Crucial quotes
The arts include any subject or discipline that involves creative expression in order to represent ideas or concepts about the real or imagined world. They play a huge role in our lives, providing us with the means to explore aspects of reality, providing us the means to delve into our feelings and emotions, and defining our personal and social identities.
Different fields within the arts
There are many different fields within the arts, including:
- Dance
- Design
- Film
- Music
- Literature
- Theatre
- Visual arts
There’s also plenty of cross-over between the arts and other subject areas, and sometimes it’s difficult to neatly categorize knowledge. For example, think about the mathematical structure of music, about where design ends and engineering begins, whether new artistic forms such as computer game design belongs in this subject area.
The arts are often drawn on to help us understand other subject areas – think about how we use photography to document aspects of social sciences, how film is used to make documentaries about the natural world, and the way literature and theatre drives forward language. Remember that knowledge interlinks and overlaps, and can’t always be easily compartmentalized and defined!