Guest Blogger Gail Sachson owns Ask Me About Art, is a Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and a member of the Public Art Committee.

It’s the end of June. The senior proms have wound down. Kids are back in shorts and flip-flops instead of strapless taffeta dresses  and tuxedos. Their parents’ have also put away their frocks. The balls and dances and dinners for fundraising efforts have quieted down for the summer.

Dallas’ support for the arts is legendary and to be lauded. Our museums are internationally known, our city art programs are thriving and popular (although threatened to be  drastically reduced in the city’s budget). We are building world-class, eye-catching, show-stopping structures to show off the performing arts.

But are we helping to build the talent to fill halls like these, show in museums and perform in local art programs?

As parents who love the arts, you bought tables at the balls. You have season subscriptions to the theaters, the symphony and the ballet. You have chaired a multitude of fund-raisers for the smaller arts organizations. But that may not be enough.

The real challenge is to give your first born, your second born and the others, as well, to the arts. You’ve driven the brood to ballet lessons, saxophone practice and play rehearsal. You’ve done your job so well in fostering an appreciation for the arts, that now YOUR children want to become artists!

Will you be there to support them? Or will you discourage your budding playwright, painter or photographer and say, “That’s a nice hobby, darling, but you must prepare yourself for real life. You must be able to have a salary you can count on.”  (Harder in today’s economy for all career choices.)

Supporting their dreams may be costly to you and them. But not encouraging real talent would be more costly to our community, to our nation and to them. If not from you, our nation’s arts enthusiasts, then from where will our future artists come ?