by Travis Nygard | 22 June 2010 | Uncategorized
Sir Adam Roberts of the British Academy has issued a report titled Past, Present and Future: The Public Value of the Humanities and Social Sciences that is sure to be useful for art historians wishing to bolster the credibility of our discipline. As was discussed in Art History Today, the report emphasizes “public” rather than simply “economic” value to show the innumerable benefits of studying the humanities, including the stimulation of creativity and strengthening of identity. As such, “Sir Adam’s report is extremely timely: a ringing endorsement of the arts and humanities in a society that needs them more than ever to combat the malaise of the banker mentality.” Should you also have tips for demonstrating the non-monetary value of art history, please leave a comment.
In a Chronicle column, Michael Ruse offers a defense for those of us in the humanities: “we are a lot cheaper than the sciences.” But he doesn’t think that argument will get us very far. He argues (among other things) that art museums such as Washington’s NGA will need to figure out how to thrill schoolchildren as well as science museums do. The National Gallery is, he says, a mausoleum. “Nary a kid to be seen … all of those little Americans [visiting D.C.] are going to have their minds filled with the excitement of science and technology, and the other side to human learning and experience won’t have had a look in.” (Link via Chris Howard.)