The arts have gotten us through some tough times throughout history. They made movies that let us step outside of the drab or desperate situations of our lives. The price of entry was kept low, so almost everyone could see a movie from time to time. The programs that created work for the citizens included artists as valuable contributors, and paid them to create projects in public spaces, and had them create an entire generation of people who were educated in arts.

The basic, bottom line on this, is that individuals need beauty, music, painting, photography, TV and movies, even baseball, and that because of that, the arts are a pretty hefty industry in normal times. During the first six months of 2020, the age of Coronavirus, consumer spending on just the performing arts plummeted from 27 Billion dollars to 817 Million dollars. This is a loss of approximately 97% of revenue generated by this sector of our economy. That is 26 billion one hundred ninety million dollars US. Maybe for some folk that isn't a lot of money... but for me, it kicks the breath out of me, $26,190,000,000.00. Yep, that's what it looks like. But even more importantly, as my favorite philosopher said, "A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists." L. Ron Hubbard.

It takes a whole lot of work to become technically competent in an art form. It is also constant work to maintain an elite level of performance. And performance art has an integral physical
component. And yet magic happens, and it lifts people up. It sometimes takes us in and down and through on the way up. It is like life in that way, condensed and presented for us to enjoy.
"There is a vast difference between "good enough" and professional skill and dexterity. The gap is bridged by practice.", L. Ron Hubbard says in The Way To Happiness.
www.thewaytohappiness.org @waytohappinesstampa
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