An Artist for Obama

I am a little behind on current events. Today, I finally saw the "race speech" that Barack Obama made in PA last month. I had heard that it was an impressive and important speech and I believe that is indeed true. Obama did an amazing job mining for hope in a society so based on hate and separation. As an Obama supporter, I feel very proud of the speech. I feel like I am supporting a candidate who actually believes in something and is going about the work of change with both his head and his heart.

But I am not that political. I see the world through the lens of art and creativity. So, I decided to watch another video where Obama talks about why he support arts education.



I wasn't as impressed or proud. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's great that any presidential candidate is taking any time to publicly talk about how No Child Left Behind is ruining children's arts experiences. I am thankful for that.

However, I am impatient in my need to build radical collaborations between artists, politicians, and various social change makers that are based in the real power of art to transform people and communities. I am so tired of the "music makes you smarter in math" argument. This is not helpful to the cause. The real power of both music and math is that they are languages that span cultures and give people superhuman powers to bring forth new ideas and new experiences that have never existed before. The real problem isn't that kids don't have "extra-curricular" (meaning, "Fun", ugh) activities in school anymore like we did. The real problem is that there are so few places (schools included) in our country where any of us are supported to step outside of our past, outside of our comfort zones, and harness our creativity in ways that bring about real positive, social change.

At the end of the important race speech, Obama tells that beautiful story of Ashley, the 23 year old white woman campaigning on his behalf and her connection to an elderly black man. He says of their connection, "By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children. But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger." At the same time, at the end of his speech about education where he supports the role of the arts, Obama says, "Part of what [art] teaches people is to see each other through each others eyes...it teaches us to respect and understand people who are not like us."

As an artist, I look forward to working under Obama's presidency to help us all see that being involved in arts is not just a way for kids to have in school. Art is that essential starting place to help us go beyond our differences. It is a language we can use to break through the status quo and create the world we want to be a part of.