Harvard professor Marjorie Garber offers some bold thoughts about the role of universities in the arts, and the place for arts within universities. She suggests that higher education should not only be accommodating art and artists as one of their many fields of study, but rather should be advancing art as central to their purpose. Says she:
Today, art often serves as what business calls a “loss leader” — an
appealing product offered at a nonprofit-making price in order to
attract buyers. A college or university can advertise its dance or
theater or musical groups, or its art classes and galleries, with
handsome photos on the website and in the brochure, while at the same
time reserving its major fund-raising efforts — and major donors — for
science laboratories, international affairs, or sports teams.
She then imagines a university that decides to lead the arts, rather than using them as bait.
I’ll admit that from inside a major research university like UW-Madison, it’s hard to imagine the tidal shift in resources and attention that such a shift would require. At the moment, arts programs on campus are lucky if they’re even included in larger campus conversations — like parking, planning, community intiatives, and infrastructure. But it’s nice to imagine a possible future where the arts take center stage.
Worth a read.
Joseph Epstein reviews Garber’s book here:
http://tinyurl.com/4823um
Its truly inspiring for the institutions specially dealing with visual arts and the idea is as noble as any other creative aspect. In fact it has inspired me to take up the issue in the Indian subcontinent in order to raise funds where the government apathy towards the Visual arts is increasing day wise. India has emerged as a potential market for contemporary art and this article will just expand the market to the institutions to think in the same line.