final four

I can’t help thinking: what would happen if we treated the arts like March Madness? Imagine picking brackets that have symphony orchestras facing off against each other. Imagine televising opera casts in a sing-off to determine who performs with the most heart, talent and skill? Would Vegas run the odds on ballet dancers who can jump higher or twirl faster? In your fantasy league, would you draft a team with Cecelia Bartoli, Renee Fleming and Maria Callas?

This year, ad spending on the Final Four will generate $1.15 billion (BILLION) which is higher than NFL Football or NBA Basketball (yawn). This year, nationally televised arts will generate this much in advertising revenue: (crickets).

I’m not dissing organized sports or the Final Four. I’m a Badger alumnus and rooted for Wisconsin to win. But I’m a singer, I love the classical arts and happen to think the lessons learned in a practice room or in a band concert are just as important as those learned on a field.

As a culture, we worship the warrior in sweat socks. If we paid even half the homage to the artist mastering Mozart, what would be the outcome?

In this weekend’s contest, we will see the product of organized and well-funded high school sports playing at a very high level with organized and well-funded college athletics. I think of my friends who teach high school music and how their booster clubs scratch to find money to repair uniforms, repair old instruments and send kids to state ensemble competitions. Take that up a notch and think of the local arts groups that operate on budgets that wouldn’t keep sports teams in shoe laces.

When you don your red and white this weekend, please take 10 minutes and think about what the world would be like if we devoted this much time and money to the arts. A sustainable world needs both sporting competition and artistic expression, but we are far from parity when funding the arts.