Those of us involved in the Arts (orchestras, choruses, opera companies, dance companies, theatres, art galleries, etc.) are feeling an increased need these days to ‘justify’ our existence. We live in a time when government and corporate funding for the Arts is becoming more difficult, or even impossible, to obtain. I don’t think we can fully measure the damage in our individual lives, as well as in our culture and society, when the Arts are relegated to a position of ever decreasing importance. 

Robert Shaw (Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, 1967-1988) once said this:

“The arts may be not the luxury of the few, but the last, best hope of humanity to inhabit with joy this planet.” 

Barbara Jordan, former member of Congress from Texas, made this comment:

“The Arts are not a frill. The Arts are a response to our individuality and our nature, and help to shape our identity. What is there that can transcend deep difference and stubborn divisions? The Arts. They have a wonderful universality. Art has the potential to unify. It can speak in many languages without a translator. The Arts do not discriminate. The Arts can lift us up.”

The Arts allow our creativity to soar. I very much appreciate something the great scientist Albert Einstein once declared:

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere