We often think of art, and sometimes even of ‘the Arts,’ as something people can do on the side. Almost like a hobby, but not as an essential service. I want to make clear that this is not how anthropologists see it. If the Arts constitute that sector of social life which forms, reiterates, and passes on collective identity, then it permeates everything and everyone — and we all have time for it, whether we are aware of it or not.