NfPV Claiming a Place at the Table

All of you here tonight are here because you care about the arts. (Or in some cases you may be here because the person who controls the family schedule cares about the arts.) Many of you care deeply and passionately about the arts and their role in your community. Yet, I’d like to raise a question. When High Point faces a crisis—a factory closes down, a racial incident divides the city, or public education seems to be failing in some way—are your arts leaders asked to participate in solving the problem? Are Debbie Lumpkins or Pedro Silva (to name just two) asked to be on the Task Force? If so, bravo. You are rare in the context of the United States at this moment in our history. If not, why not?

I purposely did not ask about this in advance. Whatever the level of arts input is in the life of High Point, it can and should be greater. My coming in relatively blind allows me to avoid the appearance of pointing a finger. What I have to say applies equally to every city in our country.

But you may well ask what the question has to do with the kickoff of a fund drive. I’m supposed to inspire you to give and to cajole your neighbors to give. I intend to do just that. But I intend to do more as well. What I have to say is designed to make you think more globally about the place of the arts in society. When we all do so and have made the arts more pervasive in community life, the job of raising money for the arts will be greatly simplified. When the majority of the population is able to point to concrete improvements the arts make in their lives on a day to day basis, the work of the arts fundraiser will be much, much easier—and far more fun.

Reflective and Visceral
Before I attempt to lead you to this Nirvana, however, I need to provide some background and explain some terminology. I will be talking about "art" a great deal. There is much that is art: country fiddling, quilt-making, "Your Cheatin’ Heart", "Oops! ..I Did It Again", Sex and the City, "Ode on a Grecian Urn", Romeo and Juliet, the Eroica Symphony, Swan Lake, and the Mona Lisa. "Art" is a very big tent. All are valuable for something; but not all of them serve us equally well in improving our communities, in allowing us to better know ourselves and others. And it is this feature of the arts that is the focus of my concern here.

Some arts are participatory; others are "spectator arts." In general, the participatory arts, by forcing us to think about the process of creating them and what it is that we want to "say" with them, are excellent means of helping us better know ourselves. Since they also provide us with a positive sense of accomplishment (at least eventually), they help us to feel more secure, more fulfilled in that knowledge. The world would indeed be a better place if we all made more quilts . . . or poems or sculptures.

Some arts are "foreground" arts; others are less demanding of our attention. My arts management students are well aware of a distinction I make between what I call reflective and visceral arts. Some arts have an intent of edifying their perceivers, making them better people; others are designed primarily to entertain. Some focus on depth of content, having much to offer every time you experience them anew; others focus on immediacy of impact, perhaps sacrificing content for gut-level stimulation. Some arts require real effort to get out of them all that they have to offer; others can be appreciated with ease. The former type in each case I call "reflective" because they demand that you reflect upon them to gain the most benefit from what they have to offer. These arts feed the soul. The latter in each case I call "visceral" because they grab you from the first. Reflective works have staying power; visceral works have great impact, but can often fade quickly. The greatest art has traits of both.

I always ask my students which type would be easier to sell. They never fail to give the correct answer. Of course the visceral arts are the ones that sell first. They are intended to make a big impact upon people and they place few demands upon them. (I hasten to add that this does not make them bad, just different.) It should also come as no surprise that it is the reflective arts about which I am talking this evening. It is those arts which help us come to a better understanding of ourselves and can lead us to greater understanding of others as well. It is those arts which can best serve the end of improving our communities.

Some time ago, I read the transcript of an interview with Rigoberta Menchú Tum, the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who won the prize for her work in promoting human rights for the indigenous peoples of Guatemala. She is no arts advocate. However, she said of Guatemala that "in the urban areas, the violence, prostitution, drugs, the pain of the orphans is growing. There are orphans who were orphans 15 years ago and today they are teenagers. Many of the orphans found the right road, which meant painting, making music, going to school, being an artist, sewing clothes, or finding other positive ways to survive." This human rights activist has an intuitive understanding of the vital role the arts can play in making a better world.

I am talking this evening about the arts as vehicles for improving communities–that is, improving civility and human decency in our society by bringing participatory arts activity and reflective arts experiences into the mainstream of life of more and more people. That is not the sum total of what the arts have to offer, nor, it can be argued, even the most important function that they have. It is, however, that about which I am speaking tonight.

