Art is the cultural immersion of creative values and aspects into material, space and society. It manifests itself in many facets of human life, providing both visual and audible appeal to people. We, as those humans, find ourselves dealing and handling the arts in many different ways. Whether it be through the many things we see every day, the things we hear, or the things we interact with, an average person will find themselves coming into contact with some art form in one way or another. With such, the interaction effects society most directly. Art and our interaction with it is the very substance that fuels our creativity as a society. Humans base their imaginative minds and the way they create things on the art that influences them. However, some people believe that the necessity for the foundations and being of the arts has depleted in our modern world. Seeing our world today as merely money and business, these people neglect to see the importance of expressing creativity and personality. They see a world merely based on efficiency and goal setting to achieve a specific task, producing an end result that benefits an individual or corporation. Common arguments regarding the arts as extra or the first to go in our society, has led to people disregarding the subject completely. But what they fail to understand is exactly what they are arguing. The arts are a pivotal part of our society and play a huge part in what makes us human. The arts through its immersion, affects our education, economy, health and society, benefitting us in all of those sectors of life. 

Our education systems are the direct link to the foundations of our knowledge as humans. What we learn and how we learn it, directly correlates to our interaction as humans in society. With such, in order for us to be sound humans in our maturity, we must first have a sound, well-rounded education to have sprung from. This well-roundedness comes from education systems including all subjects in its curriculum. These subjects being; Math, Science, English, History and finally Arts. Though these subjects can come in many different forms and appearances, they are the main subjects that build our knowledge, and they each provide a certain societal benefit to every individual. Math teaches us logic and the basics of numbers, Science helps us understand reasoning, English teaches language and its many facets, History shows us our past and finally Art reveals to us the creative side to life. However, with budgets tightening in schools, arts education seems to be being left out of the picture. As seen in reports regarding arts education in schools, "[the] percent of public secondary schools reporting whether various arts subjects were taught at the schools from the years 1999-2000 and 2008-09 has decreased by an average of 3%" (Parsad 9). Additionally, high school principal Diane Highsmith in Beandra Davis's article states, "Ideally we would love to fund arts programs from the operating budget, but ... we're not able to find the extra money anywhere" (Davis). This diminishing in funding for arts programs is exactly the reason why arts are thought to be diminishing in society. Starting from the basis of our knowledge, education, we are taught that the arts are not important and pivotal to our being. People see the subject as extracurricular and non-beneficial as schools are more focused "on raising students' reading and math test scores" (Davis), and although the American testing situation is a whole different argument to argue, the problem essentially is that people don't see the arts nearly as beneficial as math or reading is. This observation, however is flawed. The arts are directly associated with having a sound mind and wholesome knowledge. In John Locke's "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," he discusses how the most basic units of knowledge are simple ideas deriving from experiences. Locke then continues to discuss how simple ideas form from interactions with the five senses, and how applying those interactions to the mind, creates thoughts. If we apply this concept to modern day, everything that we see and hear provides our minds with fluid to make thoughts and create. Providing students with the arts allows them an atmosphere that gives them those experiences and helps expand their minds, thus allowing them to do better in all subjects. Elaine Mariner, the executive director of the Colorado Council on the Arts, took account of this premise in a Denver news article, she states "students who took art classes had higher scores on the Colorado Student Assessment Program in reading, writing and science" (Educators Say Art Education Improves Test Scores). Also witness to this is Fran Smith, who in his article "Why Arts Education Is Crucial, and Who's Doing It Best" says, "Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill." Both Smith and Mariner have seen the direct benefit of arts on students and their test scores in other subjects, which contrasts the general belief that arts are extracurricular and non-beneficial to the academic betterment of students. Additionally, aside from improving test scores, The Arts Council of England in their evidence review shows the benefits of the arts on higher education. "Students from low income families who take part in arts activities in school are three times more likely to get a degree than children from low income families that do not engage in arts activities in school" (35). The arts not only affect education on a basis of improving test scores, but they also increase success in achieving higher education goals. The review follows up on this fact, stating that the commitment associated with being involved in an art directly correlates with pursuing an education. Overall, with the arts being involved in our education systems, we are ultimately benefitted and improved as students. The arts allow for our minds to expand creatively, which then allows us to succeed in other facets of education, increasing the success among humans in both achieving an education and attaining knowledge. 

Along with improving education, our economy is also boosted by the presence of the arts. The arts contribute to national economies in large percentiles. As reported by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis in its "Preliminary Report On Impacts of Arts and Culture On U.S. Economy", "the value added from arts and cultural production accounted for nearly 3.2 percent, or $504 billion, of GDP." A value that Dan Gorenstein from Marketplace.org, notes exceeding the GDP contribution of tourism, a major factor in American economic contributions. The arts through its employing, industry and interaction with business, make up for a large part of our national economy. The arts play a huge role in local economies as well. The arts, merely through its presence, do a number of things to a local economy. As "The Value of Arts and Culture to People and Society: An Evidence Review" outlines, there are five key ways that arts and culture can boost local economies. These five key ways being, "attracting visitors, creating jobs and developing skills, attracting and retaining businesses, revitalizing places and developing talent" (19). The review refers to these five key ways as "pulling power". This being the power of arts culture to pull visitors or contending people with interest in an area to that area, increasing economic wealth. For instance, the arts may pull a visitor to a certain concert, theatre or festival. They then have to spend the money to buy a ticket, dine at local restaurants, maybe shop at local stores and potentially even book hotels for their visit. This economic contribution exemplifies this "pulling power" that arts have, increasing the wealth of local economies exponentially. This idea of "pulling power" also closely relates with the arts impact economically through tourism. The arts can make an area more attractive to tourists, thus bringing them into the area. The only difference between these two concepts is that pulling power refers to events and aesthetic that the arts can provide, while arts impact on tourism specifically correlates with a location or destination. Either way, however, it can be noted that the arts has an impact on local economies. With such, by impacting each local economy, the arts can effectively impact a national economy. This on top of directly adding to the GDP of a country proves that the arts play a significant role in economics, and as Sunil Iyengar, president of the Office of Research and Analysis for the National Endowment for the Arts states, "Here you have ... comprehensive empirical evidence from the point of view of economists that the arts play a substantial role in the nation's economy" (Gorenstein).

