{"id":3017,"date":"2024-05-13T05:44:33","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T12:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=3017"},"modified":"2024-05-13T05:44:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T12:44:36","slug":"arts-presenters-need-to-show-some-spine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/05\/arts-presenters-need-to-show-some-spine\/","title":{"rendered":"Arts presenters need to show some spine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In class I\u2019ve told students I don\u2019t like the phrase \u201ccancel culture\u201d since it is never quite clear what the speaker means by it. But arts presenters keep going around cancelling artists, and so I might need to rethink my stance on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The art museum on my own campus<\/a> cancelled a long-planned art exhibit by Palestinian artist (and Indiana University alumna) Samia Halaby on the grounds that she is an activist for the rights of Palestinians (the official IU line was that this was about \u201csecurity\u201d, which not a single person on this campus, including me, believes). Ballet Ireland cancelled a planned performance <\/a>of a work choreographed by Ohad Naharin because he is Israeli (\u201c\u201cWe stand by the right to freedom of artistic expression, and despite our belief that art should not be drawn into politics, we feel the time is not right to be performing this work,\u201d said Anne Maher, artistic director and chief executive officer of Ballet Ireland,\u201d as she proceeded to not stand by the right to freedom of expression, and to draw art into politics). Note in neither of these cases was the issue that the work of art itself was greatly offensive or out of line. The cancellations were because of who the artists were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now to Vail, Colorado, one of those ski towns intent on showing everyone just what a \u201cvibrant\u201d place it is when it comes to the arts. The Colorado Sun<\/em> reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In early March, Indigenous artist Danielle SeeWalker<\/a> posted a new painting to her Instagram: A woman in profile, her face grayed out except one eye staring directly at the viewer \u2014 a signature of SeeWalker\u2019s painted works<\/a>. The woman is wearing a keffiyeh<\/a>, the black-and-white scarf worn to signal support of Palestine, with a feather by her ear and a bright red braid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reactions to the painting were overwhelmingly positive, \u201cI\u2019m so grateful to know you and your work,\u201d one person wrote. Hands clapping and watermelon emojis, a symbol of Palestinian support, dotted the comment section. She later created 60 prints of the painting, titled \u201cG is for Genocide,\u201d and sold them to raise money for the UN Crisis Relief Fund<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in early May, that same painting stripped her opportunity to spend part of her summer as Vail\u2019s artist in residence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vail has been inching toward an artist in residence program for over two decades<\/a>, and finally took a major stride last year bringing Washington-based artist Squire Broel<\/a> to the town for a pilot program. In January, the town contacted SeeWalker, a Denver-based Lakota artist whose work across mediums reflects her experiences as an Indigenous woman in contemporary America. They wanted her as their second artist in residence. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SeeWalker worked with Vail\u2019s Art in Public Places<\/a> program to develop a residency that would include a mural at the Vail Village parking structure, a photography exhibit from her Red Road Project<\/a> and a moderated discussion<\/a> at the Vail Symposium<\/a>, a nonprofit independent of the town that provides educational programming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city posted an announcement about her residency on May 6, a month before she was scheduled to move in. Then the town started to receive emails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started getting messages from individuals looking closely at her social media posts,\u201d Forrest said. \u201cThe concern was around the very polarizing issue in Israel and Gaza right now. We didn\u2019t want public funds connected to a project about a polarizing geopolitical issue that is still playing out.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ms. SeeWalker\u2019s profile is here<\/a>, and you can check out some of her artwork here<\/a>. A few things to note. First, the cancellation of her artist-in-residency was not about any art made or anything she did during that residency: it had not yet begun. Second, just browsing her website reveals that her work is often political, explicitly dealing with the violence Europeans inflicted upon Native Americans, the exploitation, and the horrors of the boarding school system (about which she uses the term \u201cgenocide\u201d). And so they offered the artist-in-residency to someone they knew<\/em> often incorporated politics into her work, and, I am going to guess, were attracted by the \u201cedginess\u201d of bringing her to Vail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not someone drawn to political art (nor do I hold that \u201call art is political\u201d, except in the most banal sense). I find that in the vast majority of cases neither the political intent nor the aesthetic aspects of the work succeed (yes, I know there are a few exceptions, but they are few). I also think any writer or artist ought to think long and hard when they choose to use the word \u201cgenocide\u201d. Calling a work \u201cG is for Genocide\u201d