DANGEROUS DIRECTION<\/strong> as well.<\/p>\nFrankly, there is also reason to be suspicious of his ultimate goal.<\/p>\n
As a self-professed “Tea Party Republican” and former candidate for Congress, Mr. Ward must surely recognize (if not agree with) the agenda that would eliminate ALL public funding for arts & culture under the banner to “reduce the size and scope of government.”<\/p>\n
While public funding levels in Arizona have never been particularly abundant, those amounts have been, nonetheless, reduced substantially in recent years. \u00a0That the sector has been able to preserve anything<\/em> must be credited to the efforts of MANY arts and cultural organizations (and their government affairs advocates) and countless efforts to educate and mobilize audiences and stakeholders so that city and state-level public officials hear the message that their diverse constituents VALUE what public support of arts & cultural does for them.<\/p>\nA policy that reduces public funding to just The Phoenix Symphony and perhaps a few other “marquee” institutions (a designation of vague and questionable merit, by the way) not only appears hypocritical and self-serving – but it reinforces antiquated and counter-productive stereotypes of arts & cultural elitism.<\/p>\n
In response to my posting of the original article on Facebook, a friend posted this insightful additional point with which I also agree:\u00a0“What, Matt, you don’t believe in trickle-down arts funding? \u00a0Yes, “too big to fail” is a hypocritical notion, for sure. If anything, the arts will be reborn from the bottom up. I look to small organizations to reinvigorate the arts scene and to make people want the arts again.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n- Second, Mr. Ward decries the number of non-profits that are “vying for the teat of the funders.”<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
I’d observe that the choice of metaphor reveals a somewhat disrespectful attitude to funders and peers alike, but it’s the meaning<\/em><\/strong> of his comments to which I object most strenuously.<\/p>\nWhile undeniably true that the number of non-profits has increased along with competition among them for limited charitable resources, a businessman like Mr. Ward should appreciate that the realm of charitable support is a marketplace in its own right. \u00a0Competition for limited funding drives applicants to innovate and affords funders the ability to make purposeful decisions over time about where and how their support should be invested.<\/p>\n
The growth of the non-profit sector about which Mr. Ward complains is actually a celebration-worthy<\/em> demonstration that beyond the capacity of the free market system there exist the substantial efforts of strong and caring people who are willing to dedicate themselves to important causes.<\/p>\nUndoubtedly, there are severe strains to the system and we would all welcome greater efforts to increase levels of philanthropy. \u00a0But at the end of the day, it’s healthy to consider the decisions of those funders as a form of economic truth serum. \u00a0Sometimes, the judgement of the jury is harsh.<\/p>\n
If the Phoenix Symphony – or any other organization – is feeling “crowded out” of funding opportunities, then that’s a pretty clear sign that it is time to re-assess the fundamentals of its own relevance to its audiences, stakeholders and community.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n- Third, Mr. Ward isn’t just advocating for the viability of his organization. \u00a0He’s asking for that public and\/or charitable support AT THE DIRECT EXPENSE OF OTHER ARTS & CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Hey, I understand that the CEO of a non-profit is expected to work vigorously and creatively to help the organization survive and thrive. \u00a0But the people who lead the largest organizations in town (as well as their Boards of Directors) also carry a leadership responsibility for the whole of the arts & cultural sector.<\/p>\n
To turn on smaller organizations – and, in particular, to undermine the community spirit that unites the cause of arts & cultural engagement – is to become a self-serving bully in an abusive relationship.<\/p>\n
With friends like these, who needs enemies?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nWhat Mr. Ward is advocating leads to only one of two ends – and they are both highly undesirable:<\/p>\n
\n- At best,<\/strong>\u00a0his Darwin-esqe “survival of the largest” philosophy saves a few large institutions but offers no connection to a long-term objective of nurturing a vibrant arts and cultural sector where a multitude of audiences feel deep connection to a\u00a0diverse group of organizations of many different sizes, missions and backgrounds.<\/li>\n
- At worst,<\/strong>\u00a0his “my organization’s survival at any cost” strategy throws much of the rest of the arts & cultural community under the bus<\/em>\u00a0and most likely leads to the final solution that destroys the wide base of support for public funding of arts and culture once and for all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Clearly, this is a matter of high-stakes with serious long-term implications.<\/p>\n
The leaders of large arts & cultural organizations have a\u00a0responsibility\u00a0to LEAD<\/strong> the sector’s advancement on this critically issue and not to start a self-destructive civil war.<\/p>\nAnd the leaders of ALL arts & cultural organizations have a responsibility to UNITE<\/strong>\u00a0in pursuit of objectives that are beyond the capacity of any to achieve individually.<\/p>\nThat effort begins by eliminating the word \u201cmarquee\u201d from our vocabulary and by focusing on what really matters: \u00a0relevance, meaning <\/strong>and\u00a0community impact.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n- QUICK ADDITION:<\/strong> \u00a0I am delighted to note this just-published letter to the editor<\/a> <\/strong>from the Executive Director of Arizona Citizens for the Arts, Arizona’s statewide arts advocacy association.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
# # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m calling a flag on the play. This is the NFL signal for\u00a0Unsportsmanlike Conduct. Normally, I’d be among the first to say, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I’ve spent the last 18 years as a champion of Arizona’s offerings of theatre, music, dance, art, festivals, culinary, science\/technology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4,25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-mission","7":"category-strategy","8":"category-value","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/audience\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Unsportsmanlike-conduct1-300x291.png\" "\\"Unsportsmanlike")
I’m calling a flag on the play.<\/p>\n