Black Parents: Encourage Your Child to Study the Arts

We need black artists more than ever.

Photo by Kobe Subramaniam on Unsplash. Black Photographer.

As millions of black parents delight in seeing their child gleefully embrace Black Panther and its cast of positive characters, a natural question emerges: how do we get more movies and stories like this? The answer is simple: we encourage more black children to take up the Arts.

In an era where President Trump has threatened to defund the National Endowment for the Arts, we need artists of color more than ever. More painters, more dancers, more filmmakers, more photographers, more writers, more musicians, more performance artists, more sculptors, more fabric artists, more abstractists. And we need more spaces and venues for black artists. Unfortunately, for many people in this country, a career in the arts is considered unnecessary, unrealistic, and elitist. While it’s easy to blame America’s anti-intellectual leanings, the truth is that for many people of color, a career in the arts is unobtainable due to finances or a lack of art education in their community. Being a painter is a largely white, middle-class dream. And we have to change that.

Not everyone can be as fortunate as I. I was born in the artistic cultural center of my home state to a highly supportive middle-class family. I’ve been creative my entire life. I drew on walls, but…