Arts Engagement: Responsibilities of publicly funded arts organizations.

Many have commented in some productive way on the unrest and uprising in Baltimore just three weeks ago.  I have struggled to find words that could be at all meaningful.  The more I think about it, the more I try to contextualize the value of my work as an advocate/lobbyist for public funding for the arts, and answer the very difficult question -- Does my work matter/make a difference in people's daily lives.  This question was significantly reinforced over the weekend by a puppet.  Yes, "Princeton" the puppet in search of a "purpose" in AVENUE Q (don't miss the really wonderful treatment this musical receives by Baltimore's STILLPOINTE THEATRE.)  Ultimately, I do believe my work matters, the question now is 'how much?’ And, what more can I do with this platform I work from to create a stronger and more engaged sector that revels in a strong public trust, and gives back every day as thanks for it.  A recent ON BEING Pod-cast helped me begin to explore that question.

Each year for the last five, in my role as Executive Director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts, I have advocated directly and indirectly for sustained or increased funding (via a General Fund appropriation of taxpayer dollars) to support the nonprofit arts sector in our state. 

Government House, Annapolis, MD

When I started this job, funding was leveled off at $13.2 million after being reduced by $3 million, as a direct result of the great recession.  At the end of the most recent General Assembly session, funding was approved at it's highest level ever in Maryland, at almost $16.8 million.  These numbers tell me that our leaders in Annapolis have a great deal of faith in the value of the arts.  As a sector we make an enormous impact economically, over $1 billion annually according to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development study released annually by the Maryland State Arts Council.  But, and to get to the point of my Blog title, what impact are we having socially -- or more, what are we doing as stewards of public trust (what responsibilities do we have), to create access for all to the instrinsic benefits of arts experiences.

Recently I was asked very publicly, via social media, where, in the Maryland Constitution, does it say that taxpayers must support the arts.  Well, good question..., it doesn’t.  And yet, for nearly 50 years, Maryland taxpayers have chosen to do just that.  However, with this public trust comes a great responsibility, one that goes beyond creating art for art’s sake.  In the above referenced pod-cast, the award winning and visionary composer Mohammed Fairouz, the youngest composer ever to be recorded by the Deutche Grammophon label, says no. “Art for the sake of Art is a pretentious concept.  It is un-interesting to me.  Music (art) is inextricably linked to our humanity.  The days of art as elitism are over, the days of artists speaking over people’s heads and then claiming that we are more clever, more special than people who don’t understand what we are saying, are over."  John F. Kennedy, in an address to Amherst College just one month before his assassination, said: “In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation” (highlighted in the same interview).  I think the two ideas are not dissimilar.  I think we, as arts professionals must, as Fairouz says, “speak to our audience”.

About a month ago, I attended the 20th anniversary celebration of a Maryland arts nonprofit called “Joe’s Movement Emporium”.

Joe's Movement Emporium, Mt. Rainier, MD

The event documents referred to the founding artistic director’s (Brooke Kidd) vision for a “community responsive” mission.  I love this phrase.  Here was not an organization which decided all this underserved metropolitan DC neighborhood needed was an outdoor theater festival, but rather one which listened to the needs of the community and built a strong nonprofit arts center around those needs — 20 years later it is thriving, and so is the community it serves.

As organizations and institutions which are awarded a public trust, we must all be thinking, with every event, every program, every Tweet; how are we making change, creating access, fostering opportunity for those we serve.  First Lady Michelle Obama recently told a group of donors at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York "I guarantee you that right now, there are kids living less than a mile from here who would never in a million years dream that they would be welcome in this museum. And growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was one of those kids myself. So I know the feeling of not belonging in a place like this.” (Washington Post, 5.12.15, Richard Cohen Opinion.)

I do not presume to have an answer — I only want to begin a bigger a conversation.  No matter the percentage of an organization’s budget is funded by public investment, that organization has a deep responsibility to expand the quality of life of those it serves.  Can we compare public grants of any size to various pieces of our operational budgets, sure… it makes a great “you help keep the lights on” argument.  Better, I think, to define the effect we have on those who support us, namely the members of the communities in which we operate, in ways that reflect access, opportunity, engagement and growth.

