I was recently conversing with a U.S. official about how the arts—the performing arts, in particular—can serve to empower poor and distressed communities around the world. He joined me in extolling the power of the arts to build self-esteem and hope, qualities that help young people resist destructive forces in their environment. We went on to discuss the U.S. investment towards infrastructure in underdeveloped countries to improve security, roads, health care and education. Having just touched upon the transformational impact of the theatre, I asked him if there were any arts-specific investments being made. The answer was, of course, “Not really.”

I shouldn’t be surprised, I know—but I am, at the very least, flummoxed. After decades of hearing firsthand accounts of theatre’s power to improve people’s lives, and reading reams of research verifying its exponential positive impact, I believe the arts must be considered a pillar of social infrastructure worthy of investment. A recent report by the NEA, The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies, finds that young adults of low socioeconomic status (SES) who have a history of in-depth arts involvement (“high arts”) show better academic outcomes than low-SES youth with less arts involvement (“low arts”). They earn better grades, have higher rates of college enrollment and higher career aspirations, and are more civically engaged.

For example, the report shows that:

• High-arts, low-SES students were 15 percent more likely to enroll in a highly, or moderately, selective four-year college than low-arts, low-SES students (41 percent versus 26 percent).
• High-arts, low-SES young adults voted in the 2004 national election at a rate of 45 percent, compared to 31 percent of low-arts, low-SES young adults.
• Half of all low-SES adults with arts-rich backgrounds expected to work in a professional career (such as law, medicine, education or management), compared to only 21 percent of low-arts, low-SES young adults.

I was mulling these figures over on a shuttle bus at the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá, where I was about to see a production by the great Spanish director Calixto Bieito. Sitting next to me was Danilo Santos de Miranda, the São Paulo regional director of Brazil’s Social Service of Commerce (SESC). I asked him, “Why aren’t the arts considered to be a pillar of the social infrastructure, along with other pillars like transportation and education?” His response: “The arts should never be viewed as a separate pillar; they must flow through everything.”

“The arts should never be viewed as a separate pillar of the social infrastructure; the arts must flow through everything.”

—Danilo Santos de Miranda, Brazil

Exactly. Miranda’s guiding principle not only offers a powerful lens for viewing the role of the arts in society, but reminds us how essential it is to look beyond our own borders for new ideas. As theatre people, we share many of the same goals with our counterparts worldwide, but we don’t always share the different strategies we discover. What would happen, for example, if more U.S. theatres adopted the wide range of activities that define many Latin American companies—companies whose work encompasses street theatre, commercial projects, social activism and, yes, traditional indoor performances? What if we believed our work as theatremakers could “flow through everything”?

When George W. Bush first ran for office, he stated that the U.S. military should never be used for nation-building. As we now approach the uncertain end to the war in Afghanistan—America’s longest war in history—the challenges of nation-building are more painfully clear than ever: GOP presidential candidates are calling for cuts to the 1 percent of our federal budget spent on foreign aid. What if we could move that debate away from nation-building and toward citizen-building?

If we reframed our national priorities—both domestically and abroad—toward citizen-building, could the arts reassume their essential role? Under Rocco Landesman’s tenure, the NEA has begun to notice that the arts do flow through everything, finding opportunities in agencies like the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture and more.

TCG is nearing the end of our visioning process and strategic plan, and at the heart of that process has been a realignment towards empowering theatre people. We know that the upending of old hierarchies by our remixed culture will only continue. We must therefore invest in citizen-building ourselves—the focus must be to strengthen, nurture and promote the theatre people making a difference, now and in the years to come.

We are local agents of change. We are interconnected global citizens. And together, we will build a better world for theatre to create a better world because of theatre.