The Arts – For the Greater Good

By: Maria Clements

The lights flicker. The orchestra tunes quiet. The audience’s whispers hush. The wand taps a stand. The curtains lift. Drums boom. Eyes widen. It’s show time!

As the lights dance across the stage and the orchestra’s beat pulsates throughout the room each person has at least one thing in common with the next; they came to laugh, cry, wonder, and escape from their real lives together,  into a world that only an artist can create.

Each community is made of individuals. Behind each individual is intention. Each intention lays a vision. Each vision conveys a message. How that message is communicated is a result from the artistic process the individual has developed over time based on his or her level of interaction with the art world. The earlier a child is exposed to different forms of art, the more likely he or she develops higher abilities to express themselves and/or share experiences. 

The National Endowment for the Arts conducted a study titled “The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies” that showed that members of the United States’ youth from both low and privileged socioeconomic demographics “do better on a host of academic and civic behavioral measures,” in their future and “find access to greater civic and social participation” as a result of deep involvement in the arts.
Fran Marsili, Director of Dance at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland states that without art “people would not have an outlet or be able to release joy; there would be nothing to stir [a person’s] passion.”

Marsili’s artistic career is a prime example of how art can indirectly lead one to have a greater impact on society. As a young girl, her father and sisters introduced her to dance and she quickly found a love for jazz. Dancing through her adolescence Marsili attended the University of Pittsburg and then continued her career professionally, “dancing up and down the east coast” she recalls, until she found a home at a Baltimore dance company.        

After retiring from dance and choreography, she entered the corporate nine to five world, even though her heart remained on the stage.
Once Marsili found her way into teaching, there was no turning back. Her experience has given her an opportunity to provide a creative space for students to naturally express themselves. She enjoys giving students a place where they “can come to forget the pressure of grades, and the physical and mental stresses of life.”

By engaging in art programs, either professionally or recreationally, Marsili states she has witnessed “a stir [in people] mentally which leads to creativity in the business world” regardless of the discipline.
Further findings in “The Arts and Achievement” study, showed that “30 percent of college students who had intensive arts experiences in middle school and high school chose a [college] major that aligns with preparation for a professional career.”

At a young age, John Healy, Executive Theater Manager at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland was interested in acting. “I just enjoyed doing it,” Healy proclaims “and the challenge of [performing] allows a certain level of independence. It allows risk.”

Healy’s investment in one field of the art world unlocked doors to a place where he realized the desire “to have more control of what I was doing.” And so began his directing career. While directing at an outdoor theater, he was once again introduced to a whole new world of an arts administrator where he found meaning in providing a greater influence on the community’s experience. In this position Healy says has been able to “take chances and provide appealing and diverse programs to a greater audience.”

Without Healy’s prior involvement and passion for theater and his versatile expertise, he may not have felt the need to establish a relationship with area schools to help “educational programs expand for children” he says. His position at the Weinberg Center allows him to draw a connection from the art world to the bright-eyed children of the community providing an opportunity to spark inspiration. “Maybe the child will encourage [his or her] parents to attend a show outside of school – this benefits the community on many levels,” Healy anticipates.

Regardless of the media, or type of art, it is undeniable many people in our society find pleasure in sharing and creating plays, paintings, pictures, sculptures, speeches, and songs. These media channels help formulate a sense of community and stability.

Marcy Nicklas, an English and drama teacher at Middletown High School, in Middletown, Maryland believes when a child discovers a entryway into an extracurricular activity, he or she will be able to find a niche in society. The greater the opportunity to explore that portal the greater the success rate a child has establishing “a stake in their community, where they matter,” Nicklas emphasizes, “and that makes such a difference in a kid’s life.”
Specifically addressing the art world, Nicklas continues to say that when children find their calling, it does not matter “whether the impact is skill based, or people skills, or life skills, they take pride in their own contribution and that is invaluable to kids.”

As an educator in an art related field, Nicklas has found that the outlet art programs provide for students allows them to communicate their personal messages, and when they have that ability they begin “to open [their] eyes as to the possibilities of the future and see that the door of life’s possibilities widens.”

The students convey their understanding of these possibilities when they describe their passion through writing assignments. Nicklas encourages her students to “follow [their] passion and see where it leads – to keep following it and do what [they] love and something will come out of it.”

In an essay a student admitted that “her ceramics class got her to school – to go into [the classroom] creating and developing. It opened her eyes to possibilities of college and further education and careers in art.” It was this moment when the student realized that she had the power to mold and shape her future. Discovering her talent led to a new-found confidence and that confidence led her to dream and hope for a future. Without the ability to outwardly express herself through clay, she may never have had the chance to control her fate and sculpt her life path.

The visualization, imagination, expression and creativity an artistic portrays, provides an alternative reality where life’s possibilities are endless. A world without art would blind society of life’s excitement, limit human connection, and one’s emotions would float aimlessly without purpose, without direction and without feeling.