Mr. Fairouz has written a ballet called SADAT which instrumentally chronicles Anwar Sadat’s journey to and address before the Israeli Knesset in 1977.  The music is Mr. Fairouz’s own interpretation of Sadat’s words: “Turn the song into reality that blossoms and lives.”  Are we turning our music, art, poetry, dance, theatre into reality that lives?  We, the publicly funded nonprofit arts sector, have a responsibility to do just that.

Art AFFECTS when Communities Share. (Like Breathing Out, and Breathing In)

It has been a really long time since I last posted… in fact, the last post was before I took my current job almost 3 and a half years ago.

It's Time!

Culture Happens! was supposed to be my opportunity to translate my experiences of the arts in our culture into interesting and hopefully helpful stories.  Never have I been more motivated to come back to writing this than I was on Saturday, November 2, 2013.  Why?  Because I was HERE:

Yep.  DANCE EXCHANGE, in Takoma Park, MD, Founded by the visionary choreographer Liz Lerman.  I came to DE to experience a "Master Class" given by Kathleen Hermesdorf.  The two hour class was transformational (even for this observer who is sick over the fact that he did not participate in the class - oh vanity!)  Kathleen's philosophy seems to come from a focus on the whole human. She began simply by awakening the body and engaging the breath.  DE prides itself on GATHERING / MOVING / MAKING.  What else is there I ask you? This community of people; regular, everyday people… no Prima's in the room that I could tell (yes some had real dance training but not all) came together to share an experience that would make their days better, richer, easier, harder, happier, more interesting, more complete.  In my notes, which I frantically typed on my iPhone, without my glasses…, I wrote Kathleen's words, which she repeated during the first exercise: "The Breath, The Body, The Mind, The Movement. Give and Take.  A Community Shares. The Breath, The Body, The Mind, The Movement."  I will not presume to give a common explanation for this statement because I believe it hit me, and everyone else in the room in ways as unique as each of us.  Ninety minutes of intense movement and focus followed the first exercise… which was exercise… which, Kathleen pointed out, is only two letters different than exorcism.   The next 90 minutes were about Feeling, Form & Function,  the Floor, and Force & Flow.  It was beautiful.

In the spirit of Theatre Bay Area's fantastic book Counting New Beans, I wanted to ask each participant how these two hours would change their day, week, life! Because I know it did/will… like all great art does.  But for me, as an Arts Advocate, the message of the intrinsic value of the arts on our daily lives, and for the long term, is a message I and all advocates must translate into terms a lawmaker can understand… a lawmaker who's primary objective is much more likely to be short term solutions to crisis rather than longterm policy changes, the benefits of which, may not be seen during that particular lawmakers term in office.   DE and Kathleen gave me a swift kick in the right direction… but even this process of translating this message is a long term one…. and may not be realized until long after me.
Special Thanks to my friend Matthew Cumbie (Resident Artist/Education Coordinator at DE) for inviting me, and more, for inviting Kathleen!

It is worth noting that later that Saturday, at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, I experienced another magical arts moment, this time at the capable hands of the musicians and music director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and more specifically, the hands of this man:

Yep - That's Peter Serkin at the Steinway in the transformed high school auditorium which was packed to the rafters on this particular evening.  My friends and I acknowledged we were in the presence of greatness.  Wow.

In the interest of keeping this short, I will not go on to include the parlor event I attended on Sunday… but think living room, folding chairs, Britten, a piano and an amazing Soprano.  Point being, art comes in all shapes and all forms, when we buy a ticket or when we least expect it.  Be open to it, and allow yourself to measure the value in your life, and then… work on translating that value in to a story, and tell your story.  This is the great American tradition (created only because it was the one thing that every future American who came her had in common… a story.  When we tell our stories, we engage ourselves and our communities.  When we are engaged in community, we are not alone.

More Soon.  Until Then… Live Creatively and Color Outside the Lines

Artists' spaces and Public Art = jobs.

I decided to get away for my Birthday. I'm in Ulster County, NY. The heart of the Hudson River Valley. It's 45 degrees and cloudy, the Wallkill river is rushing from all the rain and the Catskills are just popping with green. It's a nice time to be here. It's a great way to get my mind of that job that I'm waiting to hear about! (Still no word.) My friend Marty runs several antique mall booths/shops and we're filling the shelves with new finds. It's a whole complex dedicated to artists and artisans. There's even an artisan cheese shop. It reminds me of listening to Congressman Jim Moran on Tuesday morning talk about the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA. What could be better for the economy the such creative adaptive reuse of empty spaces. Look at this barn...

