How Do We Measure the Worth of the Arts?

So often the question is asked, why study the Arts? As Arts educators we are often quick to point out the evidence of cognitive, behavioural, health, social and economic benefits of doing so in current academic literature. However, it is the intrinsic gains that an Arts education offers that can be the harder sell. This is because its measure is not easily quantifiable and it is difficult to amount it into data which can be placed into a graph or illustrated through a table.

To do this, one has to listen to the stories, successes and experiences of an Arts education. On Monday 6 May, St Catherine’s students had the opportunity to do just this through a ‘Women in the Arts’ panel organised by Mr Dylan Licastro and Mr James Brown. Over a period of one hour, students heard the diverse journeys of four Arts champions Bridget Davies, Amy Luck, Brittney Harbour and Sarah Morrison. Students and staff were then invited to question the panellists about their journeys. Their experiences and diverse areas of expertise highlighted the significant role that an Arts education can play in life, and the intrinsic worth of the lessons that it can teach.

Women in the Arts Panel – Four different paths

Bridget Davies
Bridget’s journey started with a love of musical theatre in high school, to a classical voice degree at the University of Melbourne. She gained a scholarship to study opera at the famed La Scala opera house in Milan before performing the lead role of Carmen in Bizet’s opera with Opera New England. Despite her passion for music, Bridget then decided to seek a different path and study journalism. This move saw her win a Melbourne Press Club Quill award and she was also nominated for a Walkley award. Having worked for the Herald Sun, Channel 9 and 3AW, Bridget is now the opera critic for The Age and publicist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Bridget Davies.

Amy Luck
As a lover of all arts, Amy was determined to find her career path in this area. Accepted into the prestigious Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Amy’s tertiary road started in Arts Management, but she missed the joys of performing. Changing direction into a Bachelor of Arts (Musical Theatre) at Ballarat Academy of Performing Arts (BAPA), she spent many years enjoying the challenge of musical theatre whilst gaining work experience in Arts Management. This led her back to an Arts Management degree at The University of Melbourne, after which she gained employment as a Senior Marketing Manager for Feld Entertainment (Australia), filling arenas and stadiums across the country with large scale artistic events.

Amy Luck.

Brittney Harbour
Brittney also studied a Bachelor of Arts (Musical Theatre). With a passion for dance she pursued her musical theatre dream, being cast into a variety of musicals across Melbourne. After some time, Brittney felt that musical theatre had cast her as a very different person to what she was. In a courageous change of career, she studied Speech Pathology and is now a successful speech pathologist working in primary schools across Melbourne.

Sarah Morrison
Sarah claimed to be a shy and quiet student throughout her school years. She talked of finding a passion in Drama and Music as they gave her a voice. Despite being encouraged by her parents to study Law, she was determined to be an actor and is grateful that they supported this choice. As the lead in Ladies in Black for the Queensland and Melbourne Theatre Companies, a role as Sophie Sheridan in Mamma Mia! and having most recently been selected to play Janice in the Australian premiere of Come From Away, Morrison believes that she really is living the dream.

Sarah Morrison.

Common themes

Challenges
When asked about the challenges each of the women had faced in their Arts journey, the panel were unanimous with society’s perception of the Arts. They highlighted the misconception that the Arts are not as rigorous or demanding as traditional academic pathways and seen as a hobby or distraction from real work. Brittney told the students that she had been introduced at dinner parties as “just a performer” and Bridget seconded this experience. Brittney spoke of being told that “doing an Arts subject will bring your study score down”. She disproved this theory, being awarded the highest marks for Drama in the State and received a Premier’s Award for her efforts. Sarah too reiterated this. As a student who excelled academically, she found a challenge was to convince her parents that pursuing the Arts over Law was worthwhile and this persisted despite the great successes she has had in her career.

Lessons Learned

When citing what takeaways their experience in the Arts had given them, there was a unanimous chorus of resilience and self-belief. Both Bridget and Brittney spoke of overcoming rejection and learning from each experience. Sarah summed it up best when she explained, “I think of an audition like this: when you go to the room, you are an orange, but the panel for that particular show and fit are looking for apples. You might be the juiciest, shiniest orange in the room, but you do not book the job because you are not an apple. So you need to keep reminding yourself to be the best orange you can be, because one day that panel is going to want an orange.”

To be the best orange one can be, Brittney was very clear. “Hard work is critical. That is why we sit in front of you today as the successful women we are. We have worked so hard, we have been so determined regardless of the adversity we have faced, and that is why we have been able to achieve what we have.”

The panellists spoke of the confidence, skills and flexibility that a degree in the Arts had given them to extend their career opportunities. Each woman held a firm belief that their experience in the Arts had given them skills to transcend disciplines and open their mind to new possibilities. As a result of having had to perform, the development of confidence and self-belief was critical to their growth and life journeys. They each spoke of the joy the Arts had given them. Often underestimated, this proved essential when facing challenges head on and learning from setbacks.

One Last Piece of Advice

Their final advice to the students was to take any opportunity to explore the Arts to further their skills, regardless of what career they hoped to pursue. From playing a trombone in the school orchestra, working the lighting at the school musical, singing in a school choir, writing their own compositions, being the lead character in the musical, enjoying poetry or pursuing the Arts through their academic studies. Their message was clear, the Arts are a creative and complex path that can lead to many destinations and enhance skills well beyond schooling.