Philadelphia artist Amy Scheidegger doesn’t think so. When she overheard two teenagers discussing the worthlessness of a degree in the arts, she decided to create the “Artistic Rebuttal Book Project,” a visual rendering of the importance of the arts in our lives, by artists and arts advocates from here and abroad.
Responses run the gamut from arts as an important economic engine and a measure of our civilization to “aha moments” like, “You know that killer dance move you saw on television…? An artist came up with that.”
Currently she has 229 artists contributing from 53 American and Canadian cities. She is also working with art and creative writing teachers and their students in several states to create a children’s edition of the Artistic Rebuttal Book Project.
Want to get involved too? There’s still time. Scheidegger is accepting submissions for Artistic Rebuttal until March 12 for the abridged version, which she plans to unveil for Arts Advocacy Day. She will continue to accept all submissions until May 15. The guidelines are available here.
If you don’t want to or don’t have time to submit something, we’d love it if you left a comment below with your answer to why you think the arts are important.
Images: Amy Scheidegger
What a wonderful idea!
I believe an education in the arts is priceless and offers us opportunity to learn how to be creative, see things differently and better understand others.
My greatest learning experience happened in an art history class, it completely changed how I understand the world and I believe it has made me a more compassionate person. I am so grateful for my education in the arts.
Sally
The Artistic Rebuttal Book Project now has a Kickstarter page – our goal is $3,000 to help fund the printing of the books – pledge if you can! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/artisticrebuttal/the-artistic-rebuttal-book-project
Thank you, Amy! We shared your Kickstarter page on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck – we hope it gets fully funded!
wow, thank you so much! you have been wonderful – definitely going into the Thank You section of the book
As co chair of the Alliance for Arts in Healthcare NJ, we have submitted a page on behalf of our group. Thanks so much for calling this to our attention! I will submit on behalf of our healing arts non profit organization, Creative Heartwork as well! Fabulous idea. May it come to fruition!