Mostly Harmless
The late Douglas Adams, a science fiction writer and cockeyed observer of the human condition wrote a book called A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy . In that guide for inter-galactic travelers, there is a two-word reference to an obscure planet named Earth at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is described as "mostly harmless." I have always been struck by the fact that, in the context of the universe, that is probably an apt description of our place in the cosmos. However, that amusing description occurred to me in this context because for most citizens of our country, the same description can be applied to the arts—mostly harmless. Indeed, with the exception of a few years at the beginning of the 1990’s, the arts have been almost universally considered the bonbons of society—sweet, perhaps, but inconsequential. That may well be true for some of you here tonight. How many of you are reluctant to let at least some of your friends, colleagues, or acquaintances know that you are interested in and contribute to things artsy? If that is the case, don’t feel special or set apart, you are one of a vast company.

When the National Endowment for the Arts came under attack in the 1990’s, no politician paid any political price for attacking the arts and virtually none gained any popular favor by supporting them. Moreover, one need only observe the jokes of popular culture to understand the real place of the arts in our society. Mention opera to Ray Barone of Everybody Loves Raymond and he will develop a bad case of hives. (Actually that was very nearly the "plot" of a headache relief commercial from a few years ago.)

Why is this the case? The professor in me wants to give a broad historical perspective and trace the evolution of this point of view in great detail across the millennia. I won’t. Let me just mention three representative causes. First, consider who settled the United States. In general it was "[the] poor, [the] tired, [the] huddled masses." This is not the group we consider to be the target market for the reflective arts. Our civic forebears, by and large, were the politically, socially, and economically disadvantaged. They of necessity had to spend most of their lives scraping out an existence with little time available for reflection. As a result, there is no broad historical support for any form of reflective expression in the United States.

Second, and this is related to the first, many of the reflective arts as they exist and are supported today come to us from a Western European culture that evolved in an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century society of political, social and economic privilege. Their roots are separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years from the daily lives of our general population. It takes considerable effort and education to bring their potential alive for people today.

Finally, artists sometimes see themselves as separate from or above common society—"the great unwashed." Or, as is more often the case, they have never given much thought to the role their work might have in the broader society. A few even consider efforts to "reach out" to those not well educated in the arts to be pandering.

The Power of the Arts: Origins and Early History
These are a few of the reasons that the reflective arts are often not taken seriously in public discourse today. Nevertheless, I have not said too much yet about why they should be.

The arts are a central feature of human beings living together. We feel confident that in the earliest societies, stories served as the collective experience that formed communities. Pictures served to communicate and record events and those things that were important to the society. Music served to ritualize the stories and made collective moments of experience sacred. Dance was an expression and emblem of the community. The artists created communities.

As late as the Middle Ages in Europe, the arts continued to serve a similar role. Stained glass windows told Biblical stories to the common people who could not read. Gothic architecture projected the majesty of God while music portrayed God’s mystery. Certainly religion was the cornerstone of life, but it was through the arts that it was projected.

The Power of the Arts: Examples
Let me give some more recent examples of the potential of the arts in the areas of political power and prestige, social health and transformation, and economic development.

Political Power and Prestige
During the Cold War, the United States government recognized that a way to win the hearts and minds of the world community was through our arts. The U. S. Information Agency (and many other units of government) spent a great deal of money on cultural exchange opportunities to "get the word out" about the cultural superiority of the West, and in particular, the United States. During debates regarding establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts in the early1960’s, some members of Congress pointed out that by ignoring the arts the U. S. was relinquishing "one of the great advantages over the communists."

Today it is widely recognized that, at least in terms of popular (or visceral) arts, the United States is in a position of cultural hegemony. All artistic roads lead to the U.S. Several years ago a student of mine from Nepal brought in a recording of native Nepalese popular music and, while the language of the lyrics was foreign, the music itself sounded exactly like what my son was listening to on the radio in the 1980’s.

To take but one example from somewhat earlier history, in 1703, Peter the Great chose to create a city in the swamps of the River Neva on the Gulf of Finland off the Baltic Sea. A large part of the design of his "Window on the West" lay in appropriating the artistic culture of Western Europe as a means of establishing world legitimacy for the Russian state. St. Petersburg was created as a city of the arts with museums, libraries, theaters, and concert halls included in the earliest plans. And it is St. Petersburg/Leningrad/Stalingrad/St. Petersburg that was the spiritual home of Russia’s greatest artists, among them Chekov, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky. These are the people through whom even today we best understand the real Russia.

