Ampersand Answers: The Glory of Art

The glory of art is that it can not only survive change,
But can lead it.

Robert Redford
from the Barbra Streisand tribute to Robert Redford at the 2026 Oscars 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCGxEkXrDgs&t=2s

Published on the eve of her 84th birthday
Happy Birthday, Barbra!

The Question: 

How can I help to lead change in this world? 

&mpersand Answers: 

Take a page out of Robert Redford’s book via his The Way We Were co-star Barbra Streisand—there are worse advisors. 

Practice your art—whatever it is. 

Follow your muse—wherever you find it. 

Listen to those still, small impulses—from within. 

The magic of art—and I mean any art at all, from finger paints to Carnegie Hall—is that it first and foremost helps its creator, its artist, survive change. 

Staying with an artform helps change the world, the deeper you explore it. All art has unplumbed depths. 

Expressing that artform is what lets art lead change.

There’s a reason you can’t copyright an idea—only the expression of an idea. 

If you have an idea for your version of the Great American Novel, by all means, write it, but until you write it, it isn’t art. It’s imagination.

All art asks for dedication and discipline. 

You want to help change the world for the better? Great. Sit down at the computer. Stand at your easel. Sit in front of your pottery wheel. Go to dance class. Sing in the shower. See a play; be in a play. What are you waiting for?

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