"So what it boils down to, in my humble opinion, is that we need to support the arts in schools, and at every other level in the education of children"
About this Quote
Phil Lesh, the bassist of the Grateful Dead, distills a lifetime of collaboration and improvisation into a clear prescription: support the arts in schools and across the whole ecosystem that shapes a child. The phrasing carries a gentle humility, yet it signals priority. After all the debates about curriculum and testing, he is saying the center cannot hold without creativity.
Coming from a musician whose art thrived on listening, risk, and collective invention, the point lands with added weight. Arts education builds capacities that standardized drills cannot: the patience to practice, the courage to fail publicly and try again, the ability to read others and respond in real time. A band that survives on improvisation depends on trust and attention; classrooms do too. When children make music, paint, act, or dance, they rehearse the habits that underwrite problem solving in any field.
Lesh’s call for support at every level widens the frame beyond school budgets. Families, community centers, local venues, libraries, museums, after-school programs, and public policy all form the web that either nurtures or withers a child’s creative life. Too often the arts are treated as enrichment for those who can afford lessons, while budget cuts and test pressure strip them from public schools. That widens inequities and starves communities of shared cultural life.
There is a practical case and a human one. Yes, arts learning correlates with better attendance, graduation, and even gains in literacy and math. Yes, the creative economy needs people who can imagine and collaborate. But beyond metrics, the arts give children a language for feeling, a way to make meaning, and a sense of belonging. The Grateful Dead’s enduring community shows how art gathers people into something larger than themselves.
Supporting the arts is not ornamental. It is an educational foundation for empathy, resilience, and citizenship. If we want children who can meet uncertainty with imagination, we must fund and protect the spaces where they learn to create together.
Coming from a musician whose art thrived on listening, risk, and collective invention, the point lands with added weight. Arts education builds capacities that standardized drills cannot: the patience to practice, the courage to fail publicly and try again, the ability to read others and respond in real time. A band that survives on improvisation depends on trust and attention; classrooms do too. When children make music, paint, act, or dance, they rehearse the habits that underwrite problem solving in any field.
Lesh’s call for support at every level widens the frame beyond school budgets. Families, community centers, local venues, libraries, museums, after-school programs, and public policy all form the web that either nurtures or withers a child’s creative life. Too often the arts are treated as enrichment for those who can afford lessons, while budget cuts and test pressure strip them from public schools. That widens inequities and starves communities of shared cultural life.
There is a practical case and a human one. Yes, arts learning correlates with better attendance, graduation, and even gains in literacy and math. Yes, the creative economy needs people who can imagine and collaborate. But beyond metrics, the arts give children a language for feeling, a way to make meaning, and a sense of belonging. The Grateful Dead’s enduring community shows how art gathers people into something larger than themselves.
Supporting the arts is not ornamental. It is an educational foundation for empathy, resilience, and citizenship. If we want children who can meet uncertainty with imagination, we must fund and protect the spaces where they learn to create together.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
|---|
More Quotes by Phil
Add to List
