How I understand life
By: Victoria Holdgreve-Resendez
I wrote my first film review when I was in kindergarten. It reviewed the film Drop Dead Fred. I’m not going to lie and say that it was anything special, it was just a couple of sentences written in bad handwriting but nevertheless it was the start of something I don’t think anyone would have expected. I grew up surrounded by film. My stepfather’s goal in life is to make sure I’ve seen all of the important films that were made before I die. Spoiler, there’s a lot.
From age 5, he paused the movie while I watched and asked what the director was trying to tell me. At first, I didn’t know what to tell him but as I grew up I learned to read film and understand it. Eventually, it helped me understand the world. Films are reflections of society’s worst fears and brightest hopes. They help us cope with things that we might not understand. I was lucky enough to attend an elementary school, middle school, and high school that could support my love for art and filmmaking. Not only that, but my parents also had the money to support my passion. Sadly, this is rare.
Three out of my four parents are in education. This means that along with filmmaking, I also grew up having dinner conversations consisting of challenges in gifted and talented education, biased college admissions, and of course school funding. One of my dads actually worked in school redesign so he saw the effects of lack of school funding first hand. He was the person who had to help make the executive call to shut down schools every once in a while. Sadly, they were usually underprivileged schools that consisted primarily of students of color. Because of this, I understand the signs that a school is struggling including the slashing of arts funding.
Arts funding is often one of the first things cut when schools are attempting to save money. I have done numerous projects on this and the effects it can have on students. For me, film is my savior. It’s how I understand the world, how I understand humans, how I understand emotions, and how I process all of the above. With film I can see the world in a new way. I know this is the case for many other artists and I see this presented even within my own school and friendships. My best friend sees the world through music in the same way I do film. The arts, however, have become a luxury. Dance is crazy expensive. A new pair of pointe shoes can be up to $150 and need to be replaced around every 6 months. The cost of dance lessons and other fees associated with dance often cost more than many families can afford. It doesn’t end there for artistic expenses. Visual artists have to pay for art supplies, musicians have to maintain their instruments and take lessons, and on and on and on.
Arts education can be key to helping kids grow and develop. Basic education, especially for elementary school and early childhood, needs to include the arts to help them learn how to work with their peers, build self-confidence, and build a community among themselves. One of the hardest things to do as a minor is to understand your identity. The arts can be essential to empowering youth and help them understand themselves. As kids grow, the arts remain very important to students’ well being. The arts can help foster important conversations about mental health and provide outlets for emotional processing. Additionally, it can teach kids life-long skills including public speaking, collaboration, and social skills which can help build up kids’ futures.
When kids don’t have the opportunities to explore the arts, they might never discover how amazing they are at an art form or how much it can help them. I may have been the world’s next female Formula 1 driver but since I didn’t start go-karting at age 5, I’ll never know. It’s the same thing when it comes to the arts. Kids can’t have access to explore their artistic skills without cheap or free access to the arts. Exploration into the arts in schools is the most equitable way to introduce the arts to kids of all ages. The world will always need artists. Lets help the world gain their next generation of artists by rethinking its role in schools and ensuring proper arts funding.