The 1906 novel “The Jungle” led to new federal food safety laws. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, an artist and pathologist, leveraged his illustration skills to further our understanding of how neurons work. The “flower power” art of the 60s and 70s became a visual language for countercultural movements.

Throughout our history, creative works have been one of our most potent tools for discovery, inquiry, and powerful shifts in perspective. Art on its own has an outsized impact on our culture, but it’s also played a critical role in shaping many of the fields that we now see as separate from it. Astronomers, surgeons, botanists, and engineers are just a few of the professions built on a foundation of knowledge that relied heavily on both scientific and artistic skills. And many studies suggest that artistic training can serve both as an accessible vehicle for complex ideas and support valuable cognitive skills that translate across fields.

Despite art’s track record, it’s often deprioritized in schools, undervalued in our economy, and untapped in our own lives. Art not only mirrors society but also holds the power to reshape it, making it an essential tool for both reflection and progress.