Why we love artists but not arts education | The Answer Sheet
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Why we love artists but not arts
education
By Valerie Strauss, Updated: January 29, 2013 at 4:00 am
Last week, arts educator and author Lisa Phillips wrote about the top 10 skills young
people can learn from arts education. Here is a new piece about the seeming
contradiction between America’s love of artists and its penchant to undervalue arts
education. Phillips is an author, blog journalist, arts and leadership educator, speaker
and business owner. Her book is called, “The Artistic Edge: 7 Skills Children Need to
Succeed in an Increasingly Right Brain World.” This appeared on the ARTSblog, a
program of Americans for the Arts.
By Lisa Phillips
There seems to be a major disconnect between how creativity is valued in society and
the career advice we give our children. We all know that the arts are a valuable means
of expression, a means to share stories across cultures and an uplifting and moving
source of entertainment.
We revere our cultural icons, whether they are movie stars, literary authors or artists,
but we seem to limit the possibility of careers in the arts to only a talented few.
How many of us arts professionals have heard from family and friends, “When are
you going to get a real job?”
So, why do we put our cultural icons on a pedestal but undervalue arts education? I
think one of the reasons is that as a society we are preoccupied with the idea that the
arts are reserved only for those with talent. However, in the reality of today’s job
market, we need to change this idea.
There is a significant gap between what children are told is important for their future
career success and what business leaders actually want from the emerging workforce.
Creative individuals are actually in demand. Not just for arts careers, but for careers
in business as well.
For example, Disney and Apple are two of the most successful companies of our
time, largely because of the creativity, innovation, and the leadership they have
demonstrated in their respective industries.
In an era when businesses are constantly struggling to find creative ways to stay at the
top of their market, arts education can be a powerful tool to nurture the creative
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Why we love artists but not arts education | The Answer Sheet
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abilities of our young people, ensuring they are ready for the skills that are in
demand.
I have had the pleasure of learning from some of the top business and marketing
experts in the world, including Jay Abraham, Eric Trump, Steve Wozniak (CoFounder of Apple), Stedman Graham (expert in identity development and branding),
and Michael Eisner (former CEO of Disney) to name a few. One of the consistent
messages I hear from all of these successful business leaders is the importance of
creativity in business.
Top CEO’s around the world are seeking out new employees who can think
creatively, be innovative in business development and marketing strategies and show
outstanding leadership qualities that will “wow” clients. This is what businesses need
to compete in the global marketplace. In a 2010 study by IBM, interviews with
CEO’s representing 33 industries and 60 countries identified creativity as the most
important leadership skill for the future.
The problem is, our children are not spending their formative years honing this
crucial skill. They are spending thousands of hours practicing math, science, history
and other core subjects in the hopes of getting into excellent universities and gaining
a highly coveted degree. A degree is important, but what about when it’s time to get a
job?
Let’s face it, in today’s marketplace a university degree is a bare minimum, much like
a high school diploma was decades ago. Everyone has a degree…so what? What
matters most is what is going to set young people apart from their peers. What is their
competitive edge?
Remember, the job market is very different now than it was 20 years ago.
Competition for jobs is now global and if young people are going to succeed in any
career they need to stand out. We are doing our children a disservice by not preparing
them for the challenges that lie ahead. The point is that we are all creative and if we
nurture that creativity then we can all find the career success we desire.
So, what if our young people spent thousands of hours as they grew up honing their
creativity through participating in performing and visual arts programs? What if they
studied leadership skills so they knew how to communicate effectively, find solutions
to challenges and build relationships that would help them achieve success? They
would be prepared for whatever life threw at them, whether it was a career in the arts
or business or something else.
If CEOs of some of the largest companies in the world are craving talent who can
think creatively, find solutions to challenging problems, build relational capital with
clients and partners, communicate effectively, and adapt to constantly changing
global market why aren’t we teaching our children how to do that?
I firmly believe that arts education not only teaches creativity, but also, when the
facilitators are intentional, it has the capacity to teach countless other important
leadership skills. So, let’s squash the myth of the talented few and embrace the idea
that arts education should be for anyone who wants to soar to the top of the interview
pile and meet the growing demand for creativity in the marketplace.
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Top 10 skills children learn from the arts
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