The arts are disappearing.
They are constantly being underappreciated and devalued across college campuses. In November, the Washington State University President issued a statement announcing that various programs would be cut in the following year due to budget restrictions. And, surprise, surprise, the performing arts are being cut.
This is not a new trend. The performing arts always tends to be the first program to go in situations like these.
As a member of one of the ensembles at WSU, it is truly heartbreaking to see how little our campus and administration value the arts. Currently, programs such as the School of Music and the School of Fine Arts will not be affected by the cuts. However, we can kiss theater productions and staff goodbye.
This is not ok.
The arts enrich campus in more ways than one. “We add culture, diversity, give you something to think about,” said Dr. Lori Wiest, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Not to mention, the arts are a way for students to express emotions, relieve stress, and are an escape from the craziness that is college and life.
We work hard.
Hours upon hours of rehearsal are required to put on a single concert. As a choir, we meet four times a week, have dress rehearsals, outside individual practice, and then, finally, we put on the concert. We spend weeks and even months practicing the same four or five songs, all so that we can share music with the WSU community. The visual artists are no different, and I can only imagine how long it takes to create some of the works displayed in the fine arts museum.
Cutting the arts program affect students' career paths.
Clare Sullivan, a junior vocal performance major said:
“It makes me scared as a music student. My program was left untouched, but it’s been made clear time and again that the administration values some fields more than others, so what gets cut next?
For some, the performing arts is their future career. By making these drastic cuts, it’s like saying that their dreams, passions and future careers don’t have value, or even matter."
The arts foster creativity.
College is all about learning new things, having new experiences, and expanding your horizons. Having a large “art presence” on campus makes people think, feel and foster creativity. Creativity is such an important aspect of so many different majors, such as engineering, communication and more.
The arts make people think.
The arts make you ask questions and find answers. You can look at art a different way because you are learning to inquire about why it is done and what its impact would be. This is what we should constantly be doing as students, and the arts are a large part of it, said Dr. Wiest.
Ultimately, there are many that care for the arts here at WSU—imagine if there was no more music playing? How sad would that be? No more musicals or operas? There would be hole where these programs used to be. As students we need to pay attention to those who create, perform and give us something to appreciate before there are more cuts made.
“We need the arts simply for humanity, it helps us feel, it helps us become who we want to be, have empathy for others,” said Dr. Wiest.
