For most readers of Kirkus—and for any literature and humanities geek—the answer to the above question is obvious: absolutely. However, it seems that our leaders at all levels, from federal to local, don’t necessarily agree, as arts funding is often the first thing to go during budget cuts, especially during the pandemic.

This month, New York University Press is publishing a book to bolster arguments on the necessity of arts and arts education: Are the Arts Essential? (Feb. 22), edited by Alberta Arthurs, a senior fellow at the John Brademas Center at NYU, and Michael DiNiscia, a deputy director for Research and Strategic Initiatives at the Center. In a starred review, our critic called the book “a vigorous, timely, necessary defense of creativity” in which “the editors gather a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse group of more than two dozen eminent scholars, artists, professionals working in the field of arts and culture, and funders who support the arts.”

Like many similar defenses of literature, visual art, music, dance, and theater, the contributors to Are the Arts Essential? all “argue forcefully for the importance of the arts in strengthening social ties, benefiting individuals, fostering community, engaging with the sciences, and recording and sharing human experiences.” What makes this one stand out is the contributor list, which features scholars and artists who will be unfamiliar to many general readers. Other than K. Anthony Appiah, Edward Hirsch, and Deborah Willis, there are few boldface names.

Of course, those scholars offer trenchant analyses, but we also get a refreshing dose of persuasive, convincing discourse from numerous esteemed but not widely known professors as well as Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation; Elizabeth Streb, a choreographer and dance instructor who often performs “feats of extreme action”; Jesse Rosen, the former president of the League of American Orchestras; Jeffrey Brown, senior arts correspondent for PBS NewsHour; psychologist Ellen Winner; and Fred Hersch, an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer who has served as leader or co-leader on more than 50 albums and has received 15 Grammy nominations.

Clearly, the editors challenged themselves to construct as inclusive a portrait as possible, all in the service of getting artists of every stripe to be present at what editor Arthurs describes as “all the places where our values and our ways of life are being examined, where communal decisions are being made, where issues and ideas and laws are being mapped and moved forward.” In the foreword, Lynne P. Brown, the executive director of the Brademas Center, echoes that sentiment, noting how the contributors, “although singing in different keys and octaves, depending on their unique perspectives…constitute a chorus of conviction.”

At times, the book may be overly academic for those not dedicated to the advancement of the arts—chapter titles include “City as Living Laboratory: Creating a New Narrative for Climate Change and the Public Realm”; “Leading Institutional Change: New Thinking About Mission, Values, and Purpose”; “Art in Theory: An Insight from Marcel Duchamp”—but it’s timely and relevant nonetheless. As Hersch notes, “I don’t consider a concert or a composition a success unless I feel like I’ve moved someone. Maybe it’s just one person in an audience. Not that it should be all overwrought, emotional, or manipulative.…You want to have some moments that are fun, some things that are challenging, some things that are more intense, maybe even romantic.…Ultimately, I don’t want to go to a music performance and walk away being impressed. I want to be stimulated, and I want to be moved.” Don’t we all?

Eric Liebetrau is the nonfiction and managing editor.