Why the Arts Deserve the Same Respect and Funding as Athletics
September 25, 2025
Amelle Amirouche
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 4: Quality Education
Universities worldwide seem to have a clear disparity in the way that athletics and the arts are given priority, including finances, facilities, and acceptance. While the sports players seem to have their own specialized living, high-class training facilities, and significant amounts of money to support them, the students studying the arts—especially those that study physically exhausting activities like dance—do not have the same luxuries. It is not just a matter of resources, but cultural priorities. Both the arts and sports are vital to personal development, culture, and even the economy, and both must be respected and supported as much as the other.
At Purchase College, athletes receive special dorms, state-of-the-art training equipment, and access to multiple specialized trainers, so they can perform at their best. Dancers, who also train physically for hours, sometimes pushing their bodies as hard as athletes, do not have these advantages. The resources provided to dancers are stretched thin with limited physical trainers and access to studios; they do not get kitchens in the dorms until junior year, which is a basic need for nutrition. This reveals a clear imbalance in how these are valued since both require equal levels of physical effort.
The budget discrepancy between athletics and the arts is yet another critical issue, and it is only growing as colleges face budget cuts. Athletic programs are typically allocated big sums of money—scholarships, travel, equipment, and facility maintenance—while arts programs, especially those in physically demanding fields like dance, theater, or music, are shortchanged. This shortage is further exacerbated by the budget cuts of the current era, and the arts are disproportionately cut while athletic programs are exempted. While institutions themselves are financially constrained, it is the arts which are at risk of being trimmed or under budgeted, thus making it more challenging for students to pursue careers in the arts.
Sports themselves are typically excluded from such trims since they are seen and generate income. But the arts—though contributing equally economically as well as towards culture and society—are a lower and secondary concern. This is especially concerning because arts contribute significantly to the economy. For example, the U.S. arts and culture sector had an economic contribution of over $800 billion in 2017 alone, surpassing industries like agriculture, transportation, and construction. Although this is the case, arts programs continue to be under-funded in relation to sports, which enjoy a disproportionately large share of institutional and public funding.
The historical value of the arts cannot be overlooked. Presidents of the United States have long recognized the value of the arts, and President John F. Kennedy once famously stated, “I see little of more importance to the future of our country than full recognition of the place of the arts”. Kennedy recognized that the arts establish cultural identity, intellectual growth, and national progress. Nonetheless, in the face of such recognition, arts funding is disproportionately low compared to athletics.
If schools want to have an even system, then they must treat the arts in the same regard, with the same funding, respect, and attention as sports. Both take unbelievable dedication, sacrifice, and discipline. Yet whereas athletes are treated as elite students with special facilities, dancers and other artists are denied equal and fair resources. The inequality must be fixed.
With budget cuts and mounting financial woes facing higher education, it is imperative that arts programs not become further isolated. Arts students are entitled to enhanced resources, technical instruction, and rehabilitation centers, just as are athletes. The world must realize that the arts, as sports, are an integral part of society’s intellectual, cultural, and economic climate. By extending both sides equal support, we create a more balanced, diverse, and rich culture that appreciates both body and mind. It’s time to give the arts the respect and funding they deserve—both here at Purchase College and everywhere.
2024 Cohort– Editorial Committee Spring ’25
“Arts and Culture Economy Grows 3.6 Percent in 2017 | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).” Bea.gov, 2017, www.bea.gov/news/blog/2020-03-17/arts-and-culture-economy-grows-36-percent-2017. Accessed 11 Sept. 2025.
“President John F. Kennedy: Remarks at Amherst College, October 26, 1963 - Transcript.” NEA, 2 Nov. 2015, www.arts.gov/about/kennedy-transcript.