...in another place it might have been left to rot. It was an old lumber yard. Now this place is a vibrant artists community. There is a restaurant, a coffee shop and more and probably about 25 people who work here (like Marty, his business partner Walter and of course, Blossom who runs the gallery across the way.) Working artists and artisans. Paying taxes (which are pretty high here) and contributing to the economy.

There also happens to be a lot of people shopping today. Just an observation.

But beyond the shops themselves, there is art everywhere. Public Art. I think of Rocco Landesman's tour of the Mural's of Philadelphia. I think of standing in the Hart Senate office building lobby and being in awe of "Mountain & Clouds" as it towers over our lawmakers. And guess what - the art was created by someone. Someone whose JOB it is to create art. And these places are the better for it.

During my time at the Prince Theatre in Chestertown, MD, I coined a phrase that became our motto: "See a Show; Start a Conversation." Well, I encourage you to take a moment or two this weekend, go out to your local antique mall, artist gallery, theater, writers center, whatever... and see a "show" and start a conversation. Talk about what your neighborhood would be like without these places. Maybe it will inspire you to buy a ticket for another event, or make a small donation to your local community theater. The act of spurring the economy can take many different shapes. The NEA's portion of the multi-billion dollar Recovery Act of 2009 was only $50 million. In Maryland, that translated in to $1.4 million distributed to arts organizations saving or creating dozens of jobs. Let's not forget the critical role the arts play everyday, in big cities and small towns across America.

A National Push for Local Jobs

This has been an exciting week. I spent most of Monday and Tuesday surrounded by "the choir" as it were. Arts managers, staffers, artists and advocates gathered from around the country for what was Americans for the Arts largest National Arts Advocacy Day yet. After a day full of training and briefing sessions on Monday, the group hit Capitol Hill early Tuesday morning, fighting more than 40 HOS Motorcades (HOS - Heads of State) which were tying DC streets into knots in order to end nuclear proliferation. Thank goodness for DC's METRO. At our Hill breakfast we heard from the likes of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus. She wore a black t-shirt with a picture of Shakespeare on it which read, "Will Power." We heard from Congressman John Lewis of Georgia. I was proud to be an American when as Mr. Lewis approached the podium, the room stood with a roar. Yet as he began to speak, you could hear a pin drop. A far cry from the greeting he received just a few weeks ago after helping to pass Health Care Reform. What this man has seen. He spoke of the critical role that music played in the Civil Rights Movement. He spoke of how arts are a critical component of our every day life and how "we are all actors on this American stage." We heard from the CEO of the US Conference of Mayors - a group who knows first hand the direct effect of a strong arts community on a city or town's economy. We heard actors Jeff Daniels and Kyle MacLachlan talk about the critical role that community theaters played in their success. And we heard from Speaker Nancy Pelosi - winner of the 2010 Public Leadership in the Arts Ward for Congressional arts leadership given by Americans for the Arts. Speaker Pelosi shared stories of growing up in Baltimore and stories of the thriving arts districts in her current home of San Francisco. It was a great rally and it got us ready to go out and meet with our representatives and urge them to pass a bill funding the NEA at $180 million - returning us, after a long wait, to the funding levels we saw in 1992.

I had the pleasure of working with Theresa Colvin, Executive Director of the Maryland State Arts Council, and several students from Arts Management and Dance programs at Towson University and the University of Maryland - all of whom spoke eloquently and with passion about the need for this funding and for funding of arts education programs as CORE programs in our public schools. We learned that just last week, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) accepted the position of co-chair of the Senate Cultural Caucus - a position that has been vacant for some time. She will serve with Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY.) We were fortunate enough to get a minute with Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) who is a tireless supporter of the arts in the Senate as he was in the House.

What was so significant is that this was not Hollywood, or Broadway, or event the Recording Industry Assoc. of America (though some of them were not only present but played a major role in testifying before the committee,) but this was regular, everyday Americans whose jobs are in as much danger as any teacher, plant worker, flight attendant, municipal worker, or any other American. And we came together on Capitol Hill to make sure our voices were heard.

