We Must Create Art For Our Sake

On April 16 Science Daily posted a multi-institutional review that found, “The simple act of looking at a piece of visual art can boost your wellbeing.”

Psychologists from University of Vienna, Trinity College Dublin and Berlin’s Humboldt University examined 38 studies involving 6,805 participants originally published in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

MacKenzie Trupp, the lead author from the University of Vienna, summed up the positive effects of art: "People often think of art as a luxury, but our research suggest that viewing art …can meaningfully support wellbeing.”

And not just well-being.

In 2023 National Public Radio’s All Things Considered interviewed Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen, co-authors of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, the gist of which is how “art has a measurable effect on the brain and its structure.”

"Creativity is making new connections, new synapses," Ross said. Magsamen elaborated: "Children that are playing music, their brain structure actually changes and their cerebral cortex actually gets larger."

Brain growth? Who could argue against that?

People who fear individual growth and development.

Furthermore, citing the evidence of human cultural history, Magsamen explained, “We’re really wired for art.”

Yet, former unreality TV star and self-appointed chair of the Kennedy Center Donald Trump would pull the plug on two of America’s best, most reliable sources for artistic enrichment. On June 3, he sent Congress a request to cut $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System.

The funding had already been approved. But, by asking for a “rescission,” Trump froze the money for 45 days while Congress decides whether to take an axe to our culture or just ignore the stiffest, most awkward actor in Home Alone 2.

And cowardly House Republicans who initially voted for the funding have put the money in jeopardy by bending their knees to Trump’s threat to primary them in 2026.

Both organizations carry news shows – which truth-averse Trumpers hate – but PBS brings a cornucopia of cultural programing to people across the country whose local financial resources cannot support such grand productions. Most NPR stations serve as hubs for classical music in areas awash with rock, pop, country and hip-hop. Some even offer jazz.

They represent not “Art for Art’s Sake,” but Art for Our Sake.

Because art benefits all of us.

Trump’s antipathy toward the arts arises from exactly those beneficial qualities the arts instill in people. He opposes the resulting independence and free thinking that enriches our lives, preferring lock-step agreement on everything he says – regardless of how often he changes his mushy mind.

Art creates artists such as Taylor Swift, with whom Trump is as creepily obsessed as George Costanza facing rejection, and Bruce Springsteen, who in typical Boss fashion told a European audience on May 15:

“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll, in dangerous times. In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against the authoritarianism, and let freedom ring.”

In a May Tedx Talk from Manchester in the UK, author and creative coach Amie McNee stressed the importance of creativity even in such challenging times.

“The world is literally and figuratively on fire. And I am about to tell you that you need to make art. And more than that I’m going to argue that the creative act is a huge part in how we extinguish and put out these fires.”

She reported messages from people in the vein of, “I don’t know how I can be spending my time at the piano when there is so much pain in the world.”

Art is neither childish, trivial nor frivolous, according to McNee:

“We have to understand that art is activism. That it is inherently political to use your voice and to take up space with whatever you’re making.”

Culture, she says, is moved by art. “We are impacted on a very human level when we consume art.”

In an early June interview in El Punt Avui, movie producer/director Ibon Cormenzana explained, “Art and culture can help overcome grief and suffering.”

And scientists reinforce their insights.

In 2022, Science Daily cited a Portland State University investigation that showed many students taking music classes improved their math scores.

PSU researcher Mackin Freeman explained: "If you think about it at an intuitive level, reading music is just doing math. Of course, it's a different type of math but it might be a more engaging form of math for students than learning calculus."

Author Magsamen told her interviewer of the benefits of dance: "Even just 15 minutes of dance reduces stress and anxiety" by releasing feel-good hormones such as endorphins, serotonin and dopamine.

Furthermore, a 2022 study by University College London reported in Science Daily found that, “Teenagers who take part in arts and cultural activities, such as dance, drama, reading and going to concerts, are less likely to engage in antisocial and criminalized behavior up to two years later.”

So, the arts make us smarter, happier and better citizens – better versions of ourselves.

Who could argue against that?

And, according to McNee, “Your art is the antidote to so many people’s pain. Yet, you are keeping it to yourself.”

Create something!