Playbill: Arts educators and advocates successfully killed a proposed move in Arizona's Peoria Unified school district to bar arts educators from renewing memberships in their professional associations, including but not limited to the Educational Theatre Association, National Association for Music Education, National Dance Education Organization, and National Art Education Association.
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"Theatre saves lives. It saved mine…,". This quote is the first thing that I saw when I first opened the article. This is one of my strongest beliefs in theater, especially children's theater. When I was 14 years old theater saved my life and I know many people who have also shared this same experience. I am deeply angered and saddened to hear that the movement to remove people from the program was an attempt to block and get rid of DEI and diversity programs. This act was in no doubt a hateful and disgusting way to undermine and take away opportunities from diverse groups. “Theatre education equips students with essential skills—creativity, collaboration, and communication—that reach far beyond the stage," This quote is amazing because truly the skills that one learns from theater goes on to help children become more confident in themselves and the ability to use their voice.
It’s incredibly sad to watch this trend, among many other harsher things in the world right now, take over our country. I could speak a lot right now but I want to keep myself contained, so I’ll discuss my feelings around the recent restriction of arts in education. In a general sense, our government’s decisions around finances are not to benefit the arts at the moment. Oddly enough, arts in a general sense but especially performing arts help us understand people and experiences different from ourselves. But oh I’m sure that has nothing to do with anything anti-DEI. Live performance enforces empathy which is so important to students, and humans as a whole, along with many other skills developed through working in entertainment. I would not be near as collaborative or extroverted or efficient with time if it weren’t for my theatrical work experience. I hope to see people in the near future come to terms with the importance of arts; the importance of empathy.
This is an article that I can really relate to though for slightly different reasons. At the college where I did my undergrad work there were moves being made for the theater space that is used by the school of drama being absorbed by a professional company. Essentially making it into a professional only theater for professional level shows, and barring the school from using the theater for school productions or even theater classes. I would not be where I am or even be the person that I am if my high school didn't offer theater classes. I didn't know anything about theater before high school, and if said classes did not exist I would have never gotten involved in theater and where I belong. Colleges or any education department removing or limiting theater is a scary thought that could bar individuals from finding a community that they belong in. Everyone in every school should have access to theater classes, so that any person who wants to know more about theater can find and thrive off of said information.
What really stood out to me was the lack of understanding/information on why this bill was proposed. And this isn’t a criticism of the article because I tried to do some digging out of curiosity and there really was never a specific answer as to why these organizations were on the chopping block, rather only vague mentions of DEI and “grooming”. I think this proposal reflects the growing anti-education sentiment in this country. While the students who spoke focused on what these organizations did for them, however something else that should be considered is how these organizations actively support educators in the arts. If we read between the lines it could be said that this is actually just another means to disenfranchise public school educators; to push students more and more to private schools. It is really great that these students were able to come together and voice their opinions on this matter and actually be heard.
This group of students fighting against adults with power is so inspiring to me. Art is about building community and fighting for what you believe in without directly going to protests, you can do so much through art and theater to show what you believe in. These students going before a jury and fighting for what they believe in is so powerful because so many young students believe they have no power and can't make a change or fight for what's right. The part of the article with the Thespian troop member, Sophie Albidrez saying "Theatre saves lives. It saved mine…," was a stand out to me because I truly believe theater is the key to being much happier with a lot of people. Between attending live shows, working backstage, or being on stage, theater appeals to so many people in so many ways and it really does save lives.
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