The carriages arrived at the castle and Harry was escorted by Madame Pomfrey to the Hospital Wing.
"I hear you had an encounter with the Dementors. How are you feeling?"
Harry suppressed a shudder and the memory of his mother's voice, "I'm fine Madame Pomfrey, really. Professor Lupin was on the train. He chased the dementor off and gave us all chocolate."
"Hmm. Well that will take away the chill, but not necessarily the memories. Take this vial with you. It is dreamless sleep. Take a sip before you go to sleep tonight."
"Yes ma'am." Harry took the vial and headed down to the feast.
As the meal ended, Dumbledore began the announcements. "...A new elective has been added to the courses available to students. Hogwarts is proud to announce the rejuvenation of the Art Department. Classes will be available on painting, wood crafts, music and theater. Some of these activities will also be available as extra curricular groups. Those of you interested in participating need only sign your name on the sign up sheets in your common room or personally inform the new Professors of your interest."
Snape smirked, his letter to The Daily Profit had done wonders. Pure-bloods did not appreciate being compared to muggles. The article had focused on how both muggle and magical schools alike had been eliminating the arts from their curriculum due to a lack of funding. It also included descriptions of the benefits of the different types of art forms. Within four days funding for Hogwarts' Art Department had been supplied by wealthy pure-bloods in the form of donations. Dumbledore had been pressured into acting immediately and new professors had been hired to teach Magical Arts and Crafts, Music and Theater.
Since one of these investors was Lucius Malfoy, Draco had no choice in the matter; he would be taking part in the arts, as would many other Slytherins. Snape needed his Slytherins to develop independence from their parents if they were ever to be averted from their path toward The Dark Side. Getting them involved in the arts would hopefully help them to develop some of this independence. With any luck, it would also make the other Houses more tolerant of Slytherin.
Dumbledore finished his speech and the students shuffled off to bed.
The Article
A Future Without Art is a Muggle Future
Gone are the artisans of the past. Our future, like our muggle counterparts, lays in standardized furniture made in a factory. Identical images of flowers and nature scenes in every picture frame. Dishware indistinguishable from one mage's home to the next. We, like our non-magical brethren have proclaimed the arts to be a waste of funds, and so the programs have vanished from muggle and magical schools alike.
Once our children were instructed on how to carve intricate images with a wand. They could pour a potion on stone and use their mind to control which bites the potion ate away from the marble, leaving behind majestic sculptures. The portraits and paintings they crafted adorn the walls of Hogwarts and St. Mungos. But new artwork has been in short supply in recent decades and these skills will soon be lost to time if we do not invest in the knowledge of the young.
What are your plans for this evening? For the next? and the one after that? Night after night of playing chess, reading or dining with friends. All admiral endeavorers. But what of the nights at the theater? Shouldn't we be insisting that our children's school instruct them in the performing arts?
Now I am not suggesting that schooling should be merely for students to prepare themselves to entertain adults or to make our homes more beautiful. To the contrary, school is supposed to prepare them for life. Our students learn many great skills at Hogwarts, but rarely are they given the chance to utilize those skills outside of a classroom. What is the purpose of learning how to animate a sketch in Charms if their pictures look childish? What is the use of arithmetic computations if they haven't the social skills to hold a business meeting? Theater classes will allow our young to apply the skills they have learned outside of lessons and it will provide them with the chance to engage in mock social situations before we hand over the keys and money to the family business.
I implore you help fund the rejuvenation of Hogwarts Art Department, for I fear if we do not our future lies in congruence with the muggles, in a series of identical homes and adult children knocking at our door, asking for a place to stay because they lack the ability to apply the skills they spent so much time learning.
Submitted by The Society for Wizard Culture (SWC)