On a rainy October day, the Ball State and Muncie community came together to listen to a talk about the importance of the Arts.
Randy Cohen, who is the Vice President of Research and Policy at Americans for the Arts, spoke about the importance for the Arts in places like Muncie. According to Cohen’s presentation, 81 percent of the people polled in a survey, believed the Arts are a “positive experience in the world.”
Janice Whitt, who was in the audience for this lecture, couldn’t agree more with this statement.
“If we’re going to teach our children to appreciate the finer things and to look for the finer things in life,” Whitt said. “Then, we have to expose them to the arts because that’s where it is. It’s in the arts.”
Whitt, who is originally from New York, was first introduced to the arts in one of her Introduction classes.
“I had no idea it would affect me as it did. You would think that’s just a Mickey Mouse course, but it’s not,” Whitt said. “A good teacher will instill in you this love. It’s like it began to grow and grow from that point. I was exposed as a kid but it wasn’t the same.”
In today’s lecture series, Cohen talked about a wide range of subjects, from economics to healthcare. For Andy Beane, the Associate Director of the School of Art, its important for congresspersons to see the importance for its constituents.
“I think that having a story to tell with that art being important is beyond hearing just ‘it’s important,’” Beane said. “The Arts are also helping the larger society from better health and economics.”
Beane thought that having this conversation about the importance of Arts will help aid Arts Advocacy in Muncie. To everyone in Muncie, art is integral to a better society.
Patrick Murphy 