I normally do not post over the weekends, but after my last discussion from Thursday’s post, a thought popped into my mind in a new way.

When I was a kid, my family was the upper, lower, middle class family. We had enough for the basics, yet at some moments, we did not have money for all the luxuries of the time. I had a very small allowance each week. It was $1 each week. I wasn’t too upset at this (even knowing my friends received more), and I did what I could to make my money stretch as far as it could. My parents were paying for my music and ice skating lessons, so I was happy with my situation.

When I turned 11, I really wanted a bike that was all my own. Being a second child, I received many hand-me-downs, including my bicycles. I was drooling over one of the Schwinn 10-speeds at the time. I mentioned the bike to my parents, but they had to tell me no, not right now. It was during a bad moment of stretching our money.

I quietly decided to save my $1 a week to pay for the bike. The bike was around $65. My parents didn’t know I had saved for over a year until my mom found my little fat wallet. She asked what my savings were about. When I told her, it put her in tears. For my birthday, they not only bought me the bike, but they let me keep my savings.

The moral of this story is, if someone, no matter how young or old, wants something really badly, they will find a way to save or work for the money to get it. The something has meaning. The something matters.

Fast forward to the 90s when I wanted to see a Peter Gabriel concert. Although I was on a tight budget working at a music store at the time, I found a way to scrape enough money together for 2 tickets to that concert. The something, the Peter Gabriel tickets, meant something to me.

I purposely used two situations that were not benchmark arts related. I have in the past saved for arts related purchases: tickets, music, instruments, etc. I wanted to state that despite the money situations, no matter the age, people will find a way to purchase what matters to them.

Are we making the arts matter to people? Are we helping people connect with the arts in ways that will matter to them? If the arts again become the something that matters to people, people will support the arts.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana