Arts Support: It's not about "rotating pastel lights"...
Chris Jones, chief theater critic for the Chicago Tribune, posted a passionate and well argued commentary yesterday. In the midst of the debate over the very oddly worded Coburn Amendment (the Willamette Week referred to Senator Tom Coburn as "batshit crazy" in their op-ed piece on the issue http://www.wweek.com/wwire/?p=21230#comments_add), Jones argues that the arts community needs to make a better case for Federal support. Here's an excerpt, with a link to the full piece at the end.
"In the recent debate over the Barack Obama administration's economic recovery bill, proposals to spend government money on the arts have become poster children for pork. It is time for the American arts community to confront its stunning political ineptitude. It has arrived at a place where there seems to be no one to make its case; no one, at least, free from the taint of self-interest. After all, the argument that the labor-intensive arts are not job-creation engines is patently absurd; they just fuel different kinds of struggling workers, workers unaccustomed to bonuses. Their role in generating billions of dollars in ancillary economic activity for stores, restaurants and the travel business has been proven in bucketloads of surveys and analyses. In less than 75 years, the arts have gone from the single largest priority in a government stimulus package to a toxic joke, with a popular special amendment keeping them out. It is a stunning turnaround. How did it happen? Artists must shoulder some blame. Too little attention has been paid to making the long-term political case that culture is important and accessible to ordinary people and thus worthy of financial support. The arts have thrown up precious few, articulate, clout-heavy American leaders of their own. That needs to change."
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2009/02/in-economic-stimulus-package-arts-deserve-place-in-line.html
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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