Art

“Earth without ‘art’ is just ‘eh’”

This post came across my Facebook feed recently and I almost shared it there, but I thought it deserving of a bit more attention. The arts are, indeed, the very things that make our lives interesting. When we forget to make time to enjoy the beauty, we feel less joy.

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” the old adage says. And it's still true today.

It is too easy to become caught up in the scheduling and demands of our lives, and we push the enjoyable parts away – maybe later we will have time. Time to take in a play, a musical, a concert; time to read a book for relaxation, or better yet, to write.

Many studies have shown benefits to youth who participate in arts, including:

Boosts literacy and English Language Arts skills.

Advances math achievement.

Engages students in school and motivates them to learn.

Develops critical thinking.

Improves school culture.

Student participation in the arts also helps prepare them for the workplace by:

Equips students to be creative.

Strengthens problem solving ability.

Builds collaboration and communication skills.

Increases capacity for leadership.

In a blog post by James Clear, he talks about a 2010 article in the American Journal of Public Health entitled, The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health. Researchers analyzed more than 100 studies about the impact of art on a person’s health and ability to heal. The researchers described the impact that visual art activities had on the patients:

Art filled occupational voids, distracted thoughts of illness.

Improved well–being by decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive ones.

Improved medical outcomes, trends toward reduced depression.

Reductions in stress and anxiety; increases in positive emotions.

Reductions in distress and negative emotions.

Improvements in flow and spontaneity, expression of grief, positive identity, and social networks.

So art is good for your youth development, good for our sick and aging, and good for everyone in between.

“Earth without ‘art’ is just ‘eh’”