{"id":431,"date":"2013-08-10T12:54:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T19:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/?p=431"},"modified":"2013-08-10T13:13:35","modified_gmt":"2013-08-10T20:13:35","slug":"are-arts-leaders-cultural-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2013\/08\/are-arts-leaders-cultural-leaders.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Arts Leaders “Cultural” Leaders?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"800px-Lincoln_Center_Main\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The two terms sometimes get mixed up. They’re not interchangeable. For the most part, the big cultural debates of our time take place without participation of our artists and arts leaders. If artists aren’t participating – let alone leading – it’s difficult to make the case that they’re cultural leaders.<\/p>\n

Somehow, our public debates about values – and by extension, what our culture looks like – have become the exclusive domain of politics. To speak out on values can only be seen as a political act in America. Issues like gun culture, family values, social services, and public space are owned by narrow political forces who have a vested interest in them and who frame how they’re discussed.<\/p>\n

But why? The issues may be political and how we deal with them as public policy might be political, but the values needn’t be. The genius of the so-called culture warriors was to conflate politics and values so that not only did every political argument become a values argument, but that every values argument is also political.<\/p>\n

But why? There have certainly been many political artists. And artists have had influence on politics.But for the most part that’s in the past. Today’s big arts institutions studiously avoid taking political positions so as not to alienate important constituencies. But they’ve also gotten squeamish about expressing values too, for fear of being drawn in to politics. Slippery slope and all that.<\/p>\n

So we have an amazing pretzel of a response from the Metropolitan Opera this week to an online petition asking that the Met Gala in September be dedicated in “support of LGBT people.” The petition protests Russia’s laws discriminating against gays by noting that the Met is featuring two Russian artists who \u00a0“support Putin’s recent laws against homosexual people.” \u00a0But it doesn’t ask the opera house to remove or censure the artists or to cancel the production.\u00a0The petition<\/a>\u00a0has 1,645 signatures as of Saturday morning, and it asks the Met to dedicate the event to support the rights of gay people. A simple declaration of values.<\/p>\n

Maybe not so simple. The Met responded<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“The Met\u00a0is proud of its history as a creative base for LGBT singers, conductors, directors, designers, and choreographers. We also stand behind all of our artists, regardless of whether or not they wish to publicly express their personal political opinions. As an institution, the Met deplores the suppression of equal rights here or abroad. But since our mission is artistic, it is not appropriate for our performances to be used by us for political purposes, no matter how noble or right the cause.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First an unabashed declaration of support: “As an institution, the Met deplores the suppression of equal rights here or abroad.” If the petitioners wanted the Met to take a side on this issue, then here it is.<\/p>\n

Then an equivocation: “We also stand behind all of our artists, regardless of whether or not they wish to publicly express their personal political opinions.” Translation:\u00a0we choose our artists on the basis of their artistry, not their politics. If our artists have different values than those of the institution, we also support them, even if we disagree with them.<\/p>\n

And a bright red line: “since our mission is artistic, it is not appropriate for our performances to be used by us for political purposes, no matter how noble or right the cause.”\u00a0So the Met produces no operas that express politics? It makes no artistic decisions based on politics? It expresses no values that are political? Only artistic?<\/p>\n

