The Arts Are Not Optional

By Cassie Donegan

When I was twelve years old, I was quietly drowning.

From the outside, I looked like a happy kid – busy, capable, smiling when expected. But inside, I was battling relentless bullying and a growing sense that I didn’t belong anywhere. I felt invisible in the places where I was supposed to feel safe. I didn’t yet have the language to articulate my pain, only the weight of it. And in my darkest moments, I genuinely wondered if the world would be better without me in it. I searched for relief in all the places children are told to look: schoolwork, routine, doing the “right” things. I needed somewhere to put the feelings I didn’t know how to name. The thing that saved my life wasn’t a standardized metric.

It was the arts.

The arts gave me permission to exist fully – to be loud when I had been taught to be small, to feel deeply in a world that often asked me to toughen up, and to express emotions I didn’t yet have words for. I was allowed to take up space without apology. I didn’t have to explain myself. I didn’t have to fit a mold. I could simply be. I found a place where my voice mattered – not because it was perfect, but because it was mine. A place where my story had value, even when I was still figuring it out myself. A place where mistakes were part of the process, vulnerability was met with understanding, and creativity became a form of courage. 

The arts gave me the freedom to explore who I was becoming without fear of judgment – and, in doing so, helped me believe that who I was becoming mattered. For me, arts education wasn’t enrichment or an “extra.” It wasn’t something nice to have once the important work was done. It was the thing that kept me going when everything else felt overwhelming.

And that truth is why today – as a professional performer, arts educator, advocate, Miss America, and as Cassie – I will say this plainly and without apology: arts education is not optional. It is essential. The reality I write about above is not exclusive to me. It is true for millions of young people across our nation every day. A reality we must address.

We often talk about schools as places where children learn what they need to know. But just as important (if not more so) are the places where they learn who they are. The arts provide that space to do the latter better than anywhere else. Students learn discipline, collaboration, emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, courage, problem-solving, patience, self-expression, confidence, and resilience. The list could go on. But beyond skills, the arts teach something deeper: identity.

For so many students – especially those who feel different, marginalized, misunderstood, or unseen – the arts become the first place they feel understood. The first place they’re celebrated not in spite of their differences, but because of them. That is not a luxury. That is a necessity.

Across the United States, nearly six million students attend public schools with no access to arts education at all. That’s not a statistic – that’s a generation of children being told, implicitly, that creativity doesn’t matter, that expression is expendable, and that their inner lives are secondary to test results. When we cut the arts, we don’t just remove a class from the schedule. We both remove a lifeline and send the message to millions of children that their creativity – and by extension, their potential – is expendable.

Research consistently shows that students engaged in the arts experience higher academic achievement, improved mental health, stronger attendance, and fewer behavioral issues. They are more likely to graduate, more likely to be civically engaged, and more likely to see themselves as capable of shaping the world around them. Yet the schools serving students who need the arts most are often the first to lose them. That inequity has consequences we can’t afford to ignore.

The cost is not abstract. Students lose access to the very skills our workforce depends on. The creative economy – one of the fastest-growing sectors in the country – relies on a pipeline of talent that begins in public school classrooms, not just elite conservatories. When arts education disappears, so does economic opportunity, particularly for students from under-resourced communities who may never have another point of entry. We are not just narrowing educational experiences; we are shrinking career pathways, weakening local economies, and eliminating generations of professional creatives.

Not every student who takes an art class will become a professional artist. And that’s not the point. The point is that every student deserves the chance to feel confident standing in front of a room, to collaborate with peers, to think creatively, to process emotions in a healthy way, and to experience joy in learning. They deserve their right to creative expression and the opportunity to decide what they want to do with it. 

The arts belong to every child – not just the privileged few. Arts education should not depend on a family’s zip code, income, or ability to pay for private lessons. Artistic expression is universal but opportunity is not. Some of the most brilliant artists, innovators, and leaders I’ve met didn’t start with advantages – they started with access. When we make the arts optional, we ensure that only the children whose families can supplement them get to benefit. When we make them core, we say something powerful: Every child deserves to discover their voice.

I stand here today because someone once believed the arts were worth protecting. I became who I am not just because of what I learned in school, but because of how the arts allowed me to survive it. They gave me hope when I had none, purpose when I felt lost, and a future I never could have imagined at twelve years old.

That is why I am committed to advocating for arts education as a core subject in our school systems. Not as an afterthought, not as an extracurricular, but as an essential part of a whole child’s education. We must guarantee every child’s access regardless of circumstances. This is not about politics. This is not about preference. This is not about privilege. This is not about opinion. It is about children. Children who need a place to belong. Children who need to be seen. Children who are one opportunity away from discovering their worth. Children who deserve their right to a full, robust educational experience that includes arts education.

If we want a future filled with empathy, innovation, resilience, and humanity, we must invest in the places that cultivate those qualities. The arts do exactly that. They did it for me. And they can do it for every child – if we let them.