is not serious, and it is a subject warranting some gravitas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s just me;\u00a0chacun \u00e0 son go\u00fbt<\/em>. And \u201cG is for Genocide\u201d was not planned for a large-scale mural in Vail, scaring off the tourists, about which the town could have, rightly, demurred. But my take on her art, or the \u201cmessages from individuals looking closely at her social media posts\u201d, are not the point. If you are going to present an artist, as a museum, a ballet company, or a town, then you commit to it. In each of the three cases I mention here, nothing\u00a0new<\/em>\u00a0was revealed about the artists from the time the commission was made. It\u2019s just that the institutions got nervous:\u00a0somebody<\/em>\u00a0is offended by who the artist is, whether Palestinian, Israeli, or a politically forthright Lak\u021f\u00f3ta w\u00ed\u014bya\u014b. Show some courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross posted at: https:\/\/michaelrushton.substack.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In class I\u2019ve told students I don\u2019t like the phrase \u201ccancel culture\u201d since it is never quite clear what the speaker means by it. But arts presenters keep going around cancelling artists, and so I might need to rethink my stance on this. The art museum on my own campus cancelled a long-planned art exhibit by Palestinian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":"","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-3017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-MF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2208,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2017\/05\/can-we-should-we-brand-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":0},"title":"Can we, should we, brand “The Arts”?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Barry's Blog has thoughts on this. He points out, correctly I think, that while individual airline companies - Delta, Virgin, Qantas - try to create a brand image of their own, there is also in the public mind an idea of the airline sector as a whole. When one airline\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"branded","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/coke-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3005,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/04\/why-public-funding-for-the-arts-a-personal-view\/","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":1},"title":"Why Public Funding for the Arts: A Personal View","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u00a0wrote a book\u00a0looking at how different ways of moral and political theorizing drew different conclusions regarding whether the state should, or should not, subsidize the arts. At the very end of the book I give something of a personal view. There is a review circulating that is terribly confused about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3100,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/10\/the-predictable-result-of-arts-organizations-and-cell-phones\/","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":2},"title":"The predictable result of arts organizations and cell phones","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0Inquirer\u00a0reports that cell phones\u00a0are presenting a problem at the Philadelphia Orchestra: Another orchestra season, another soul-killing cell phone interruption. As banal as it may be, Saturday night\u2019s\u00a0mid-Bruckner cell phone incident\u00a0at the Philadelphia Orchestra is a painful thing to ponder, a kind of\u00a0musicus interruptus\u00a0from which a performance never really recovers. Yannick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3690,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/01\/what-is-public-funding-of-the-arts-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":3},"title":"What is public funding of the arts for?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"January 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Some Adam Smith as an appetizer\u2026 Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer. The maxim is so perfectly self-evident, that it would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4611,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/11\/bill-ivey\/","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":4},"title":"Bill Ivey","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Bill Ivey died this past weekend; he was eighty-one years old. It came as a shock to us - just last week he was here in Bloomington meeting with our arts policy students, something he loved doing. He was a great friend to our program, generous with his time and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2753,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2022\/05\/book-diary-may-13-can-a-neoliberal-support-public-funding-for-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":3017,"position":5},"title":"Book Diary – May 13 – Can a Neoliberal support public funding for the arts? – Updated","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In the field of cultural affairs I often come across papers that use the word \"neoliberalism\", virtually always describing a bad thing, but with its precise meaning pretty vague - even when I ask as a friendly question what the presenters mean they are not quite sure. In arts policy,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/neoliberalism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/neoliberalism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/neoliberalism.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3019,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3017\/revisions\/3019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}