[NEohioPAL] RE: State of the theatre

[Kristan Oelbrecht]

Throughout this discussion, almost every single person has commented on the
need to educate younger audiences about theater and the arts, to ensure that
the art forms survive, as well as to provide students with a source of
inspiration for their lives, education, careers, etc. Many have shared their
recollections of times they were engaged in the arts through a visit to the
orchestra or theater, and some have even mentioned their experiences with
the arts in the classroom. I, too, was fortunate enough to have many similar
arts experiences. I went on field trips to theaters and was engaged by
visiting artists. 

However, things have changed since then. In the last twenty, ten, and even
five years, the state of education, as a whole, has changed drastically. The
ability of schools to financially support arts and cultural experiences has
severely dwindled. Arts organizations, knowing full well that their future
existence is at risk, have attempted to pick up the slack, seeking out
funding to support bussing and reduced cost or free tickets to their events.
The organization I work for, Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, is one of
those organizations. Unfortunately, even those efforts are being diminished
by the ever present need to justify the time spent on the arts in the
classroom. It's not enough for arts organizations to provide free bussing
and tickets to their events, they also have to justify and convince funders,
educators, administrators and the government why teachers and students
should be missing  class to attend those events.  

The efforts of arts organizations to provide these experiences to children
and young adults is admirable, but is it solely their responsibility? Who
better to educate our youth than schools? 

Having been involved in the arts since elementary school, I know the
transforming affect that the arts can have on a human being. I have based my
education, career, and most of my life on this.  Unfortunately, this can't
be about our faith in the power of the arts anymore, it now has to be about
proof.  Until our society realizes that the input determines the outcome,
that to judge our education system and our arts and culture organizations
merely on how efficiently they run and how many industrious adults they can
produce is a wasted opportunity , and that a child, provided with the
opportunity to imagine and be inspired, will become a whole person who is
capable of creating amazing and wonderful things, this discussion will never
cease. 

My dream is that one day, my organization will no longer need to exist and
that other arts organizations will no longer require an education department
of their own, because the arts will be a constant part of every child's
classroom and home. 

 

Kristan A. Oelbracht

Yougn Audiences of Northeast Ohio

 

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