The Importance of Art: An Agent For Positive Change
Art has immense power, it is a catalyst for change in society and an agent for positive transformation on both a personal level, as well as impacting society as a whole.
When considering the value of art in society, its obvious intrinsic value is personal — art can clearly illuminate our inner lives and enrich our emotional world. However, art also has a wider, more measurable impact on our health and wellbeing, education, economy and society. Thus it is important that we acknowledge this impact enough to encourage people to think of art for what it is: an invaluable resource that has the potential to change our worlds for the better.
A vehicle for expressing universal emotion and building community, art transcends language, unifies culture, and fosters emotional connectivity. It is an instrument for expanding our consciousness and delving deep into our own mindset and belief systems. Imbued with both aesthetic and spiritual value, art allows us to engage in intellectual thought and educates us with alternative philosophies and ideas than those with which we are already familiar. It thus has the ability to provide a voice for minorities while simultaneously influencing new and empathetic understandings for spectators. In this way, art is a vehicle that communicates expression between different communities and shapes collective thought. It bonds humanity by creating shared understandings and building a sense of community.
We might seldom think about the arts and the fundamental role it plays in breaking social barriers and bridging socially constructed differences, and yet this is of vital importance today, perhaps more than ever. Not only does art elicit an emotional response to issues that society and the planet faces, but it communicates and educates important messages and inspires people to think and act. Art can be used as a way for us to interrogate our current beliefs, spark new ideas and critically examine ourselves and the world we live in. Used as a tool for social justice, to raise critical consciousness and motivate individuals to take action for social change. It gives us permission to look inward and to begin to discuss outwardly, prompting conversations that may not be easy or popular, but which are vital to our growth and evolution.
In these terms, art can become a stimulus for both subtle, status-quo changes or major political changes. When we think of ways to ignite social change, many people may think of political activism as the primary method, with legislative changes, laws and petitions. And yet art that can be a potent and viral spark for change, whether within our personal consciousness, or our collective movement towards an unknown future.
Now more than ever, during this unprecedented time in history, artistic projects have an immense power to restore collective emotional pain and lift the spirit. Art can transform the anguish concerning the present and the future into something tangible, which in turn is beautiful and hopeful. And, however humble its expression maybe, art is the quintessential creative force that can provide a message of hope to communities, society, and the world at large, in innumerable and immeasurable ways.
Written by Ruby Moore