Our health has been shown to be improved by the arts as well. Smith says in his article, "Arts can improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork." It has been proven that the arts can physically and psychologically make one feel better. The evidence review, in addition, highlights the benefits of dance, another art form, for reducing loneliness and alleviating depression and anxiety among people in social care environments (The Arts Council of England). Dance is also, a preferred choice of physical activity in a populace or culture because it is so relatable to a population. With such, dance singlehandedly improves physical health. Specifically, aimed towards the elderly, research has found that the arts can heal a lot of mental disorders and impairments. This is so because the brain is exercised in a routine, disciplined manner, allowing for it to become stronger and overcome some previous inhibitions. (Collins). In contrast, however, there has also been studies and experiences that have revealed that the arts boost psychological health levels in children as well. Sarah Kay in her spoken word poem discusses her experience with a student she had. She discusses how the student was introverted and found herself un-interesting. But with the sharing of Sarah Kay's art form of spoken word poetry and the slow integration of the arts into this introverted student, Charlotte, would soon be telling entertaining poems about how hot she thought Anderson Cooper was and many other comical things she had in her mind. This is a first-hand account of the art's effects on children's health. The arts helped an introverted, un-interesting girl "come out of her shell" as Sarah Kay says. These physical and psychological health improvements show that the arts can also improve health, making it important to our culture. 

The arts in general improve our society. The arts make us more sound human beings. Barbara Ernst Prey discusses how "[the arts] help us make sense of our world, and they broaden our experience and understanding." Through the arts we are enabled to understand more walks and facets of life and, with such, are able to be open-minded. Open-mindedness brings with it a more cohesive society, as people are more able to cohere to not so understood ideas. Also contributing to societal benefits, the arts make our society better by teaching our children lessons that may not be taught in school. Smith says the arts are "closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity." Exposing our children to the arts builds them into the citizens we want them to be. Problem solvers that can commit to projects and can accept many different views on things. Belfiore and Bennett discuss how the arts build citizens who are multi-faceted, "The arts teach discipline and individualism that society has lost with time and a modern age ... it connects to the focus found in older ages ... " (142). The arts, Belfiore and Bennett state in their academic journal, connect us back to a past discipline that we do not achieve nowadays. This can be seen in many modern instances where we cannot hold a focus for too long without getting distracted by something else or maybe our cellphones. Belfiore and Bennett outline in a section of their journal, how with the integration of the arts, it is easier to achieve the discipline it takes to complete a long, drawn out task, one very similar to a work of art or rehearsing a piece of music. Leroux in "Impact Of The Arts On Individual Contributions to US Civil Society" also addresses this tolerance. She continues to discuss how the arts bring several other social virtues including "inclusion and self-confidence" (149). She, however, also includes the idea that though the arts can improve social skills, they can also deplete them. She says the arts "divide society in its individualism, separating a populace by trade and style" (161). This is also understandable in the idea that we become so individualized with the arts, focusing on dance or music that we never really intermingle. We become individualized in our art form. This, however, is very minimal, for it is evident that some of the art forms do end up interconnecting, such as cheerleading and dance, or art and music in the form of color guard, or theatre and poetry in the form of spoken word. Overall society is drastically improved by the arts, making us better human beings in the process. 

All in all, the arts have a definite effect on us as a society. Although we neglect its necessity in our schools, it is the foundation for our knowledge and builds our brains to their mature potentials. The arts also positively affect our economies. Bringing in revenue solely because of its appeal, the arts can build an economy to be a central area of revenue intake and tourism. The arts also improve health. Aiding both the old and the young, the arts can both physically and psychologically make one feel better, healing illnesses and introversion. Finally, the arts make us human and good citizens. Though they individualize us, they create more open-minded individuals who can commit to tasks and discipline themselves to get things done. So when Alan Feuer says in his article, "They say Art Is Dead in New York. They're Wrong," I'd have to agree with him. However, I would alter that statement saying art isn't dead anywhere, but rather it is thriving. We may not see it, for it is hidden in everything we hear and see. It is the very colors that make up your room design, the very pattern on your clothing or the tune you hear on the way to class. Art is everything that surrounds us, imagine a single item existent in the room you're in or the setting you find yourself subsiding in, and think, is there anything in here that didn't take creativity to manifest? With such, I'd have to answer no. No, because existence is art. It takes the creative mind to manifest anything and everything, and even humans in our very being are composed of art. From the way we think, to the way we dress, to the way we move, to the way we interact, art is in all of us. And as McCaslin says, "Art is what makes us human. Art is a piece of our soul." 

