7 minute read
Access to the Arts
THE CREATION AND APPRECIATION OF ART IS A PRIVILEGE THAT NEEDS TO BE WIDELY EXTENDED
By Gabrielle Gronewold, Culture Editor Illustrated by Channing Smith, Art Director
Famed painter Piccaso claimed, “Every child is an artist.”1 Picasso may be right that the creativity and youthfulness in children pave the way for artistic expression, but in reality, every child can not be an artist because art is indeed a privilege.
Between buying watercolor paints or pastels, paying for music lessons and instruments or purchasing ballet shoes, accessing art costs money. The price tag on freedom of expression isn’t cheap, either. The average pointe shoe costs between $65-752 and lasts roughly 12 to 15 hours,3 while the average cost for a piano lesson is $50 each4 and a basic paint set costs roughly $45 on Amazon.5
These price points and items only skim the surface of what is required to fully access the world of art. In addition to easels, leotards, music sheets and determined teachers, learning and prospering within art takes
time. Depending on the age of introduction, effort and natural talent of a person, it can take upwards of two to three years to learn an instrument6 and it takes roughly two to four years of ballet technique training before a dancer can start on pointe.7
Over time, the energy put into learning an artistic skill and becoming proficient in it can be measured in extensive amounts of valuable time. Time is a resource that indeed comes at a larger price tag than just one basic art set or single piano lesson. It’s estimated that 15 years of extensive dance training for a child can cost parents upwards of $120,000.8 According to a survey, an average of 37% of families spend $1,000 on education and afterschool extracurriculars, while 20% spend $2,000 and 3% shell out more than $10,000 annually for their children.9 With the median U.S. household income at $68,703 in 2019, it seems that spending thousands of dollars on extracurricular activities, including the arts, is unfeasible for many.10
Becoming fluent in different art forms is just one way individuals can be influenced by the arts. Going to museums, theaters, the ballet, watching live music and even viewing a film all come at a cost as well. The price to visit a
museum rose to $55.25 in 2015,11 and in 2018, the average movie ticket hit an all-time high at $9.11.12 Art comes at a cost, and the pretty price tag attached proves it is a luxury rather than a basic good.
The high cost associated with learning and viewing the arts raises
1 Wikipedia, “Pablo Picasso Quotes,” October 26, 2019. 2 BalletBox, “Average Cost of Pointe Shoes,” May 28, 2019. 3 The Shoe Room, “Pointe Shoe FAQ.” 4 Lessons.com, “How Much Do Piano Lessons Cost?.” 5 Amazon, “Falling in Art 27 Piece Acrylic Painting Set of 12 Colors.” 6 Jessica Solaras, “How long does it take to learn an instrument,” Buck Town Music, August 7, 2018. 7 Gaynor Minden, “When To Start Pointe.” 8 Liveaboutdotcom, “Usual Cost of Dance Classes.” 9 Leslie Albrecht, “Some American Families Spend up to $10,000 on their child’s activities,” Market Watch, August 11, 2017. 10 United States Census, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019”,” September 15, 2020. 11 Association of Art Museum Directors, “Art Museums by the numbers 2015,” 2015. 12 Pamela McClintock, “Average Prices of a Movie Ticket Rises to $9.1 in 2018,” Hollywood Reporter, January 23, 2019 the question of what demographics are given the most access. A 2012 study found that 66.3% of people attending art activities such as the ballet, theater, museums and so on were white. Only 14.9% were Hispanic and 11.4% Black. This same study found that 57.3% of the people accessing these art forms had received some amount of college education.13 An additional study found that in 2008, only 26% of Black adults reported receiving any arts education in their childhood, compared to the 51% who had in 1982.14
The decrease in funding for the arts in school programs may be one of the reasons we have seen such a drop-in art experience among marginalized communities. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, enabling the accessibility of the arts for all Americans. Yet funding of the arts in education has been on a steady decline for decades due to the push for budget cuts and increased demand on academic testing and performance. A 2019 report from The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies found that art funding has decreased 43.4% throughout the years.15 The defunding of arts education in schools has put a tremendous strain on non-profit organizations and parents to influence and incorporate the arts, which as we’ve seen comes with a hefty price tag.
But art is largely responsible for the longevity of society and the wellbeing of the individuals in it. Research at the University of Pennsylvania found that lowincome New York City residents with higher accessibility to cultural experiences have better education, security and health. Local access to arts resulted in a 14% less chance of child abuse, an 18% decrease in crime rates and an 18% increase in scoring higher on standardized tests.16
13 National Endowment for the Arts, “A Decade of Arts Engagement,” January 2015. 14 Erik Robelan, “Arts Education for Minority Children Drops,” Education Week, March 8, 2011. 15 Araceli Cresecencio, “How Do Declining Funds for Art Education Affect Aspiring Artists,” Pepperdine University, April 16, 2019. 16 University of Pennsylvania, “New
The researchers claimed that “culture is no magic bullet” for social well-being, but “cultural assets are part of a neighborhood ecology that promotes wellbeing.”17 The benefits of arts are substantial in a community, but there is an opportunity gap between lowincome individuals and their wealthier counterparts that creates a disparity. Resources in New York City were most often found in wealthier neighborhoods, proving that art access follows a pattern based on socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity.18
Beyond its benefits on a personal well-being level, knowledge and experience in the arts can widely increase someone’s cultural capital. Cultural capital is a social theory by Pierre Bourdieu
Research Shows How Arts and Culture Improve Health, Safety and Well-being,” SP2 News, March 9, 2017. 17 Ibid. 18 Paulette Parker, “Access to arts and culture may improve outcome in low-income communities,” State of Opportunity, April 7, 2017. that can be broken down into one’s tastes, skills, belongings, credentials, mannerisms and so on that one acquires based on their social class.19 In the arts, cultural capital could look like having the same taste in paintings, the same training in a musical instrument or the same experience with a particular museum or Broadway show. As examined in social theory, different forms of cultural capital are more valuable in the eyes of others and are a direct player in social mobility. To put it into perspective, the wealthy New York City residents examined in the University of Pennsylvania study will have a much easier time growing a valuable cultural capital in the arts compared to low-income individuals who are more likely to be positioned away from those same art resources.
Low-income individuals are suppressed in the face of accessing art’s benefits on an interpersonal level, and because of this, wider society is missing out on the creativity and experiences of all people. When art is inaccessible, it limits creation to primarily affluent, white, educated populations and does not reflect or reap the knowledge of broader society. We see this in art museums which are largely dominated by white culture.20
Art is powerful. It has the ability to shape perspectives and provides a lens into the lives and experiences of others. It also has the ability to lift individuals up by giving them a sense of expression and social mobility. But when art is inaccessible, it stands not only as a creative outlet or pass time, but as a privilege. For both the longevity and intelligence of society and the personal lives of individuals, we must face and break down the systematic structures and barriers that prevent everyone from being an artist. ■
20 Mike Murawski, “Interrupting White Dominant Culture in Museums,” Art Museum Teaching, May 31, 2019.
