities after-school programs for at-risk and underserved youth” — $1.2 million since 1998, if I am reading the site correctly.
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Improving the Assessment of Student Learning in the Arts: “the first nationwide effort to examine current practices in the assessment of K-12 student learning in the arts both in and out of the classroom. Best practices and assessment models in all art forms will also be shared.”
In FY 2010, the NEA budget was $167.5 million (and that’s about what it’s spending this year so far, though it awaits budget approval). In its FY 2012 budget request — a total of $146.255 million — the NEA reduced its funding to state and regional agencies for arts education in favor of prioritizing Rocco Landesman’s “Our Town” initiative — which infuses arts into communities in hopes of creating jobs and stablizing communities — among other things. Further, the 2012 budget request redirects its emphasis on arts education from students to people of all age levels.
So, let’s go ahead and talk up the PT article and go ahead and blast budget cuts. But unless the NEA starts doing more for participatory arts lessons, I’d downplay the link.
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Elmhurst Academy (top), artclass.info (bottom)