Giving Compass' Take:

• Mark Golden, writing for ARTS Blog, discusses the value of encouraging creative young people to pursue arts careers and embrace arts education.

• What opportunities are there for funders to support arts education for young people? What can students gain from arts education?

• Here's at least one gain: arts education can help train tomorrow's workforce. 

I was recently awarded the Champion of Arts Education Award by the Center for Arts Education in New York City. As the owner of a business that relies on artists, I am deeply committed to supporting arts education initiatives. The arts bring so much joy both to adults and children alike, but this rarely translates to encouragement to follow artistic passions.

This raises the question: Why do parents do so much to dissuade their children from pursuing an arts career? We celebrate our children’s work on the refrigerator until something happens that begins to make us shudder with fear. When our child comes to us and says, “I think I want to be an artist,” we try to avoid showing our panic right away—knowing that this might just be a passing notion for the day, as there were other dreamy ideas that proceeded this one including joining a rock band, a marine biologist, a park ranger.

But, whether your child ends up in an art career or related art career, or does get that biomedical engineering degree, what you’ve supported through their school career is an incredible gift. At Golden Artists Colors, we support arts education because having a creative life is a something that will benefit and last an entire lifetime.

It is possible that a lifetime in the arts will not yield enormous dollar benefits; yet the opportunity to lead a rich, fulfilling life is of immeasurable value. They have carried us—me—to places I would never had imagined before. They have allowed me the platform where we can continue to give back, and to be a voice to support the critical notion that art education is essential to a fulfilled life.

Read the full article about celebrating the value of arts education by Mr. Mark Golden at ARTS Blog.