Art Happens

I love art. I love making it, talking about it, looking at it, and living with it. But more often than not, I love to just let art happen.

I’ve been a part of quite a few conversations and conferences this year where people talk about shifting the notion of art from being nice, to being necessary.  As long as art is just nice, they say, it will continue to be cut out of schools and struggle for funding.  And I completely agree.

The problem is, how do we prove that art is necessary?

Art is not basic to human function like food, water, shelter, and sleep.  We can survive without it.  But here’s the thing: we don’t.

Look at any period in human history.  From cavemen to the dark ages to the renaissance to now.  Art happens.  It happened then, it’s happening now, and it will continue to happen.

In the middle of war, art happens.

In times of peace, art happens.

In the face of persecution, art happens.

Before we can speak, art happens.

If art weren’t necessary, would it happen this much?  I mean, seriously, it’s everywhere.  Every culture has their art.  It’s how we identify ourselves.  It’s our pride, our way of judgment, our treasures.  If someone tries to take art away, it comes back even stronger than before.

We can argue about whether art is necessary or just a nice addition, but it doesn’t really matter.  Because either way, art happens, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

This is what we need to show people.  That whether they teach it or not, whether they fund it or not, art will happen.  Art always happens.  The question is, who is going to get to be a part of it?