A journalist/theatre critic in my hometown has started a great debate about the state of the arts – both locally and on a broader scale. The debate is one that is controversial among artists and non-artists alike, and one that I have some pretty strong opinions about. So, of course I'll weigh in via my blog. 'Cuz that's how I roll.
Lengel writes, “Across the arts-and-culture sector, virtually every organization, large and small, has had to slash spending... after dozens of conversations with arts executives and industry watchers, I have come to see a strange sort of silver lining in this existential crisis. The Great Recession has done more than force arts groups to re-examine their business models, it is also forcing them to face the hardest truth of all: Society doesn’t owe you anything.”
From a personal standpoint, I kinda agree with that hard truth. The choice of wording is a little assumptive, but I understand the message.
Essentially, it IS up to the writers to write the right rites (sorry, had to) and up to the directors to innovate and improve. It is up to the actors to engage and inspire and the marketers to market and the costumers to costume and for everyone to do what they do best – which is why I assume we're all here in the first place. No one expects to throw crap on a stage and attract funding or an audience (except Honey Boo-Boo and the Kardashians).
Society doesn't owe it to us at all.
Society owes it to themselves.
Without art, we lose connection with something that is bigger than ourselves. Without the arts, we lose what is the best (and worst) part of being human – our ability to create and surprise and inspire... to move and be moved. To transcend and participate in something beyond our inconsequential mortal fictions.
Mr. Lengel inspired much debate with his words. He moved people – either affecting them positively or negatively – and perhaps even a few heartrates increased as passionate debate stirred within. In my book, that makes Mr. Lengel an artist himself. And thus, his responsibility is no less than mine to use his gifts to inspire the community to support it's own artistic voice. He sparked debate. Love it or hate it, he was successful in stirring up something within a community that was worth the dialogue.
Art is collaborative. It requires the artist to feed the community as much as it requires the community to feed the artist. In harmony, it is self-sustaining. In disharmony, it is cynical and apathetic.
On a practical level alone, it is proven that communities that support and encourage the arts see significant drops in crime, truancy and teen pregnancy among their youth. The arts have been used to promote literacy, recreate history, educate, engage and inspire since the beginning of man. Clinton played the sax. Obama sings. DaVinci, Edison, Einstein, Tesla, Graham-Bell - all scientific and technological innovators.
And artists and poets and musicians.
The same innovation and creativity required to create remarkable works of art is the same innovation and creativity required to find success in business or to forward technology and industry. These qualities are evolutionary and revolutionary and should NEVER be suppressed.
Society owes it to themselves.
Artists are creation machines. And there is much to be learned when we can turn that mirror in on itself and lend a voice to the arts-and-culture representations of our communities... our 'society'.
We are failing because we (as a 'society') have put an emphasis on production rather than creation; buying into the notion that we are valuable based on the quantity, the quality, and under which oppressive circumstances we can sustain or increase what we produce.
We are slipping into an age where we treasure consumerism over creation, productivity over inspiration, and pragmatism over passion – threatening the existence of our collective intangible human soul.
But arts groups aren't failing everywhere. There are organizations (and communities) that are thriving.
Predecessors passing the torch to the next generation of visionaries – and those who have toiled through years of up and down experiences, fashioning new legacies to be passed along to their successors. Thriving.
Why? Because they feed their community – outreach programs, collaborative productions, unconventional locales, innovative settings, controversial content, celebrity box office billings – and in return, their community feeds them. Neither side is apathetic. Both are passionate, excited, and anticipating 'the next big thing' they will create together. It is self-sustaining. And self-destructive. When one side fails, both sides fail.
'Society' is responsible for supporting and continuing the arts in their own communities and artists must create that which is worth preserving.
It is not enough to make art. We must make good art.
And we must be a reminder to our communities that art is essential – if nothing else, to touch base with our own imaginations rather than the touch screen of our latest app.
When was the last time you hooted and clapped and guffawed out loud? When was the last time someone's poetic words moved you to tears? When was the last time you stopped and marveled at the beauty around you? When was the last time you hummed a tune? Or doodled in your note pad? That is the byproduct of art. The ability to relate to another person - most likely a stranger to you - and their concepts or theories or feelings or notions is the beauty and wonder and marvel of the human condition. Other side effects of art include: inspiration, motivation, joy, surprise, alarm, laughter, tears, guffaws, victorious cries, breathless sighs, snickers (available at concessions), intrigue, adaptability, dialogue, debate, connection, imagination...
Society doesn't owe me anything. I'm an artist. A creation machine. I began early, and I will continue to create as long as I have a pulse.
Society owes it to themselves to encourage, promote, preserve, maintain and participate in the arts; because we are all artists.We're all responsible.
We're all creation machines.
We all need to be.
Or our 'society' is doomed.
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