Similarly, how many of you have ever been to Paris, London, or Rome? Of those who have not, how many of you would like to go? And why is that? In Paris, it is the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Paris Opera. In London it is the theaters of the West End, the Tower of London, the British Museum, and Buckingham Palace. In Rome it is St. Peters, the Coliseum, and the Sistine Chapel. Certainly these are not the only reasons, but they are, for most people, central. These are the best-known and most loved examples of the reflective arts of these cities. They are the symbols of their greatness.

Social Health and Transformation
From political power and prestige, we can turn to the issue of social health. Healthy societies reflect and are dependent upon their arts. It has been argued that, prior to European settlement, Native American societies were among the most balanced on earth. In the nineteenth century the U. S. government systematically attempted to wipe out Native American stories, music, dance, and even language. The military defeats suffered at the hands of an Industrial Era U. S. Cavalry were devastating. The cultural dislocation has proven nearly genocidal. Social problems on reservations today are among the most severe in the Western world. The most effective responses to these problems have at their heart reclamation of Native culture—the reflective arts traditions of the people.

Social progress almost never takes place without reflective artistic expression either leading the way or documenting (and commenting upon) it as it happens. For those of us of a certain age and beyond, the decade of the 1960’s—of Civil Rights and the war in Viet Nam—was shaped by the arts. True, the music that took the lead was popular, but there is no question that it is reflective.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Those of us who lived through that time also can attest to the fact that the arts were powerful forces in shaping the debate and forcing the issues addressed in that decade.

Economic Development
The transformational role of the arts can be practical as well. The arts can mean money. Some artists are uncomfortable acknowledging that what they do has an economic impact on their communities. Part of the reason for this is that they only see themselves as individuals, unaware of the collective influence they have. But the benefits are real. New York City is so aware of the value of Broadway to its fiscal health as well as its image that, over the last decade, it has spent immense amounts of time and money cleaning up the Times Square area to make it more attractive to tourists and suburban visitors. In the 2000-2001 season, Broadway accounted for 4.42 billion dollars of economic activity in the city. Lest you think that this is just a phenomenon of popular culture, in 2000, not-for-profit arts activity in the U. S. (and virtually all of this is reflective arts activity) generated 134 billion dollars.

Much closer to home, the Forsyth County Tourism Development Authority determined that the National Black Theatre Festival, held every two years in Winston-Salem, generated 11.4 million dollars in six days last August. Finally, if I could take you to my neighborhood in Winston-Salem, I would show you how individual artists have utterly transformed an entire city. Over the last decade a handful of artists have reclaimed vacant, rundown space in the Sixth and Trade area of downtown. Early on they did so not only without the support of the city but sometimes in spite of the efforts of city officials. However, I am utterly convinced that it was their incredibly hard work and persistence that paved the way for the thrice-weekly downtown city-sponsored concerts that occur from spring through fall, the spectacularly successful Films on Fourth series, and the rapidly growing number of people who live in the center of downtown Winston-Salem. I can speak directly to the last because I and my family are among those who have bought homes and moved downtown. If Winston-Salem successfully transforms its downtown to a vital, prosperous city center, these artists should be recognized as the ultimate source of that result. But imagine how much more quickly it might have happened, how much more effectively it might have been accomplished, and how much more exciting it might be today if community leaders had actively collaborated with them in the process from the beginning.

We as a nation have very little understanding of the profound power of the reflective arts.

The Power of the Arts: Untapped Potential
If these examples are not impressive enough, let me present you with more food for thought. Everyone knows that public education needs fixing. Numerous studies show that the arts enhance all kinds of learning. Instrumental music performance enhances math learning, and the impact of music performance on math test results is greatest among students who come from disadvantaged households. In addition, participating in the arts has been shown to have a profound impact upon whether or not a student chooses to remain in school or drop out. Increasingly, the arts are being demonstrated to be a tool, both in and out of school, for channeling at-risk youth into productive activities and lives that make a positive contribution to society. In spite of this, many in the back-to-basics movement think that one solution to a broken educational system is to eliminate the arts. Why are the arts not represented in discussions about improving education?

Community economies, especially in North Carolina, are suffering. While the arts do not present a magic bullet to solve our problems, the arts have something to contribute. Collectively, the arts can have a significant impact upon local economies. There is no magic bullet, but there may be a collection of magic shotgun pellets. Why are the arts not represented in discussions about economic development?

Social problems abound: inequity, injustice, alienation, homelessness, domestic violence, crime. A core characteristic of healthy societies is a vital presence of the reflective arts. The arts can bind us together and heal individual wounds in ways that few other things can. Why are the arts not represented in discussions about solving social problems?

