Same old story about the arts

The dramatically decreasing numbers of young people’s participation in the arts doesn’t surprise me [“Survey Finds a Decline in Attendance for the Arts,” Nov. 2].

There’s a schism going on here. As someone who works with younger people, I note that the undercurrent of conversation among them can definitely be about how “the arts” have nothing to do with their lives. Ironically, they’ll scoff at what I consider to be the arts (traditional) and go home and produce things to be uploaded to YouTube.

Young people perceive anything having to do with “the arts” as “being with” older people. Today, young people even buy the mythology that “art” (such as music) exists outside the mainstream when, in fact, it’s owned lock, stock and barrel by corporate entities that quite effectively promote the illusion that they exist outside the context of the adult world.

TIM BARRUS

Hendersonville, N.C.