Judith Light Pens Passionate Essay On Importance Of Arts Education

Judith Light shines a spotlight on the importance of arts education!

Two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway and Hollywood star Judith Light opens up about the vitality of arts education in a passionate new essay now available to view.

Light writes, "My mother taught me when I was three years old to memorize and recite "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Everybody laughs, but it's absolutely the truth. My mother was my first teacher of the arts, and I performed "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" for my father, so he was my first audience. Even at that young age, I had a child's intuition, which I would now say was a simple understanding of how art and culture affect us as human beings and how we can connect to each other through the arts. That understanding is something that defines my life to this day."

Furthermore, Light adds, "When I was growing up, my parents supported my interest in taking acting classes and doing community theater. My father drove me to the rehearsals every day after school, whenever I was doing community theatre productions, and I went to a performing arts camp in New Hope, Pennsylvania. I grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, and my parents even allowed me to go on the train to New York City when I was a young teen to study theater."

Additionally, Light shares, "I became an actor, but arts education isn't just about preparing our young people for a career in the arts. I'm on the board of several organizations that work with young people in the New York City area through theater education, including MCC Theater and LeAp OnStage. I recently went to a LeAp OnStage class, and I talked to some of the kids participating. Some of them want to work in theater, and some of them don't. The program teaches them theater skills, but they also learn about the world around them. They learn about discipline and hard work and what's required and what they have to do to bring themselves to the work. They learn how they can be of service in the world through the arts. They learn how to elevate the people around them. They learn how to work with a team. By studying the arts, these students are exposed to worlds and lives that they might not have any other way of knowing about or any other way to connect with in their lives the way they are right now. Arts education expands their horizons."

Check out the full essay here.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride