Kids are incredibly capable.....especially given the chance and the opportunity. I often am reminded of how fortunate I am to be doing what I do - which is both being an artist, and working with kids, university students, and teachers in engagement with the arts. As such,  I am privileged and  I witness to young people's capability on nearly a daily basis. 

I recently attended the season finale of the San Diego Youth Symphony, which featured Andy Leu, Young Artist in Residence for the university center I run called Center ARTES.  This was Andy's last performance with the orchestra before going off to college. He is however, for anyone who reads this and living in southern CA, going to perform Sunday June 14th at 6:00, at the magnificent Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad CA.

The orchestra concert was amazing and to see kids perform with such dedication, feeling, passion, technique, and finesse is inspiring.  No doubt these kids are fortunate to have a dedicated and talented conductor, Jeff Edmonds, who pushes them, inspires them, and supports them. They also have parents who have encouraged and supported them, as well as probably had a few arguments related to practice time!

Having returned energized by the orchestra, I am able to expand on my last week's blog focus that described the teaching and encouragement of passion in children as a must.  In one of those serendipity moments that occur fairly naturally when our eyes remain open, I was fortunate to connect a talented, passionate, and kind-hearted actor, Kim Rhodes to Carol Channing and Harry Kullijian.  Anyone reading this blog with children in elementary school will immediately know this actor, for she plays Carey Martin, the mom to Zack and Cody, on the Suite Life of Zack and Cody.  What they don't know is her deep commitment to kids and their pursuit of an education.

Something Kim wrote to Carol and Harry really caught my attention:

I feel the need to launch into a resume or "pitch" or something, but that's truly the point of introducing myself; I want to help. I've spent almost twenty years moving from stage to television, culminating in three years on Disney Channel's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," but nothing has affected me like working with kids. I've taught speech to inner city kids in Philadelphia. Directed a play in a juvenile detention facility. Performed Shakespeare at eight in the morning to high school students, (don't get me wrong, that one should be illegal). There is nothing, literally nothing, more fulfilling than seeing the expression of understanding cross a child's face when they find their voice and realize it will be HEARD.

I worked with the playwright William Mastrosimone, who said something that has stayed with me since: They are called humanities because they are that which makes us human. I know I preach to the choir when I say that children are being silenced in the name of standardized testing. Their hearts are being forced to surrender to what is in others' heads. They are being boxed, labeled and packaged in a setting that is systematically erasing their ability to change any of it. We need the arts not just to feel good, but to teach brains to create, to inspire minds to explore, and to introduce passion. I am prone to hyperbole, but I don't believe I exaggerate when I say that if we eliminate the arts from our schools, our country will cease to be a source of innovation and strength. 

 The power of opportunity resides in the action of the voices of the choir - such as Kim's, Carol's, Harry's, and the multiple voices throughout the country that are already in full gear with regard to advocating for the arts.  The key is in awakening those in decision making roles, and those who have been disenfranchised, to the importance of being heard.  No doubt the power of seeing kids fulfill their enormous capability such as the kids in the San Diego Youth Symphony, can be a catalyst for change.

Every kid should be entitled to opportunity, and I am hopeful this can happen. It is why I do what I do. It is why so many people are advocates for arts education.  Really they are advocates for kids. Being hopeful begins with setting the stage so that each and every child understands that he or she can do anything - though often the road to "anything" has obstacles.  The arts are especially important in this regard.  The arts teach us to maneuver obstacles and keep on going.  Any of you reading this who has auditioned for a role in a play or a position in a band, or submitted a print, sculpture, or painting for a juried show and has not succeeded has learned the lesson of perseverance and confidence.  Kids who engage in the arts often have people who believe in them and support them.  Believing in someone opens the door to believing in something - perhaps hope, perhaps a dream, but most importantly, believing in oneself and the power to make a difference, big or small, in the lives of those around us.