The Secret Ingredient is Not a Secret

Three things. 

1. Yesterday County Executive Ball highlighted National Arts in Education Week on his Facebook page. 

The arts connect us, inspire us, and bring our community to life. During National Arts in Education Week, we celebrate how creativity enriches everyone, not just in classrooms and community centers, but across our entire county.

In Howard County, we advocate for the arts. From featuring local artwork at bus stops, to revitalizing community poetry through our Poet Laureate program, to building a new Performing Arts Center in Downtown Columbia to serve as a hub for our local artists and productions.

The arts are thriving here—and with continued investment and support, they will only grow stronger, creating spaces for expression, connection, and joy for all.

2. It caught my eye because I had just finished listening to an episode of IMO, where co-hosts Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson interview Barack Obama on the topic, “Focus on What’s Right About Young Men.” The conversation centers around a listener question about positive ways to raise boys in our culture. 

There’s a lot in there, and I’ll leave it to you to delve in if you wish. Something that struck me was the suggestion that it’s not healthy to do just one thing or have just one interest to the exclusion of everything else. As an example, sports or video games can be all-consuming but they won’t necessarily open you up to larger worlds. The hosts specifically mention involvement in the arts as a gateway to different ways of seeing, feeling, and interacting.

3. I don’t think they name it specifically, but a big part of the “why” here is how arts education helps to foster perspective-taking and empathy. Everyone needs these to be fully human and engaged with the world around them in a healthy way. But we have traditionally raised boys by a standard that is especially lacking in developing these qualities.

You are much less likely to laugh at the suffering of others if you have had experiences connecting with the humanity of others through the arts. You are much more likely to consider other points of view instead of merely shutting them out. Imagine how that would impact the nation we are living in today.

I suspect this is why totalitarian regimes come for the humanities in general and arts in particular. It’s extremely important for them to have significant numbers of people who will laugh at the suffering of others and who will shut down new ideas without considering them. 

And another thing. I keep reading about something called “the crisis of male loneliness.” How can they possibly escape loneliness if we raise them without the crucial tools to be connected with the people around them? It is as cruel as ancient practices like foot binding which insisted on crippling pain to produce a “feminine” ideal. 

Arts education is not the only way, but it is both a broad and appealing way to deepen hearts and expand minds. Valuing these opportunities in our community tells our young people that we value their innate humanity and encourage them to grow into thoughtful, capable, and caring adults.

*****

Bonus content: Dan and Claudia Zanes Make Beautiful Music Together, Max Weiss, Baltimore Magazine (See how many examples of empathy and perspective-taking come up in this piece!)