Không chỉ là giải trí

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Dear Dan,

As part of my work promoting the arts, I’m sitting in on a lot of budget meetings (buổi họp bàn về phân bổ ngân sách) at city hall. Securing funding for the arts has always been difficult, but after more than a year without any live theater, it is getting even harder. Basically, many committee members see the arts as mere entertainment, which they think of as unnecessary. Is there any concrete evidence I can use to convince them that the arts are important?

—Eric

The arts—including the fine arts, theater and film—are important to culture not only because they are entertaining, but also because they can be vehicles (phương tiện truyền bá, phương tiện biểu lộ (tư tưởng, cảm xúc..)) for political and societal change (thay đổi chính trị và xã hội). Artistic performances are known to heighten empathy (đồng cảm) among their audiences and even to change people’s views.

Participants in a recent study saw a play related to issues of racial discrimination (phân biệt chủng tộc), wealth distribution (phân bổ của cải) and income inequality (bất bình đẳng thu nhập). Researchers surveyed some audience members before they saw the production and others afterward, finding that viewers left the theater with a substantial increase in fellow feeling toward members of the groups the play depicted and shifts in attitude on the political issues the play explored.

Participants in the study also increased the amount of money they donated to charities after their experience at the theater, regardless of whether or not the charities were related to the topic of the play. Surely if the arts can be such an effective tool for social change, they are not “just entertainment.”

Bài trước: Muốn giỏi phải học