No art. No hope.

An opinion piece.

Whether you are aware or not, it never hurts to reiterate that the arts are so much more than tangible or rigid practices. This lack of understanding is very much apparent in our arts education and continues to be prevalent in our training of arts educators. The arts promote innovation, collaboration and the overall wellbeing of individuals and their communities at large. And yet, year after year, it continues to die. I firmly believe that arts education holds the greatest value to the success of our educational systems and that it is vital to the livelihood of our future generations.

Recently, a clip has resurfaced of Billy Porter on Good Morning America in which he shares his insight on the value of the arts. Porter says that “the arts has a way of creating thinkers, people who ask questions”. He goes on to say that art provides space where everyone can be heard and understood. Art is all of this and more - it’s why Opera InReach came to be and it is why we fight for progressive and receptive arts education. As advocates for the arts, we believe in its ideologies. The masses have demonstrated that they too support these beliefs but lack the cognitive capacity to mentally engage further with this understanding and way of thinking. This is expected and acceptable. It can be scary and overwhelming to have these conversations with yourself and with others. It can be draining and exhausting to invest your body, mind and spirit into connecting with yourself and your surroundings. It can be frustrating to continuously reiterate the same ideals over and over and never feel heard. These are the signs of an underdeveloped critical thinker.

What is critical thinking?

We hear people talk about the power of critical thinking, so much so that it is slowly losing its meaning all together. It is a complex topic and hard to digest because it challenges you as an individual. And for that, it continuously gets silenced and loses its value. The more it gets pushed aside, the more motivated I become to talk about it. The Foundation of Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as:

“...a mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking.”

If you take away anything from this reflection, let it be that critical thinking can be simple to understand and easy to implement into your regular practice. Many who have explored critical thinking realize the value in personalizing its practice in a way that is best suited to them and their needs. For me, these five points have been the most simple and effective in reminding myself to practice critical thinking. I encourage you to set daily reminders and try them out for yourself to see where your practice of daily reflection can lead you.

Question

No question is a dumb question. Whoever said that should be shunned. Be vocal and ask all of the questions! Rather than fearing your curiosity, motivate yourself to learn, grow, develop and challenge the status quo. The best insight always comes from challenging basic assumptions that have been instilled in us. The results can be quite profound and philosophical. A good example of this type of assumption could be the question “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Would you say yes or no? Why?...

Perspective

Change up your POV. It demonstrates your capabilities to be relatable, open minded, aware and receptive of others. It can lead to great insight that would have been missed out if your thoughts were led by impulse. It can be extremely enlightening to challenge your instinctive competitive nature and lower your guard to allow potential for learning and wisdom.

Communication

Being able to clearly communicate your ideals has never been easy. Try actively listening and respect the opinions of others in order to understand their perspective and explain your ideas in a calm, rational manner. This can help you to clear your mind in order to effectively evaluate your solutions and clearly articulate yourself.

Imperfection

There is no such thing as perfection. We all know this. Get it out of your head. You will never be able to practice critical thinking 100% of the time. No one can. This is normal and completely acceptable. Afterall, we are human. We have feelings, emotions and tendencies to be irrational. That doesn’t mean we cannot attempt to practice critical thinking regularly and strive to be our best selves.

Examine

Being a critical thinker means you need to be critical. Whether that's to yourself or to anything outside of your control, criticism is a necessary skill when practicing critical ideologies. Criticism is neither good nor bad. Rather, it’s an analysis of one’s merits or faults. Practice examination and assessment wherever and whenever you can.

How does this relate to arts education?

My five steps have touched on elements of artistic values: subjectivity, innovation, imperfection, expression and opinion - all encapsulated within a critical thinking mindset. Arts education has the power to demonstrate methodologies that can easily be practiced and instilled throughout varying educational systems. It has the capabilities to support the specific diverse needs of communities across the nation, many of them being cognitive related. Early cognitive development is everything and instilling students with cognitive skills supported by emotional intelligence and critical thinking methodologies can make a big impact on the community at large. The arts can do just that. It provides a space that supports this exact form of cognitive development. These methods can and should be implemented in all curriculums no matter the course type. Even “objective subjects” like math and science have opportunities to implement cognitive development driven by subjectivity. I myself am a trained opera singer but find myself more so applying my artistic skills in the world of digital marketing and strategy. In a short time, I have been able to learn and grow as a novice strategist and that is due in large to my artistic upbringing and the mindset it curated.

Why should you care?

The pandemic has made a huge impact on the arts and its survival. As if they weren’t already struggling, day after day, arts communities are shrinking and disappearing. Funding for arts education and community development is being slashed hard. It baffles me how we, as a nation, are still clueless to the power of the arts. We need critical thinkers and innovators in our schools, communities and governments. We need a society that looks to the future with hope and aspirations for a better country. We need to reconnect as a nation and we need to support the arts for the wellbeing of our present and future generations of innovators.

Rebecca Apps (she/her)

Digital Marketing Strategist, Opera InReach