What the arts bring to a community

As a community institution, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation takes its role of supporting the "whole" community seriously by acting as a community leader, convener, and supporter of all areas of need in the community. We look at the following areas of service: animal welfare, arts and culture, community development, education, the environment, health and human services, and historic preservation.

The area of need I would like to discuss today is arts and culture.

The term arts and culture can include the visual arts, music, dance, theater and poetry.

In troubling economic times, the tendency is to look for ways to cut expenditures. One of the first programs that are considered is the arts. Programs involving the arts are often considered less relevant or necessary.

When school budgets are scrutinized, the arts programs are many times the first to go.

When I was teaching back in Massachusetts, we were faced with the same scenario…what should be cut to streamline the budget? The arts was the first place the school committee looked. As a parent of a promising writer, I was concerned. We began a campaign to show the school committee how important the arts were to all students, and we succeeded. As we are all numbed by facts and figures every day, the arts can transcend that monotony and can inspire us to greater development.

Art is a means of communicating ideas, feelings, and solutions in a central medium. Children who may be having difficulties in other parts of the school curriculum may find an expressive outlet through art. It's a way to uncover talent that may not be seen otherwise. Creating art is a way for children to make choices and solve problems. Every step involves making a decision: what color to use, how to make a line, what size to make something. With every choice the object becomes more and more their own. The arts engage students and honor various learning styles. The arts are essential to an understanding of personal identity, community and global cultures. The arts encourage commitment and persistence; they lead to increased attendance and help students stay in school.

Arts education increases interest in academic learning, critical thinking, cognitive and basic skill development and achievement of academic skills. Students who study the arts have an increased interest in historical and geographical topics. They provide experiences for students to become lifelong learners and create an awareness that is a never-ending process.

The arts provide an avenue for students to be able to express themselves and connect with their peers through personal growth and cooperative learning experiences as well as integrating the mind, body and spirit. The arts transcend cultural barriers.

According to James Catterall, a professor of education and well-known author, students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among any group in our society.

The arts provide a reason, sometimes the only reason, for students who have been disengaged from schools and other community institutions to re-engage in educational and other community organizations.

An 11-year national study that examined youth in low-income neighborhoods found that those who participated in arts programs were much more likely to be high academic achievers, be elected to class office, participate in a math and science fair, and win an award for writing an essay or poem.

What does all this mean? It means that the arts are as relevant, as important as reading and math. Not more important, but equal.

We need to support the arts in our schools. We need to support the art programs in our community. We need to recognize that the arts develop creative thinkers. These creative thinkers go on to make their place in the world and become valuable parts of our community. We need to encourage and support the arts.

The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has been supporting the communities of Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry through endowed funds for more than 30 years. With assets of more than $57 million and 314 endowed funds, the community foundation has provided more than $30 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves.

For more information, please call 274-5900, or visit their web site at www.floridacommunity.com.