{"id":770,"date":"2019-05-13T02:34:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T00:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jumper\/?p=770"},"modified":"2019-05-13T02:35:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T00:35:06","slug":"my-panel-remarks-at-the-iu-center-for-cultural-affairs-symposium-new-frontiers-in-arts-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jumper\/2019\/05\/my-panel-remarks-at-the-iu-center-for-cultural-affairs-symposium-new-frontiers-in-arts-research\/","title":{"rendered":"My panel remarks at the IU Center for Cultural Affairs Symposium: New Frontiers in Arts Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This past Wednesday I participated in a symposium at Indiana University, as part of the opening of its new <\/em>Center for Cultural Affairs<\/em><\/a>. Among other programs, the Center features a new Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation Lab launched in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts; and will also help to support a new a doctoral fellowship program. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a terrific day of discussions aimed primarily at surfacing possible areas of future research for the Center. I was on a panel moderated by <\/em>Doug Noonan<\/em><\/a>, Professor at the O’Neill School at IU. Others on the panel were <\/em>Will Miller<\/em><\/a>, President of the Wallace Foundation, <\/em>Michael Orlove<\/em><\/a>, Director of State, Regional and Local Partnerships at the National Endowment for the Arts, and <\/em>Bronwyn Mauldin<\/em><\/a>, Director of Research and Evaluation at the LA County Arts Commission. Our broad topic was “Demonstrating Impact of the Arts in Society” and we were asked (among other reflections) to identify questions that, if answered, would enable tangible progress in the arts and culture sector.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we discussed on one of our planning calls, each panelist was approaching the topic from a different perspective. My own was, for better or worse, informed by having worked in a variety of roles: from being a practicing theatermaker early in my career, to working in various administrative and leadership roles at nonprofit cultural institutions, to being a philanthropoid at Mellon with Susan Feder, and finally to being an academic directing two programs in cultural leadership, as well as a blogger and ponderer and provocateur at large. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll let my comments speak for themselves but will leave you with the following reflection from Iris Murdoch which was on my mind when I wrote my remarks:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good society contains many different artists doing many different things. A bad society coerces artists because it knows that they can reveal all kinds of truths.<\/p>Iris Murdoch (1997)
Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature<\/em>, p. 18. <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Panel Remarks by Diane Ragsdale at the May 9, 2019 “New Frontiers in Arts Research” symposium at the launch of the Center for Cultural Affairs at Indiana University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good afternoon! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a pleasure and privilege to be here. My sincere thanks to Joanna Woronkowicz, Doug Noonan, Michael Rushton, and others at the O’Neill Center at Indiana University for the invitation and opportunity to be here. And congratulations on the launch of this new Center!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have wrestled for the past decade or so with, essentially, two sets of questions in my own research practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One set underpins\nmy doctoral research, which examines the relationship between the nonprofit and\ncommercial theater in the US. Essentially, I’m seeking to understand how interactions\nand distinctions between these two types of theater have evolved since the\nmid-twentieth century and how, in particular, artistic control and aesthetic\nvalues have shifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second set of questions stems from having taught a course in beauty and aesthetics for business school students, aimed at helping them see the world (and valuate experiences in life) through something other than an economic lens–through, essentially, an aesthetic lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The enduring\nquestions arising from that experience have been: <\/p>\n\n\n\n