Art is dynamic. Many of us work and save and strategize and plan, so we can spend our hard earned money on art. On its face it doesn’t sound right, but it is.

Because remember, art can be… posters, prints, films, food, documentaries, museums, shoes, home furnishings, clothes, vinyl records, concerts, live streams, downloads, puzzles, pins, broaches, videos, and so much more. 

If you look at your bank account statement, you’d realize that a much larger percentage of your paycheck purchases art and culture than you might have previously thought. Yet despite this, so many people think of art as frivolous. A solo pursuit, a person in their studio, an activity of self-indulgence, an expense unwarranted, a like-to-have in a world increasingly focused on what we need.

Art can be those things. But I’d also suggest that art is actually the most important thing in the world. 

It propels everything. Every new creation, every new solution, every new group building something together around shared values, it’s all creativity turned into reality - which is perhaps how I would define art.

When we apply that understanding to how we live in the world, what we invest in, what we support, what we fund, and who we are, we begin to see that art is the realization of a spark, an idea actualized, and that that offering and process is sacred.

How many billions of humans over the history of this world dared to think a new thought and make it real? Unfathomable. Inspiring. Awesome.

Quite simply, when we think about what we deem valuable, art should rise to the top.

What’s more, by reevaluating art’s value, we enable progress. We take the top off, we let the big thoughts ride. That’s because of the exact premise I stated before; art isn’t a commodity. It’s not a pack of gum, a sandwich, a simple measurement of practical applicability.

Pay money, eat sandwich. No, no, no. With art, you get so much more. 

You get the artists’ entire life. You get a beautiful memory, and oftentimes the type of lasting memory that shimmers and rises above the rest, in fact. A lot of the time you even get a tangible thing to hold, admire, or review.

The truth is, the value of art is so much more than most of us ever give it credit for.

Beyond the painting and songs and videos and aesthetics, art is everything creative that is made real. 

I don’t know about you, but that’s worth way more to me than most everything.