Greg Sandow lobs a compelling argument in the National Performing Arts Convention blog, encouraging us to decouple ”art” and ”the arts” in our thinking and our planning. Says Greg:
Art is an activity, sometimes sublime, and also the result of that activity. By now we know — or certainly we ought to know — that it might be found anywhere, in vacant lots, in silence and graffiti, in overheard remarks (see the poetry of Jonathan Williams, an advocate of outsider art, who died not long ago), and in popular culture. The arts, by contrast, are a set of interest groups, whose claim to glory (and to funding) is that they speak for art, which is only partly true. They don’t speak for all art, and when someone speaking for the arts — by which I mean for the interest groups — says that only the arts can offer meaning in our society, we’ve strayed so far from reality that we might as well be jumping off a cliff.
I don’t agree that many (or even most) nonprofit arts organizations claim to speak for all of the arts (I know, hyperbole makes blogging more fun…I do it all the time). And I tend to see the cluster of entities we now call ”the arts” as an important subset of expressive enterprise rather than a set of interest groups. But Greg’s larger point is right on the money (on the subsidy, I suppose).
Nonprofit, professional, excellence-focused cultural organizations aren’t more noble, more worthy, or more representative of art. They are a particular means of producing, delivering, and preserving forms of human expression that don’t fare well in commercial or informal markets. We’ve certainly extracted cash and contributions from claiming a unique and important place in that larger system. But from this point forward, that same claim of separateness will only serve to diminish our position in and our impact on the world.
It will be interesting to see how the argument pans out during the National Performing Arts Convention. I’ll be there to listen and watch, along with a team of academics and graduate students commissioned to do just that. More on that project soon…
People construct so many rules and labels in life, it obstructs the purpose — to live in joy. Art is just an expression of something within a being — not to be labeled or qualified by another. If we look at all art as expression, we’re free to express ourselves in our own unique way. Who am I to judge the way another dresses, eats, speaks… or paints a picture? Does it have to be good or bad, better or worse? My art is just me, in ink, on the paper, there for anyone who finds joy in it.
Organizations exist to serve people, not the other way around. As soon as the constituents of arts organizations exist to serve the organization itself, you get into the area of “the arts,” as well as the idea of nonprofit arts organizations as special interest groups competing for funding.