Art is an integral part of our lives.
This feels like a statement that one should not have to say. Art weaves into the fabric of society across many forms, spanning mediums, cultures, and forms.
Art resides in our television shows and movies. In books and in burlesque. Art is present in murals, galleries, and recital halls. This, of course, only scrapes the surface of where art impacts, and intertwines with, our lives.
Sadly, especially in performing arts and art spaces, there has been recent pushback in ways groups, companies, venues, and individuals receive a portion of their funding. Take, for example, the recent disbanding of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
First established by President Ronald Reagan in June 1982, this committee was an advisory group to the President of the United States on cultural issues. The committee worked with the White House and the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. Over the years, the committee helped the restoration of public arts funding and helped boost art education in lower-performing schools, among other things.
In 2017, the committee resigned in protest of the president's response to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. President Joe Biden reinstituted the committee in 2022, only for it to be dissolved by the current president via Executive Order in January 2025.
Large foundations, too, in recent years stopped or reduced their contributions to the arts. One was the MAP Fund, one the longest-running private funding sources for the performing arts, which primarily shuttered because The Doris Duke Foundation and Mellon Foundation concluded their support for the fund.
On a smaller scale, it is more important now to support the arts, making a significant difference to a thriving community and to the Treasure Valley.
Dedicated arts community
One of the fantastic elements within art and performing arts is the community aspect. Artists and audience take part, where a blend of both partake in the seen and unseen. A community enjoying the same music or examining and discussing paintings in a gallery. Audiences celebrating a theatrical production, sharing laughs at a comedy show, or settling in for a night out at the opera.
A shared experience, whether your love and support are in one of these mediums or many. Bringing forth nights of joy, deep thought, or simply escaping for the briefest of hours. Who among us doesn't have (hopefully) a favorite memory or two of a show or concert? Or that favorite artist you must always support?
Defunding on a large scale, the growth of AI, and even fear of embracing something new are obstacles to opportunity. Some of this has been present throughout history, while others are fairly new on the scene. Meaning now more than ever is a perfect time to support the art you love, or the art you wish to see more of.
Supporting Treasure Valley Arts
At the base level, buying tickets to shows, exhibits, concerts, and events is the way to support artists. Filling those venues, wherever that may be, helps keep art and performing arts going strong. So, too, is buying merchandise or that piece of art to hang in your home. And it is valuable to spread the good word. Tell your friends. Shoot, tell your enemies, too.
Many of the performing arts groups in theater, opera, variety shows, and more are also non-profit organizations. Meaning tax-deductible donations, whether a one-time give or recurring monthly, that go a long way. Even on the non-profit side of things, donations to artists and groups help to make the art we have all come to enjoy or to help pay stipends and wages to others.
With support, dancers keep dancing. Idaho theater companies keep producing thought-provoking, entertaining fare. Artists keep painting, drawing, sculpting, and welding. Idaho writers keep writing.
The future in arts holds many questions but to be sure, artists, groups, and communities will keep on making art. They will find ways to carry on, with artists supporting artists and sharing work with the world. Support, whether monetary or by simply sharing art from the artists, musicians, comedians, and groups you love, will help keep the Treasure Valley's robust art scene growing for years to come.
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