blog by arwen

While I don’t think it makes the strongest case, I do agree with this op-ed piece published last Thursday in the LA Times.

It inspired some early Saturday morning discussion over email between a few of NYC’s cultural wonks. I had additional thoughts that I wanted to make available here since it really got me thinking.

The questions posed were:

1. How do we get the arts disentangled from HHS (health & human services), Environment, and other Social Justice goods, so that we don’t have to compete against them for the same funding/grantors’ attention? Should the arts be disentangled? or Should the arts be posited as an integral part of the solution?”

2. What are we asking the arts community to value? And by inference, what are we asking audience members and a larger culture to value? What values are we evincing in our work? Should we even be evincing values? Talking about them?

My responses:

1. There is no way to compete against them given the current economic conditions, especially with rising unemployment numbers and bankruptcies, and I think we will lose in the long run if we position the argument that way. I think integration is the only way; however, to accomplish it will require buy-in from everyone in the NFP sector as a whole which might be in the impossible dream given how polarized and resource starved all the different factions are…

If I had the power, I would require artistic components to be integral to most of the other nonprofit sectors programs & services rather than being a separate faction, like an ugly orphan who gets fed last and only if there are scraps. I’ve seen studies that suggest using drama to rehabilitate prisoners lowers recidivism rates, children who learn classical music develop better math skills, and cities with lots of well maintained public parks have higher quality of life indexes for residents.

Why doesn’t a homeless shelter offer entertainment with their free meals? Why doesn’t every public park contain a work of art that engages the local community in the process to select?

We are soaking in endless opportunities to revolutionize the cultural sector alongside the other social systems that are broken – health care, education, criminal justice to name a few – we should be leading the integration charge, not creating further divisions by reinforcing the notion that the arts need or deserve special treatment.

The IRS doesn’t recognize “art” in granting exempt status determination, so every one in the art world has to make the “literary, scientific or educational” argument to get federal exempt status for a NFP arts org. Maybe we should stop hacking our way through the NFP sector, for-profit commercial world and all the gray areas that live in between and just become part of everything else that is charitable instead?

Why aren’t the bulk of nonprofit artistic programs produced by social sector nfps – aren’t they at their core social programs? If these orgs introduced such programs, they could then start hiring the millions of artists that live in this country and are looking for ways to put their creativity to good use. Maybe they could deliver the emerging/community based arts programs and the commercial sector could take over where they leave off with those who want to play in the big leagues.

Is it possible to combine artistic programs (for professional and emerging levels) in the same space as literacy development, affordable childcare, after-school & head start programs, community supported agriculture groups etc?

2. Value is a question I keep coming back to – usually when I am speaking to artists about valuing their work, time, IP, audience’s opinion & critical response etc. I think too often we worry about what we are (or aren’t) valuing instead of investigating what our audience values (or doesn’t) and responding to that – that is part of how the system is failing.

Cultivating and fostering a sense of value for the arts outside our community is possibly our biggest challenge as far as sustainability is concerned and where artists should focus our attention as much as possible in the coming days. To me, it seems that our national psyche is also wrestling with the question of value – quite literally (Madoff victims, slashed 401Ks and depreciated housing values) and more philosophically given the massive bailouts of the corporations at the expense of the taxpayer.

Who better than the artists to raise this question in the broadest sense: As the nation we are NOW – what do we value? Is it corporations over people? Is it health care over art? Is it status quo over revolution?

The artists I know personify many of the values now absent in our society – integrity, hard work, self-sacrifice, commitment (yeah I’m talking to you Sarah) – isn’t it time we lead by example and help fix the mess that’s been made at the hands of others who lack our character?

inspired by a few conversations online and in person with various colleagues, i wanted to throw out an idea i’ve been contemplating to more accurately measure the “professionalism” of artists…

the first step is to remove the word “professional” from our vocabularies once and for all. can’t remember where i heard it (maybe the Field’s Economic Smackdown event last month?) but folks smarter than me have made the point before that other professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants) never feel the need to qualify what they do by saying “i’m a professional X…”(imagine what you’d do if a new surgeon you consulted for an operation started out with an introduction like that…not exactly a way to build confidence in your client) and i heartily agree.

instead of this loaded word, maybe we could describe ourselves or the work we do as either “commercial” (i.e., working for institutions on broadway, at major venues for classical disciplines, in union film & tv, as advertising, promo & entertainment talent, at commercial design firms) or “independent” (i.e., do-it-yourself art making in all disciplines that aren’t sponsored by an institutional or commercial entity in a work for hire situation) – is that not a more accurate representation?

the second step has to do with income and valuation. since so many artists are often paid so little (if they are paid at all), we can’t use income as an accurate measure of acheivement in the field or to deem who is a “professional” or not.

{i know the IRS would throw a hissy-fit in response to this idea but this is philosophical post, not a practical advice post, and while i am well aware of them, i am going to ignore their requirements regarding income qualifications, deductions, profits and losses related to a business vs hobby for now.}

so, what if we start using years and define an artist by the time spent studying and pursuing your craft as a measure instead? isn’t that the truer measure? trust fund or not – are you still doing it after 10, 20 or 50 years?

this dovetails nicely with an idea advanced by a friend & colleague who asserts that one way to support the ongoing career development of artists is to bring back the apprentice-journeyman-master system, which is an idea i love.

what do you think about these thorny issues of time, money, commitment and self-identification as far as how to represent and define your artistic career to the masses?

I started blogging about issues affecting the arts while working at Fractured Atlas.

I invite you to peruse my very first manifesto, originally published in the Fractured Atlas newsletter and republished by The Association of Teaching Artists.

Here is a sample menu of posts.

The question of relevancy

Shoestring budgets & demographic diversity on off-off-Broadway

when art falls apart

All arts organizations are NOT created equal

Fiscal Sponsorship can change the world!

Value vs measurement

Pleased to partner with National Performing Arts Conference

Pass the bailout, please.

Changing of the Guard

I plan to continue writing about arts related issues. I also hope to write about other topics that occupy space in my consciousness, including sustainable agriculture, independent theater production, financial and economic policy, thoughts on frugal living, recipes I like…you get the point.

Open for comments and discussion 24/7 – welcome to my blog.