Bill Rossi

One two three, one two three, one two three...Nate was in a groove, the ensemble was cookin', and Miles Davis' tune All Blues had never sounded better.

As the lead drummer, Nate stayed with that simple beat, rode it out to the end, then finished in perfect time. He beamed as the audience roared in appreciation, and if you hadn’t known him you would not have believed that one year ago he’d been unable to count rhythmically or sit still for more than five minutes.

But those who’d known him—who had seen his eyes light up at that first simple beat and watched over the year as he learned to focus, to listen, and to succeed—we knew what had happened. Nate had found himself through the arts.

The challenges Nate once faced are growing more common every day. Attention deficits, oppositional defiance, and incidents of youth violence and suicide have increased as our society has become preoccupied with materialism. As our focus has gone off taking care of our kids, the opportunities for to them to discover and express their voice have diminished. As ARTSblog readers know, the arts can fill this need.

I believe it’s also evident that any modality which can cause healing can also mitigate or even prevent illness. Unfortunately, our culture has segmented the arts, commercializing them into a “privileged” position. Perhaps we could learn from other cultures.

In many other cultures, the arts serve as a cohesive fluid in which the community operates. People get together informally through music, dance or song to relax and enjoy themselves and each other, with the performance aspect of art secondary to a self-participatory way of being together.

These often impromptu gatherings create a feeling of community in which all can share the human experience in an upbeat way through a universal language. This creatively expressive resonance with others can be reassuring and therapeutic.

As many artists know, because the arts can convey meaning without words they can create common ground, connecting and bonding people together in ways that transcend culture, race, language, negativity, and other often divisive factors.

This kind of participation is often a much easier and more enjoyable way to move forward as individuals and as a society. It can also be a way of expressing feelings that are difficult or make us feel too vulnerable, a way of expressing love and a need for others, a way of alleviating a lot of the pressures that life normally and naturally brings.

Because the creative arts heighten feelings, they are capable of moving us out of our normal frame of thinking. Being accepted in our self-expression can also lead us to more readily accept others. When that happens—even momentarily—we are more apt to let in something new, to accept things outside ourselves.

A good example of this is when we share a really heightened experience with people whom we perceive to be different from us, one that so impacts us that we are taken out of our normal sense of reality. At that moment we jointly experience a new reality and a new commonality. Most of us value this kind of experience.

The healing process of a creative community also involves an external experience that reduces the isolation, a way of translating and processing with others. It’s an experience that is strengths-based and upbeat, beyond psychopathology and not burdensome to others. So much in life is communicated without words, goes beyond words, and is beneficial for all people whether they suffer severe challenges or not.

It seems that our nation is ready for real social change now, for a reversal of the increasing violence, polarization, and isolation. Addressing fundamental human conditions and finding positive, common, truthful ways to express them will cultivate the soil to put us on new ground.

This will allow for emotional understandings which will be educational for all involved, enabling us to go beyond an orientation of treating symptoms towards one of gaining an effective understanding of underlying problems.

We need to work towards prevention, and this can only occur through understanding root causes. In the same way, we need to have a deeper engagement with at-risk and challenged people of all ages, a more contemporary, grassroots, flexible engagement that takes their feelings and strengths more seriously. When we do, we will be a part of their growth so that when—like Nate—they beam with satisfaction at their success, we will truly share in their joy.

It’s the rare person who doesn’t face some sort of challenge in his or her life; how much better for us all if we could reassess some of our perceptions and look deeper into ourselves and each other. The arts provide wonderful opportunities for all of this.

Just imagine how many Nates there are around our country. It’s not just them who lose; we’re all the poorer for not having their participation in our communities. I believe we need the personal will to start to turn things around—and I can’t imagine any group better equipped to do so than the arts community. Are you willing?

Trouble in Mind,

Lord I’m blue

But I won’t be blue always.

You know the sun’s gonna shine

In my back door one day.

Lyrics from Trouble in Mind, a traditional Blues song

(Editor's Note: October is National Arts and Humanities Month. Visit the Americans for the Arts website for events to attend, resources, and more!)