Your turn: The arts drives both culture and innovation

I have two jobs in this community. I work in the field of education and community building as executive director of Alignment Rockford, and I create and educate as an independent artist in the field of the arts through many various projects with students and arts advocacy.

My perspective on the interplay between the arts and culture is influenced by the varying lenses I get to use in looking at our community, just as my choice of professional pathways has always been influenced by my belief in the critical link between the arts and every successful human exploration and pursuit.

The arts play a powerful role in shaping culture and building educational and community wellbeing. Throughout human history, art has played a fundamental part in our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

The first instances of art discovered by archaeologists date back to over 40,000 years ago, with examples found in Indonesia, Europe, and Australia, ranging from carvings in bone and stone to paintings on the walls of caves. From these early discoveries, we learn that the expression of cultural and individual beliefs, whether bodily ornamentation or burial decoration, was valued by even the earliest cultures who deemed the critical expense of time and energy required in the creation of these inessential artifacts a worthwhile investment. They now tell a story about the cultures that created them but they also help to define the ongoing and changing story of us– the shaping and reshaping our relationship with our world.

The importance of the arts in influencing culture has long been recognized by writers, artists, and philosophers across the world.

Edward O. Wilson, an American biologist and thinker, developed a framework of four overlapping dimensions to explain the origins of creativity in human behavior: imagination, discovery, integration and transformation. According to Wilson, imagination encourages us to explore our innermost thoughts and ideas with curiosity; discovery allows us to uncover new knowledge; integration synthesizes disparate ideas into something new and transformation brings about lasting change in the way we see ourselves and the world.

In other words, the arts are not a sidecar or elective add-on to intellectual work; they are a great driver of our species’ most advanced discoveries and innovation.

Wilson, among others, argued that to separate the sciences from the humanities is a critical mistake — these disciplines not only overlap and inform one another, but are inextricably linked in a causal relationship. History agrees: the father of modern science, Galileo was a painter. So was Louis Pasteur, who revolutionized our ideas about microbiology and germ theory. Einstein was a violinist whose best ideas came to him when he was playing his instrument and there are a host of other past and contemporary Nobel-prize winning mathematicians, scientists, and innovators are musicians, artists, dancers and writers.

When we look to history to understand something about ourselves, aren’t we really asking about our future? As we come to understand the relationship between arts integration and human innovation, we must look at how we are currently investing in our own future. In today’s ever-evolving world, it is more important than ever for students–our custodians of the future– to have access to comprehensive education that incorporates and celebrates the arts.

From a strictly nuts-and-bolts perspective, we know that exposure to the arts improves outcomes for students, fostering creativity and problem solving skills. Studies show that students involved in the arts are likely to have higher GPAs, higher rates of graduation, better rates of college acceptance, higher lifelong earning potential, and better self-esteem. But a more nuanced perspective, based on research and historical precedent, makes the case that music, writing, dance, theater, and visual arts provide doorways to innovative thought, personal self-agency and intellectual curiosity for people of every ability and age.

The argument follows that a community truly invested in the arts will leap ahead, led by a generation with diverse perspectives, deep intellectual curiosity, and transformational ideas.

And we don’t have to wait until tomorrow to begin. Leaders of today can start by placing a higher value on the integration of the arts into the professional world by exploring their own creative interests, investing in the arts, culture and education in Rockford, and creating opportunities for their workforce to explore creative interests, attend cultural events, and take part in public art opportunities.

The need for the arts to inform our future is critical. Having shaped our societies, served as a driving economic force, and fostered intercultural understanding for millennia, we must embrace the integration of the arts in the way we shape and inhabit our lives every day.

I live this belief, committed to education, the wellbeing of our children, and the betterment of our community in my professional life, but ever- active in, and influenced by, my work with students and the community as a working artist.

These two are not exclusive; rather they are deeply connected. When every leader comes to understand this truth and act on it, Rockford will collectively build a more vibrant and meaningful future.

Emily Klonicki is a writer, artist and education advocate based in Rockford. She is the executive director of Alignment Rockford, where she works with the local school district and local and state agencies to bridge educational gaps. She is also is a working artist, leading large-scale community public art projects, serving the boards of the Rockford Area Arts Council and the Music Academy in Rockford’s Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Your turn: The arts drives both culture and innovation