A new initiative in California prompts several observations. It’s called Arts In the 2010 California Governor’s Race, and that in itself is unusual: a new, non-partisan arts group formed specifically for one race.
The organization, led by a wide-ranging group of theater, music, and multi-art directors, says it’s building a “statewide army” of citizens to send the message to the candidates, Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, that the arts matter. They want arts-friendly policies, including an increase in public funding for the arts, the assurance that students from K-12 have a high quality arts education, and measures that “nurture an environment to allow individuals and families affordable access to all forms of the arts.”
I’m not sure what that last one would entail, but nevermind.
The group is defining the arts very broadly, and while that sounds fine in theory, in practice it means that Hollywood seems to occupy a prominent place in the argument. Hollywood certainly takes precedence in the website section on how the arts contribute to the California economy. That may be because the movie industry has fairly reliable statistics, whereas museums, classical music venues, theaters and so on do not (despite my regular pleas [here and here, to name two posts] for better, shared statistics). While some numbers, even skewed, are better than no numbers — people respond to real statistics — this allows the candidates off the hook if they cater solely to Hollywood. And that’s not good.
The site has two very welcome sections: Californians can send letters to the candidates about the arts via the site, and the site also lists questions arts-lovers could ask the candidates — predictable, mostly, but still. The point is to get the arts into the discussion. And that’s good.
But it’s hard to tell if the organization as a whole is having impact. The “Forum” part of the site, where there is room for conversations and comments, seems very inactive, and perhaps an indication of the organization’s limited reach. Or maybe lack of general interest in the arts. Need I say “that’s not good”?
Still, it’s a start. I personally don’t agree with all of the group’s aims, but I applaud its desire to get the arts into the election discussion in a non-partisan way.