I'm going to have to disagree. The performing arts appreciation crowds that I have run into have been far more apt to brandish their experiences as a status symbol than to share and appreciate.

Also, in my experience, the people that are truly touched by the performing arts are the people that don't do so well by present educational standards. Not that they are any more or less intelligent, just non-conformist.

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"My scythe: I like to keep it next to where my heart used to be." -Grim Fandango

I think I'm going to have to agree with you. I do think that attending and participating in performing arts (such as music, acting, dancing, etc.) can have a positive effect on the individual, however assuming that those who attend every opera or every play or whatever are somehow more distinguished than other educated individuals is rather silly.

Also, who's to say what appreciation is? You certainly can't measure it. And just because I don't live at performances every night, certainly doesn't mean I don't appreciate it.

Hum, you've really got me thinking now. I think I have a good way to start my paper.... may I use some of your ideas?

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~Kitsunedajfox~
I choose to be happy, I choose to be free and I choose to eat lots of ice cream.

The point of art is that it's for everybody. It's true that better-educated individuals make up a large part of the audience for the performing arts, but much of this is the result of better means and, in many cases, a desire to be "distinguished." Anybody can enjoy the performing arts. Even the well-educated don't always understand the arts, even if they claim to appreciate them.

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Lite Yagami - now with 30% fewer calories!

[link] - People have been butchering English for far too long. It wants revenge and will stop at nothing to exact it.

I didn't think I was honestly that helpful, but sure.

I'm just thinking of people like my boss. I see him as a very distinguished and well-educated individual, and he is one of those people that frequents plays and musicals... but then he refuses to watch animations that are laking a musical score produced by Tim Rice. He also believes all Anime is tentacle porn, and all Saturday morning cartoons are concocted to rot the minds of the young.

I also know a lady that is a musical genius. If you hand her an instrument, she can play you a masterpiece. Except, if you're one of those people (like myself) that could not play an instrument if the world depended on it, you're suddenly uncivilized and beneath her.

It seems fairly shallow minded, in that aspect.

But, I guess it's all in perspective. I mean, if you follow Ozfest around the country, does that mark you well educated?

I personally prefer people that film and edit their own You Tube skits.

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"My scythe: I like to keep it next to where my heart used to be." -Grim Fandango

One point of view that can be taken is that appreciation of performing arts means you actually are mature / open-minded enough to recognize that art isn't only restricted to your field / preference. I personally don't care much for performing arts, mostly due to the fact that I don't pursue that type of art, but I still know well enough it is a form of art nonetheless.
This is a little bit off into a different tangent, but for example, those who believe that "anime" isn't art, even styles influenced by it, are just annoyingly stubborn; the same amount of work goes into a well-done drawing as, say, a portrait, and just because it's not a direct representation of life doesn't mean it's not art. This sort of applies to performing arts: it's a lot of work and requires both skill and talent to pull off, and that's something to be appreciated. That recognition doesn't exactly mean you're either distinguished or well-educated, per se, but it does signify that you have seen enough of all forms of art to realize what the general qualifications of art are.
I just pulled all that out of my ass. Harhar.

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_{AOIUGhsdhasdgasdgjlst';jhsfgh;ldd';//..}

I support all art, both more modern types along with more traditional ones. I just wish I had half the talent most of those people had.

Very interesting poll.

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'We must temper the steel of a new generation...
We must surmount the majesty of the blue mountians.
We must look to the galaxy for out power...'
-Excerpt from "Black Flowers Called Sakinohaka"
(Planetes Vol. 3)

I would have to disagree. I think that people can be very unintelligent and still appreciate the arts more than a person who is very intelligent. I mean if I were to take myself for example, I am definitely not intelligent (compared to say a rocket scientist), I don't know exactly how fast the planet rotates around the sun, or how they make T.V.'s. But I do have a thing for the titanic soundtrack, and Celtic music, along with Native American music. I appreciate these types of music along with others very much. Heck, sometimes I get so into them, that I start to cry because of the pain that the music is displaying. I hope that I gave you a good answer, and that I stayed on subject.

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Come away O human child,
To the waters of the wild,
With a fairy hand in hand,
For the worlds more full of weeping,
Than you can understand.
- Steven Spielberg's, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

I disagree You don't have to be well-educated to appreciate the performing arts, and there are plenty of extremely well-educated people who disregard performing arts as a waste of time.

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ಥ_ಥ

<sub>Watashi no barairo no sekai...

Reality is for people who can't handle role-playing games.

I'm a *Vixen-sama fangirl!!</sub>

I think anybody can appreciate the performing arts, but it is the people who don't appreciate them that I question, and it doesn't matter if they have a PhD or never finished high school. Even to simply be adept enough to appreciate the work that goes into a concert or production says a lot about a person and what they value. So I don't think it is the mark of a well-educated person, but I do think it is the mark of a person who understands what is valuable in life and what isn't. Since education is also valuable, the ones who typically value performing arts have taken the time to get an education and also have the means to attend. But I don't think it is necessarily a distinguishing feature, no.

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'Loneliness is a strange gift.' - E.B. White