The petition requests a statement of values. The Met makes such a statement – an unequivocal one – only not in the form the petition asks for. Fine. Easy to understand that an institution doesn’t want to be bullied. But it’s “not appropriate” for its performances to be used for political purposes “no matter how noble or right they are?” \u00a0That’s quite a claim for the position of art in our culture. No wonder we’re not cultural leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two terms sometimes get mixed up. They’re not interchangeable. For the most part, the big cultural debates of our time take place without participation of our artists and arts leaders. If artists aren’t participating – let alone leading – it’s difficult to make the case that they’re cultural leaders. Somehow, our public debates about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":432,"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":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cultural-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/800px-Lincoln_Center_Main.jpg?fit=800%2C532&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ePZm-6X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/is_the_nea_bad_for_the_arts.html","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":0},"title":"Is the NEA bad for the arts?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"March 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A ridiculous question, sure. The National Endowment for the Arts is the channel through which the federal government invests money in the arts. And though it's not much money, compared to what other countries invest, it's something. Besides giving money, the NEA also has the value of drawing attention or\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2009\/03\/is_the_nea_bad_for_the_arts.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"images.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/images.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1625,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2019\/12\/are-the-arts-to-blame-for-donald-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":1},"title":"Are The Arts To Blame For Donald Trump?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A few months ago I was at a conference of administrators of large arts institutions when a leading researcher in cultural trends made a bold claim: The election of Donald Trump is a result of the failure of the arts and culture sector.","rel":"","context":"In "arts and politics"","block_context":{"text":"arts and politics","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/trump-1350044_640.jpg?fit=608%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/trump-1350044_640.jpg?fit=608%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/trump-1350044_640.jpg?fit=608%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3271,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2026\/02\/aj-chronicles-the-battles-for-who-gets-to-say-what-culture-is.html","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":2},"title":"AJ Chronicles: The Battles for Who gets to say what Culture Is","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Evidence abounds this week that the battles for culture are intensifying. Taken together, these tests of authority over cultural institutions are probes of where the line is, of how much self-censorship the cultural sector will perform without being explicitly required to.","rel":"","context":"In "AJ Chronicles"","block_context":{"text":"AJ Chronicles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/aj-chronicles"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexei_other-electricity-4971002_640.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexei_other-electricity-4971002_640.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/alexei_other-electricity-4971002_640.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1107,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2016\/09\/this-weeks-aj-arts-highlights-has-entertainment-made-art-irrelevant.html","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":3},"title":"This Week’s AJ Arts Highlights: Has Entertainment Made Art Irrelevant?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"September 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This Week: Major shakeup in London's museum world... Nobel laureate says entertainment has killed art... Latest study of Hollywood reaffirms cultural inequality... Why did Wells Fargo disparage artists?... Did the Glenn Gould Foundation get ahead of itself in announcing arts Nobel prizes? Seismic Changes In London's Museum World: Two high-profile\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Weekly AJ Top Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Weekly AJ Top Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/weekly-aj-top-stories"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/crowd-of-people-1209630_1280.jpg?fit=800%2C403&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3104,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2025\/11\/not-really-a-manifesto-i-guess-but-perhaps-a-framework-for-thinking-about-ai-and-art.html","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":4},"title":"Not Really a Manifesto, I guess, but Perhaps a Framework for Thinking about AI and Art…","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"November 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Notions of ownership of creative work, ideas, and artistic identity are muddied when the technology rapidly outpaces attempts to define issues and even what's at stake.","rel":"","context":"In "arts and AI"","block_context":{"text":"arts and AI","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/arts-and-ai"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bauhaus-art-8489770_1920.jpg?fit=800%2C435&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bauhaus-art-8489770_1920.jpg?fit=800%2C435&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bauhaus-art-8489770_1920.jpg?fit=800%2C435&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/bauhaus-art-8489770_1920.jpg?fit=800%2C435&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1305,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/2017\/02\/is-the-institutionalization-of-our-arts-a-dead-end.html","url_meta":{"origin":431,"position":5},"title":"Is The Institutionalization Of Our Arts A Dead End?","author":"Douglas McLennan","date":"February 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In his essay looking back on Lincoln Center on its 50th birthday, Joe Horowitz suggests that the cultural citadel built optimistically\u00a0to be a launching pad for the American performing arts, might have turned out instead to be a box canyon. Perhaps the buildings are to blame: the Met theatre is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "culture business models"","block_context":{"text":"culture business models","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/category\/culture-business-models"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/steelwool-458840_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/steelwool-458840_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/steelwool-458840_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/steelwool-458840_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/steelwool-458840_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/diacritical\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}