Challenges: Artists
If the arts are to take a place at the table that we as a society need them to, challenges must be met. My first challenge is to the arts community. We (and I include myself in this) must first recognize that what we do is and should be vitally connected with the world around us. We must see ourselves as artists as members of and participants in our communities.

We must also learn to think in new ways. The reflective arts have a great deal to offer. However, the reflective arts are not limited to the arts we have always done in the way we have always done them. We need to rethink the ways and places we present the arts that are familiar to us so that they can speak more directly to our communities. And we must step out of our safety net and present unfamiliar or commission new work that speaks more directly to the hearts and minds of our neighbors. That will likely mean speaking in ways that may be far more comfortable for them than for us. Our place as members of a community is more important than any Beethoven we play; our role as conservators of the social fabric is more vital than the Ibsen we perform. This is a new and perhaps frightening way for some artists to think. I believe it is essential not only for our communities but also for the long-term health of the reflective arts community.

In addition, if we are to take part in conversations about improving communities, we need to educate ourselves. We must learn about the ways the arts have been and are being used to create better schools, address social problems, and expand the economic base of cities across the country. These are not things about which any of us have been taught. It is a brand new mode of thought. We owe it to the future of the arts to be prepared to make positive contributions to the discussion when we are asked to do so. We must be ready.

Challenges: Patrons
My second challenge is to you patrons of the arts. (I warned you this would eventually get around to fundraising.) In the best of circumstances, it is not easy to be an artist. All of their time is devoted to eking out a living and concentrating on the creative process in moments around the margin. Arts organizations, those groups that bring us the reflective arts, are also in an extremely difficult position. The arts are one of the most labor intensive industries in existence; arts processes can’t be automated to improve productivity. People are expensive. So arts organizations spend all of their energy presenting art to the public and scrounging for the funds to do so. The scrounging usually takes up the bulk of their time. And here some college professor says they should add to all of that the task of saving society. Their logical response should be, "Right. In your dreams."

In order for artists and arts presenters to have the time to educate themselves as I suggested earlier and to participate in discussions to make High Point a better place, they must be relieved from some of the tasks they are doing now. There are only so many hours in a day. The logical place to start is fundraising. Open your wallets, open your friends wallets so that the money comes in without the intense expenditure of energy that is required now. Provide them with the opportunity to have a moment or two to think "great thoughts" about the role of the arts in society. Provide them with the time to share those thoughts with you, their fellow citizens.

Conclusion
Even without the arts community intentionally focusing on its potential to improve High Point, the work they do does so. The Carousel Theatre, High Point Ballet, High Point Community Concert Association, High Point Community Theatre, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, and Piedmont Artists all make High Point—and North Carolina—a better place to live. So do the Day in the Park festival, the Arts Splash concert series, Teacher Arts Grants, and Community Project Pool Grants. These are groups and programs in which the Arts Council is already involved for the sake of improving your lives. Remember that these are generally reflective arts experiences, not visceral. They cannot compete for dollars with the immediacy of popular art and we should not ask them to do so. Their presence is vitally important to the health of the city so you should, not reticently but forcefully and with pride, hit the streets seeking financial support enabling artists to concentrate on their art.

And as you do so, remember that I have given you only a tiny glimpse of what is possible. What the arts community gives you today is valuable, but it can be far more so. In partnership you and they can quite literally change the city. Let your own imaginations, informed by awareness of on-the-street reality in High Point carry you further. Begin to have conversations with artists and arts organizations; encourage inter-agency dialogue; provide those in the arts eager to do so with time to relearn, retrain themselves to lead in this. The goal is a day, somewhere in the future, when you can ask anyone on the street "How is your life made better by the arts?" and get enthusiastic, detailed answers.

This goal is a challenge to artists. Not everyone in the arts will be eager to take on this strange new task. It is a completely foreign concept to some. But many will. The changes I suggest will require changes in the way the arts community thinks about its mission. This goal is a challenge to patrons. The transformational process will take money because money buys time. And this goal is a challenge to both to work together to implement programs that will change the broader community’s view of the role and potential of the arts.

The transformation will not be complete this year or the next or the next. It will be a gradual process requiring concentrated, persistent effort, but I am convinced that it can be done and, more to the point, that it should be done. In the meantime, encourage your artists and arts presenters in this effort; and provide them the means to sustain what they are already doing. (In other words, write large checks.) In that way, as they become prepared to join with you in this exciting new work, when the arts community is fully ready to claim its place at the table, the infrastructure will be there to enable you all to move forward together.