Art Really Is For You

There's this theory going around that art is for a certain type of person only, that it's not for your average Joe/Jane and I so badly want to dispel this myth. ART IS FOR EVERYONE! You don't have to have an art degree to enjoy art, you don't have to be able to draw/paint/sew/sing/etcetera etcetera, you don't even necessarily have to understand it!

ART IS FOR ALL! Because ART IS IMPORTANT!

And here's why.

Imagine you're having one of THOSE mornings where the weather is terrible and absolutely everything is going wrong. You're stressed, miserable, you've had enough and it's not even nine AM yet.

You get in the car and head off to your destination but on the way something happens, a certain song comes on the radio, the one you love, the one that no matter what, always makes you smile. The first few bars start and the swell of the music, the rhythm of the beat, the words pouring out of your speakers do something to you. For a few seconds/minutes (or maybe even the rest of your day) you're affected by the music, it means something to you, in that moment it's changed you.

That's art.

Art is not some strange, foreign concept that exists somewhere out there, art is woven into the fabric of your everyday life without you even realising. I could write an essay about why art is so important but instead I'll spare you and add in a great little video that explains what art is and what it's used for here.

Art is important, as important as science (even Bill Nye the science guy agrees) but this argument is often frowned upon because the benefits are pretty much unquantifiable. Also art by its very nature is subjective, and everyone approaches it with different personal experiences, therefore everyone sees something different. There is no right and wrong, and because of that many people struggle with knowing where to start.

So start with what you like, what you've seen/heard and follow that road in. You don't have to know it all, you don't have to get it, you just have to engage with it somehow, stop shying away, stop being afraid, stop seeing it as something for others.

Art is not for a single group of people, despite there being a time when art was considered by many as a commodity for only the elite. Art is all around us and each of us has the right to it. It is NOT a "them" and "us" situation, in this we are all together.

Art really IS for you.