Art Should Be a Habit, Not a Luxury

[Celerity]

Just like exercise and sleep, engaging with the arts is a necessity for a full and happy life.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/01/art-consciousness-happiness-exercise/621374/

https://archive.ph/HmVUK



If someone asked whether you like the arts, you’d probably say you do—at least in theory. According to the advocacy group Americans for the Arts, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults say the arts “lift me up beyond everyday experiences.” Still, only 30 percent attended a concert of any type in 2017; 23 percent went to an art museum; 6 percent attended a literary event. Fewer than half actively created art of any kind.

The No. 1 reason for this mismatch between values and behaviours is, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, that we don’t have time for art—we are weighed down by our day-to-day responsibilities. Maybe you play a little background music while you work or do chores, but even before the pandemic, you rarely saw a live performance, let alone visited a gallery or watched a play. And reading poetry? Perhaps not since high school.

Too often, we let the humdrum reality of life get in the way of the arts, which can feel frivolous by comparison. But this is a mistake. The arts are the opposite of a diversion from reality; they might just be the most realistic glimpse we ever get into the nature and meaning of life. And if you make time for consuming and producing art—the same way you make time for work and exercise and family commitments—you’ll find your life getting fuller and happier.

“The world is too much with us; late and soon, / Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,” William Wordsworth wrote in an 1807 poem. “Little we see in Nature that is ours; / We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!” Wordsworth’s point was that, left to their own devices, many people allow life to become a numbing routine of working, earning, and struggling for more, in search of fulfilment that never seems to come.

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[highplainsdem]

1. +1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

We're gonna need a longer reply-title line.

[TexasBushwhacker]

2. Some of the curators of traditional museums aren't fond of the

"Immersive Van Gogh" shows. They feel it's taking money out of their pocket. I even saw one quoted as saying "Art is not supposed to be entertainment!"

Well, says who? To me, anything that gets people engaged with the arts is a good thing.