<p>Again – if the ONLY RESULT of this is that we convene a higher level of leadership to examine the issue of student loan default among performing arts students, we will have done a service to many students. I would encourage you to read the article entitled DEBT SENTENCE in American Theatre Magazine. I am not exaggerating the scope of this problem. Yes, this is a long term process and may not benefit any of the families using CC today, but wouldn’t it be great to formalize something like this for generations to come? You may say I’m a dreamer… ;)</p>
<p>In the perfect world in my head (the only place it is), truly deserving kids would get into any college program they could get themselves accepted to, and it would be free. College would be free for all, but getting in would be harder than it is now. Technical training programs would also be free. It is a terrible shame and waste that deserving kids have to say no to ANY passion they want to go to school for and have the brains/talent to really succeed. And the trend to remove arts from the schools is outrageous. Take the money from all the damn testing and oversight and give the kids a music teacher or put them in a show. In my daughter’s school I had to PETITION to have dance (which she did every day) counted as a “sport” so she would be eligible for the National Honor Society, which required some participation in athletics in addition to grades. This in an artsy community! They agreed to it pretty easily but it wasn’t listed on the criteria which is why I was told I had to petition. The arts are just too often overlooked as learning tools, or considered “not necessary” - while we all know how many other skills can be developed from participating in the arts. I’ll never forget when I took my son, who was about 10, to see “1776” at a local community theater. He was pretty bored with history at school, but he had diarrhea of the mouth asking me about the American revolution coming home from that show. And I swear that my kids are both musicians partly because of a super-inspiring music teacher I had in high school. I have no talent, but this teacher inspired a love of music in me that I passed on to my kids. It is SO important that kids have access to the arts, so yes, anything we can do to keep that discussion going is valuable!!</p>
<p>And then, there was the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project during the New Deal:
<a href=“About this Collection | Federal Theatre Project, 1935 to 1939 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress”>About this Collection | Federal Theatre Project, 1935 to 1939 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress;
<p>and, the Federal Music Project:
<a href=“Federal Music Project - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Music_Project</a></p>
<p>I think it is an idea worthy of more exploration. We ahould not say no or never without fully researching possibilities. The arts are important to our country’s future. Studies prove students do better in school, on tests, with classroom behavior and engage in fewer risky behaviors if consistently exposed to the arts in school. Yet many school systems are cutting or eliminating arts programs left and right. Perhaps there is a way to help kids get an arts education while helping students who choose to pursue the arts as a vocation afford their training. It’s worth the conversation.</p>
<p>Sometimes solving a problem is as simple as reframing a problem. We need to have a paradigm shift (or perhaps a return to those WPA ideals) by which we see under-employed artists as a tremendous resource for our communities. I agree there are a million roadblocks we can envision here and plenty of examples for why this might not work; but I tend to believe that there ARE enough resources out there and that we just need to match up the right people to get something like this started. </p>