The Cultural Importance of Artists and the Arts

Lead Different

Artists communicate and articulate emotionally what we are unable to do ourselves. When we don’t value and support artists, society as a whole misses out on truth, introspection, and depth. An Urban Institute study found that “96 percent of respondents said they were greatly inspired and moved by various kinds of art…[and] only 27 percent of respondents said that artists contribute "a lot" to the good of society.” If so many of us value and are moved by art, why don’t we support the artists that create it?

In the final episode of this three-part podcast series, Russ concludes his conversation with William Deresiewicz, discussing his book, The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech, and the importance of supporting and valuing artists’ contributions to society.

Deresiewicz has published more than 280 essays and reviews, won the Hiett Prize in the Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle’s Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, as well as a Sydney Award. He is a three-time National Magazine Award nominee, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The American Scholar, and many other publications. These works have been translated into 18 languages and anthologized in more than 30 college and scholastic readers.

Resources

• The Death of the Artist
• Excellent Sheep
• A Jane Austen Education
• Solitude and Leadership
• The best education for all - Bill Deresiewicz TedTalk
• JFK quote the importance of artist in culture

“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth…”

• Juice Wrld