{"id":49,"date":"2011-08-13T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2011-08-13T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=49"},"modified":"2011-08-13T07:34:31","modified_gmt":"2011-08-13T11:34:31","slug":"the-arts-four-noble-truths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/08\/the-arts-four-noble-truths\/","title":{"rendered":"The Arts’ Four Noble Truths"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you who have seen the first few posts, I guess it’s now time to get on with the interesting task of providing some kind of systematic overview of what we’ll be considering here. I could be very serious and professorial about it, . . . but who would want to read it? (And my students would probably not recognize me.) For the record, I would like to be clear that this post and the follow-up on the Eightfold Path to Community Engagement are in no way intended to trivialize Buddhist belief. It is actually my respect for those parallel constructs that brought this frame to mind.<\/p>\n

\"\"So, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, here are The Arts’ Four Noble Truths. These will serve as the foundation for what is posted here:<\/p>\n

1. Life in the arts as we know it today is suffering.
\n2. The origin of that suffering is insufficient attachment to community.
\n3. The cessation of suffering is attainable by engagement with the community.
\n4. Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path to Community Engagement.<\/p>\n

Cute (or irritating, depending on your tolerance for hyperbole and, perhaps, blasphemy), right?<\/p>\n

The first will bring a wry smile of recognition to the face of almost everyone who has spent even a day in the world of the arts. (Yes, we know the pleasures of being in the field; but we’re among friends here, let’s fess up to this side.)<\/p>\n

The second and third will need more work from my awareness-building campaign, although I began to address this in my previous “Why?<\/a>” and “Click<\/a>” posts. In the meantime, think of it this way: If the majority of the population believed passionately that the work of the arts was vitally important to their health, happiness, and prosperity, wouldn’t many if not most of our problems be solved? Unrealistic? But didn’t you say that the arts are for everyone? . . . .<\/p>\n

And the fourth will need to wait until I present the Eightfold Path. To get you to come back, I’ll use that as a later post. The delay will also give me a little more time to work out the details. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

——-<\/p>\n

And for our example du jour<\/em>, see the August 2 post on the NEA’s Art Works site: http:\/\/www.arts.gov\/artworks\/?p=8649<\/a>, It describes\u00a0 a project and organization, Critical Exposure<\/a>. CE puts cameras in the hands of young people to document conditions in their schools and communities. Their work is then used to advocate for change. Here are a couple of observations:<\/p>\n