In 2009, Maryland received more than $4 million dollars from the NEA to fund theatre projects, museum exhibits, public art, arts education, dance exhibitions and more. About 40% of that money went directly to the Maryland State Arts Council so that they could further distribute NEA funds to the far reaches of the state. Almost $1.5 million of that money was from the 2009 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act passed by Congress and Signed by the President which, thanks to the hard work of Speaker Pelosi and other dedicated members of Congress, DID include a mere $50 million for the NEA to save Arts Jobs! It worked, because I, as Executive Director of the Prince Theatre Foundation at the time, secured a $25,000 grant from the NEA to save the job of one of my staff. It was a point I was sure to make to Rep. Frank Kratovil from Maryland's 1st Congressional District, representing my beloved Chestertown.



Arts = Jobs was the mantra of the week. Hundreds of advocates made it clear to their representatives that the arts are a vital part of a recovering American economy. We made it clear that for the small investment Congress makes every year in the arts, it receives an incredible return in revenue to the treasury. Want to know more? Go to www.artsusa.org and read on! Want more information locally? Go to www.mdarts.org for Maryland or google your state's advocacy group.

What can you do? Call or write your members of congress now. Tell them to support the $180 million NEA appropriation for 2011. Tell them to fund the $53 million for Arts in Education programs in the 2011 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. And read about all the other pending bills that are important to artists and arts advocates across the nation.

But even more important then that... Tell your representative what the arts have meant to you, your children and your friends and neighbors right in your own community. Help Congress help all of us. They need to hear from us, NOW!

Start at the beginning

As Rogers and Hammerstein wrote, "it's a very good place to start." Now I am not about to delve into DO, A DEER... however, I am going to talk about most arts & culture organizations start every day, the beginning. Most mornings, on my way to work, I have an opportunity to think about what lies ahead for that day: the challenges, the opportunities, the fears, the joys. Doesn't seem too daunting. But for arts & culture leaders across the country and around the world, this thought process alone can be overwhelming.

From January 2005 through December 2009, I served as the Executive Director of the Prince Theatre Foundation. Located in the soon to be re-named Garfield Center for the Arts at the Historic Prince Theatre, this 1928 movie house has had a rebirth and has been given a new purpose thanks in part to my vision, but mostly to the small accomplishments achieved every day by extraordinary individuals. These individuals included my Board of Directors, my staff, our dozens of volunteers and our patrons. In a town of just 4500 people in Maryland's smallest and most rural county, this organization created something fantastic: a family.

When I accepted this job, which I essentially created for myself as part of a grad school project in the fall of 2004, I started from the beginning. With the exception of creating a 501(c)(3) and forming a board, I had the chance to really think about what would make this new organization succeed. I went to the streets. I met as many people as I could and talked to them about who I was and what I was doing. This small town, like most, is quite provincial. There are families that have lived here for 300 years. There are, in fact, "From Heres and Come Heres," and I was obviously a "Come Here." But it didn't stop me. Within a two years, I had been awarded the Key to the City by our amazing Mayor (now in her fifth term.) I had created, with the help of our dedicated local county arts council director, an award honoring those who have showed unparalleled commitment to the arts (honoring said arts council director and her husband - without whom, there would be significantly less cultural opportunity in our area.) And, I had produced, staged and performed in Jason Robert Brown's "Songs for a New World" - our organization's most successful production to date in both attendance and gross & net income.

There is more to this story... there is more about the challenges I faced everyday. There is more about the work that arts & culture administrators do every morning, and every day as they start from the beginning to create something wonderful, not just so people can see a show, but so people can start a conversation. I hope this blog will help us to start a new conversation about the critical role arts and culture should play in our everyday lives. I hope that we can help more people to understand the impact of arts and cultural organization on the economy, on education, on quality of life, and more.

Join me for the journey, we are starting at the beginning. This blog is based on my experience and my opinion. Not everyone will agree with what I have to say, but everyone should agree that we need to be talking about it. So let's go out and do that. I coined a tag line at the Prince Theatre Foundation... "See a Show, Start a Conversation." Today, we will begin that conversation. Join me.

JS