A reader comment to a previous post let me know about the Canadian $20 note, and its specific emphasis on the arts. I already had a warm spot in my heart for my northern neighbors, after spending two days talking with them about ‘the healthy arts leader‘ and the importance of a supported and engaged workforce in the nonprofit arts. Now I admire them even more.
The Canadian $20 has the queen on the front (God save her, by the way), and a themed series of images on the back, celebrating Canadian arts and culture. The quote on the bill comes from Canadian author Gabrielle Roy, and speaks to the identity and expression that comes to a country and its people through the arts:
”Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?”
It’s a far cry from the Federalist practicality of U.S. currency, which says, instead:
This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.
and
In God we trust.
(Note a really interesting history of that phrase on our currency.)
Currency is a shared fiction, a printed piece of parchment that is worth something because we all believe it to be. How cool to use this bit of symbolism to express the other things a country believes to be important (and to include the arts among them).
What else do Canadians believe in? Here’s the breakdown of all the currency in the same series:
- $100 – Exploration and innovation
- $50 – Nation building
- $20 – Arts and culture
- $10 – Remembrance and peacekeeping
- $5 – Children at play
Related to the subject of money, I am wondering if you can recommend some good essays/books on the subject of art and class. I am looking for something written in the last 5 years.
Just stumbled upon your blog after reading Tyler Green’s blog. I am enjoying it so far!
Thanks for the question!
The most recent ‘classic’ text on art and class, for me anyway, is “High Brow/Low Brow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America” by Lawrence Levine. It’s from 1990, but still great stuff.
Another, perhaps on a tangent, is “Nobrow : The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture,” by John Seabrook. More about the tension of high culture and popular culture.
Finally, I always recommend “Is Art Good For Us” by Joli Jensen, which isn’t specifically about class, but attacks head-on the assumption that high art feeds the soul and popular art corrupts the masses.