Have you been to a football game? Or at the very least Homecoming? What about a hockey game? Lacrosse or soccer? The answer is probably yes. But what about a school play or musical? What about any other event involving the arts? Were you even aware that they were happening? I’m not blaming you or anything. The arts just are not advertised the same way sports are. That’s because at our school, athletics are viewed as more important than the arts. But, neither of them are more important than the other. They have an equally important influence on people and culture, and they should be treated as such.
The fall pep rally happened recently. Every single captain of a fall sport got to have a short speech promoting their sport. They also had a mini game correlating with each of the fall sports. What the band got to do was play music when students were entering and exiting the gym, they also played a song while the cheerleaders performed a routine. The chamber choir sang the National Anthem, and along with the band they were introduced and were cheered for. ALC had a three minute segment dedicated to them. It mentioned how they promote “school spirit throughout the school and community.” It was warranted considering that they planned the pep rally, but is it really “school spirit” if it’s just about sports?
School spirit should be more than sports. School spirit should represent at least a little bit of everything in the school. It may be a little overboard to have a segment of the pep rally dedicated to every single activity at our school but, instead of spending the entire event praising athletics, maybe we could recognize any other activities at our school. And since the school doesn’t, then they should not claim that they care about school spirit until they actually show it.
The teachers in the art department were asked if they wanted to have activities in the pep rally– a whole 2 days before the pep rally at a Wednesday staff meeting. In addition, it was too early in the school year for the chamber choir or the Little Shop of Horrors cast to be ready to perform anything more than what they did. The school did not do this on purpose, but they still could have had more consideration of the art department, and perhaps the art department could have had the chance to be more involved with the pep rally. And the school might have actually been promoting school spirit.
The arts are not advertised as well as athletics because the art teachers have to advertise for themselves. On top of their standard job requirements and extra curricular activities they are a part of, they have to plan, create, and send out all of the marketing material for any event involving the arts. Marketing can be very difficult and, in order to keep fine-arts classes running, they have to constantly keep recruitment up by advertising. Is it really fair that they have to constantly overexert themselves just to keep their program running?
No teachers in the athletics department nor the coaches at EHS have to advertise for themselves, as there are specific jobs in the athletics department that, among other other things, are in charge of advertising and marketing sports events. These valuable athletics staff and coaches work incredibly hard, but sports already advertise themselves. Putting the sports schedule in the advisory slides, posting it on the school website, or posting about it on social media, most sports events get a considerable amount of people to come and support them. The excitement of a Friday football game will bring in not just the relatives of the players, but also other community members who do not have any personal or familial connections.
During COVID the fine arts budget had to be cut. They thought that after COVID, possibly this year, that the budget would return to how it used to be. But, of course it did not. In fact it was cut even more this year. On the other hand, the athletics budget remained unchanged from last year. It should be noted that the athletics budget was also cut during COVID. However, the athletics budget is over four times as much as the fine arts budget. The athletics budget being about 225,000 and the fine-arts budget being around 50,000. Both excluding transportation.
Despite all of these problems, the yearly musical and Fine Arts Night are very well attended. Fine Arts Night is actually the most attended event in the district. Period. But, this is mostly because it is the only event involving students K-12 district-wide, and EHS is a venue that can hold the crowds who gather. However, when EHS sponsors plays, band performances, and choir performances, these events do not attract the same sized crowds. It is mostly the families of performers that show up. This is, again, due to the fact that the fine arts teachers have to do all of the advertising themselves. The teachers coordinating Fine Arts Night have (or had) monthly meetings to coordinate this massive event. But, true to the school district’s track record, they have changed the format for meetings, so now teachers are not given the time to have them.
This disproportionate amount of appreciation of the arts compared to athletics is not the fault of anyone specifically. It is the fault of how our local community, and general society as a whole push art to the side in order to shine the spotlight on sports. Our school and district do not directly cause it, but they do contribute by inadvertently not appreciating the arts. In order to stop this from continuing they need to recognise this problem and work towards combating it.
