High schoolers are broke, that’s a known fact. Teenage-hood is this weird time in one’s life where you’re bouncing between parents’ wallets and your own, while struggling to maintain a minimum wage job. On its own, that is a hard situation to be in. When you add on the extra layer of wanting to be in the arts, everything suddenly teeters on impossibility. As an economically-incompetent young adult, you’re also tasked with exploring the world around you. For me, this discovery has always been through the arts. I’ve learned more from watching musicals than learning how to perform simple equations in math, which many may view to be counterintuitive, but let me explain.
As a whole, the arts are a conglomerate of everyone’s stories. If you’re studying them correctly, you’re not just basking in a singular story. Academic classes are often the opposite. You’re being taught one curriculum by one teacher surrounded by one set of students, sometimes, it’s great. When I read “The Great Gatsby” for the first time, I was able to make some sense of a small part of life. When I attended my first musical in sixth grade, “Mean Girls”, something clicked inside of me. Yes, I know that “Mean Girls” and Fitzgerald’s novel probably aren’t comparable, but I’m going to make an effort to do so anyways.
Musicals and other forms of performing arts invite audiences in. You can form connections with performers, understand the components of music theory, and even dissect the meaning of a story. On the other hand, academic areas typically focus on one sector. You might learn how to critique an experiment in a science class, but you can’t also learn how to experience the world through a creative lens. The academic world is narrow, performing arts are anything but.
In a metropolitan city, such as Chicago, we’re blessed to have concerts, plays, musicals, and more all within walking distance from one another. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to experience the arts for myself. Historically, performing arts have always been a luxury. Even play viewings in the Ancient Greek era were often held for just the most upper class. Today’s world isn’t that different. If you’ve ever ended up doing a deep dive into affordable tickets for any type of performance, you’ll know that prices are often upwards of hundreds of dollars. To the average student, that is not at all a reasonable cost. When students are forced to skip out on performance arts opportunities, it isn’t surprising that their creativity and passion for learning can be hindered. If we want to see more arts in future years, we need the younger generations to feel inspired from an early age which can’t happen if things aren’t accessible.
Thankfully, there are several opportunities for Parker students to get involved.
Outside of student-run organizations promoting the arts, Poetry Club, Fourth Wall, and Performing Arts committee, some local Chicago companies are attempting to rope in Gen Z through different means. For example, student music lovers can attend Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances for as low as $10 and students can take advantage of Auditorium Theater student discounts sold through rush tickets. Students are able to go to the venue early in the morning for a possible chance at getting low-priced tickets).
However, for high school students, these tickets are rarely guaranteed, and when it does not work out it often provides more of a hassle for those living away from theaters due to uncompensated transportation costs. In no way is this the fault of local businesses. Unlike larger performance companies, most Chicago theaters do not have the funds to maintain their student-aimed initiatives. There is still potential to have venue promoters take the hit.
Currently, Ticketmaster and StubHub have a few global charitable programs aimed at select populations, but there are no broad offerings for all. With their average revenue exceeding past profits for artists and talent, it simply isn’t fair to fans. When audiences pay money for a performance, it is with the false expectation that their entertainer will be seeing a benefit. If these venue promoters care as much about their younger populations as they state they do, it should be obvious for them to offer opportunities to students. I want to see student discounts, easy ticket rushing processes, and anything more that can possibly encourage engagement in the arts. If there is even a slight possibility to change the current system, I will do anything to see that happen.
