Arts, culture and humanities: Preventive infrastructure for the good of all

As we reported in June, U.S. philanthropic giving rose in 2025. A significant percentage of contributions, though, went to sectors that primarily treat symptoms rather than those that work at the root of the issue to create solutions. Arts, culture and humanities remained near the bottom, where they have been for many years. Given how much we know about the power of early arts education, why are we still investing relatively so little in their ability to shape humans into more happier, healthier and more productive beings?

In its annual analysis, Giving USA (givingusa.org) outlined philanthropy trends in nine sectors. The results for 2025 year were: 

The fact that giving rose is certainly a positive, but the hierarchy remained focused on predictable priorities and missed opportunities for far greater impact. What if, for example, arts, culture and humanities received the same $151 billion that went to the No. 1 sector, religion? What might happen over the next generation? 

Here are ways increased investment in arts, culture and humanities can benefit other categories of philanthropic giving:

Religion: The arts don’t replace faith communities, but they can provide the ingredients that make congregations successful. Those include:

• A sense of belonging
• Shared purpose
• Volunteerism
• Moral reflection
• Intergenerational relationships

A thriving cultural sector can strengthen civic connectedness regardless of religious affiliation. Arts and culture encourage imagination and expressivity rather than doctrine, and many art forms reward collaboration and shared goals. That contrasts sharply with conflicts – including full-scale wars – that are the common historical results of a “who is right” outlook.

Human services: Research consistently shows participation in the arts is associated with such benefits as:

• Reduced social isolation
• Improved mental health
• Higher educational achievement
• Lower juvenile delinquency
• Stronger neighborhoods

A child involved early in music, theater, dance, literature or visual arts is statistically less likely to experience many of the circumstances that later require intervention by human-service nonprofits.

The arts don’t eliminate poverty, but they can reduce many of poverty’s downstream consequences if introduced early in life.

Education: Arts education has been shown to improve attendance and graduation rates, as well as such skills as literacy, creativity, spatial awareness, collaboration and executive function.

Many employers increasingly rank creativity among the most valuable workplace skills. An arts-rich education, then, creates not only better students but better, more flexible workers. 

Public-society benefit: Communities with vibrant cultural institutions on average report higher civic participation and stronger nonprofit ecosystems. Institutions like museums, libraries, theaters and cultural festivals build:

• Civic pride
• Public dialogue
• Cross-cultural understanding
• Volunteer engagement

All these help drive not only engagement but creative thought processes that yield innovative solutions to the challenges we face.

Health: The evidence here has grown dramatically. The arts aren’t medicine, but they can reduce demand for medical and behavioral health services. Arts participation has been associated with:

• Reduced anxiety and depression
• Improved recovery from illness
• Improved outcomes for dementia patients
• Healthier aging

Many hospitals now prescribe music, dance and visual arts as complementary therapies. The UC Health Osher Center for Integrative Health is a prime example.

International affairs: Arts are among the strongest diplomatic tools. Cultural exchange creates understanding long before governments negotiate. Artists frequently build relationships across borders that politics cannot. And again, there’s that point about wars.

Environment: People protect what they love. Artists, filmmakers, photographers and museums help communities develop emotional connections to nature that scientific reports alone rarely achieve. Many conservation movements began and are spurred on through the efforts of artists.

The economic multiplier

Arts organizations rarely exist in isolation. As our friends at ArtsWave frequently preach, a theater performance, for example, also generates spending on:

• Restaurants and retailers
• Transportation and parking
• Services, like babysitters
• Hotels

A museum visitor may support six or seven businesses in one afternoon. Every dollar invested circulates through the local economy.

Why this matters

Imagine the Giving USA chart with Arts, Culture and Humanities at the top.

Would America become less compassionate? Or would the overall need for charity decline? 

Larger investments in the arts can create healthier children, stronger schools, safer neighborhoods and better mental health. That means less need for downstream charitable spending. 

It’s the same logic used in medicine when discussing prevention versus treatment. We don’t invest in vaccines because disease is unimportant. We invest because prevention costs less than cure.

Arts, culture and humanities are not “nice to have” luxuries – they are preventive infrastructure. They foster belonging, creativity, empathy, educational success, mental wellness and civic engagement. It folllows that communities that invest deeply in cultural life could reduce the severity of challenges that later require intervention by human-service agencies, schools, health care providers and even the justice system. Philanthropists of all types should view the arts not simply as another charitable category, but as one of the most effective long-term investments in healthier, more resilient communities.

Properly supported, this preventive infrastructure represents a strategic investment that has the potential to further the ultimate goal of every social service and health care organization: to put itself out of business. This argument is increasingly supported by research in public health, education, economic development and community resilience.

Investment in the arts, culture and humanities is upstream philanthropy, addressing many of the root causes that eventually require more expensive interventions through other sectors. Why not put our dollars toward prevention, especially since doing so also potentially enhances everyone’s quality of life?

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Thom Mariner, co-publisher of Movers & Makers, has spent the past half century immersed in the performing arts, as singer, teacher, producer, arranger, administrator and now journalist.