As an everyday arts advocate, I’ve been ruminating on the interview the NY Times published with new NEA Chair Rocco Landesman last Friday. (The NEA’s 10th) The interview gives us much more to think about than how Mr. Landesman’s style and perspective will play out with Congress, though that’s what others have given the most attention.
AJ blogger Lee Rosenbaum wrote immediately about Landesman’s comments and has continued to follow the reactions from Peoria’s Congressman and Peoria’s arts community. Judith Dobrzynski made her observations a couple days later on her AJ blog.
I’m more interested in how Landesman’s rhetoric connects to the wider social transformations challenging our country right now, and how he’s articulating his priorities. When he states,
“I don’t know if there’s a theater in Peoria, but I would bet that it’s not as good as Steppenwolf or the Goodman,”
Landesman is really saying large cities are better than suburbs small cities and they deserve more government investment in the arts.
He further demonstrates his dismissal of the suburbs by describing his idea for creating an “Our Town” program that connects artists and small towns. He says:
“When you bring artists into a town, it changes the character,
attracts economic development, makes it more attractive to live in and
renews the economics of that town,” he said. “There are ways to draw
artists into the center of things that will attract other people.”The program would also help finance public art projects and
performances and promote architectural preservation in downtown areas,
Mr. Landesman added. “Every town has a public square or landmark
buildings or places that have a special emotional significance,” he
said. “The extent that art can address that pride will be great.”
Suburbs don’t have town squares or historic buildings, but they are full of people. And, these people are feeling the sting of losing ground – economically, politically, and as the long-time ethnic majority.
With the agenda and prejudice Mr. Landesman has already articulated, he’s on track to further distance this large swath of our national population from the arts and the essential role the arts play in bringing individuals and communities together. Hopefully he’ll move away from believing that quality and geography are mutually exclusive criteria and embrace them both as means to a greater end.
Mr. Landesman is now the arts leader with the largest megaphone. What he says and what he does will ripple out to every state and municipal arts agency, major foundations, arts organizations of all sizes, and individuals. He’s doing more than running a 170 person federal agency. He’s responsible for articulating a vision that makes the arts meaningful in the eyes and lives of all Americans. I’m looking for him to invite everyone to be part of his vision.
UPDATE
Here is Rocco Landesman’s official first statement from the NEA website.
Peoria is not a suburb. It is a small city.
While I agree with you that his plan needs to be amended to include areas with no city centers such as suburban communities, it appears his focus with this plan is on small cities and towns. Most of these cities have never seen NEA money – ever. While his is not an original idea, its refreshing to finally have someone put money to this and to encourage support of the arts in a different capacity.
I look forward to seeing the actual programs that result from Mr. Landesman’s ideas. His comment about Peoria explicitly demonstrate that he feels its arts organizations, of which he knows none, and those of other small communities are of lesser quality than those in large cities. In fact, I read into his comments a belief that small towns and small cities, as you rightly point out, would benefit by importing artists from large cities. I found no hint that Mr. Landesman knows or understands how the arts ecology works outside our largest cities’ largest institutions. He wants to do good for towns and cities, and hasn’t even thought of suburbs. Peoria may be his first lesson in what needs to be a quick education.
In response to Mr. Landesman’s NY Times interview, Suzette Boulais, executive director of ArtsPartners, and I extended invitations to the new NEA chairman to visit Peoria to experience our theatre’s offerings. He immediately responded by email his gratitude for the invitation and that he will come to Peoria. Tuesday afternoon on his first day in office, I received a call from Mr. Landesman confirming that he is excited about visiting our community. Our goal is for Peoria to represent all of the smaller communities in the nation that are doing worthy and worthwhile work in the arts. In homage to the ‘The Beer Summit’, we are lovingly calling this visit, ‘The Lemonade Stand’…not because that is what we drink, but because that is what we do in Peoria – we take lemons and turn them into lemonade.
Kathy – thanks for this update. I’d be happy to publish your 1st person account of Mr. Landesman’s visit. Based on his quick response to your invitation, I assume that NEA 10.1 is on the fast-track for release. I look forward to hearing all about “The Lemonade Stand!” – D
To me Landesman’s comments were quite clear – the NEA will not dole out money on the basis of demographics, but by using high quality as the standard. I am in a community of 13,000, far smaller than even Peoria, which is over 100,000 and I have no doubt that this focus on merit rather than geographic apportioning is far better for the arts.
Indeed, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts where I live, most towns are very small, but we can easily compete on the basis of artistic standards.
I think Rocco has a great message.
http://www.BerkshireFineArts.com