MEMO
To: Barack, Hillary and John
From: David Sheingold
Date: 3/28/2008
Re: National Arts Agenda
One of you is going to be the next President of the
Barack and Hillary, though I was heartened to find the arts agendas on your web sites, how about putting them front and center? In particular, Hillary, you pretty much have to stumble across your arts agenda to know that it exists embedded as it is in your “Improving Our Schools” section. But John, boo – no arts proposal. Come on maverick, time to get in the game.
As for specifics, Barack and Hillary, thumbs up on the investments in arts education, health care, the Artist-Museum Partnership Act and the NEA. I want to highlight my support for your shared commitment to artistic exchange/cultural diplomacy because it could not come at a better time.
1. Create a new cabinet-level Department of the Arts.
- Led by a newly-appointed Secretary of the Arts, the Department of the Arts will help prioritize your arts agenda and place the arts on equal footing with your other cabinet-level concerns.
2. Re-invest in the National Endowment for the Arts.
- Notice that the conversation about the NEA still lingers around getting back up to the level of NEA funding from 1992. How about a budget for this century that starts by doubling the NEA’s 1992 budget and commits at least half of that subsidy for individual artists?
- Appoint an NEA chair that shares this expansive commitment to the arts and has the ability to lead and deliver across genres.
3. Galvanize space for artistic creation and experimentation.
- Artists do not have enough time in appropriate spaces to fully hone their work and experiment with new ideas. Ironically, a considerable amount of viable artistic space sits empty for significant portions of the day and year (colleges and universities, K-12 schools, theaters, auditoriums, retreat sites, etc.). How about our next President brings these spaces to life year-round by creating a program that identifies the necessary subsidy and work force to make these spaces available to professional artists during the times that they are currently inactive?
4. Create a more robust work force for the arts.
- Provide incentives for college graduates to work in the arts by offering tuition reimbursement and salary subsidy for people with related degrees that work for 5 years following graduation as artists or as administrators, technicians and educators in the non-profit arts sector.
- Challenge US citizens to volunteer service for the arts by creating an ArtsCorps, modeled after AmeriCorps. ArtsCorps could either be a stand-alone effort or could get folded into the work of AmeriCorps with the arts positioned as a fifth critical need along with education, public safety, health and the environment.
5. Make a comprehensive arts curriculum mandatory in all public schools.
- Without a mandatory curriculum, you will leave many children behind. Schools tend to focus on what is required and there are some real limits to what you are going to be able to accomplish both inside school systems and in partnership with outside artists and cultural organizations without an embedded infrastructure that supports art making and learning.
These suggestions are not meant to define a finite agenda for the arts; the possibilities are in fact limitless (trust, I would be happy to go much further). But, if you really believe that the arts are “vital to our national character” and “embody the American spirit of self-definition” say it loud and clear. Let a bold commitment to the arts chart a new course for this country, one that celebrates all of who we are and delivers on a resounding belief in our ability to innovate.
Azaro (March 29th, 2008 at 11:36 am)
Great post, on a matter of national importance. You should expect to get at least 52 comments on it….
Eva Yaa Asantewaa (March 31st, 2008 at 4:40 pm)
Hi, David! I’m catching up with DTW blog posts, and I like yours–a good starter kit for the candidates. Let’s see how creative they can get with the excellent ideas you’ve advanced.
Sara (April 1st, 2008 at 4:57 pm)
if any of this discussion actually makes it into the national debate, that would be a big step towards change- I’m all for the Department of Arts!
Kate (April 2nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm)
Essential thinking for the candidates! Time for them to address themselves directly to the state of the Arts — form intentions to be realized.
Brian McCormick (April 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm)
Until the arts are restored to our education programs, the future will always be uncertain. We are always talking about foreign countries and their healthy subsidies for art. But those people support those things because culture has been a part of their educational experience from the beginning. I’m not sure new beauracracies are the solution, but know it has to begin in every classroom.
Jillian (April 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm)
Thanks for the great post! The difference between “firm interest” and “expansive commitment” is a great frame of reference. Explains much about the state of art policy, which as you point out, need not be on the down low.
On a personal note - #4 hits home; #1 = mind-blowing. Would also love to see more support of creative public awareness campaigns for the arts - especially live art.
Daniel Larkin (April 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 am)
Thanks for these stimulating remarks. Lets not overlook the significant economic impact of the arts in America’s cities.
Karen Leung (MFTA intern) (April 3rd, 2008 at 8:46 am)
As a college student, 3. and 4. hit home! A more innovative use of space for art creation and education would go a long way in integrating the arts into the way that me and my classmates think about community involvement. Incentives for graduates to work in the arts would put arts jobs at the top of the list for humanities students looking for jobs that actually relate to what they study.
Jeanne (April 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm)
Excellent Points!! I would also like to see a movement for parity in dance education among music, art, and theater, rather than as an 4-8 week unit in PE. It is almost impossible to get this to come about locality-by-locality and probably could use a state or federal push.
David Sheingold’s MEMO « mvworks (April 3rd, 2008 at 3:52 pm)
[...] john mccain, megan v. sprenger, mvworks, performance I encourage everyone I know to read David’s Memo to Barack, Hillary and John and to become a part of the conversation. The only issues that can be ignored are the silent [...]
Christopher Byrne (April 3rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm)
Highly incisive post! Thanks, David. What we need to get the culture to understand is that art is not a luxury. Creative exploration and expression provide the fundamental building blocks of all learning, for both the humanities and the sciences. The funny thing is that kids naturally gravitate to this–concurrent with the boom in video games, we have seen a similar rise in arts and crafts products. Kids need and want to express themselves, to learn to place themselves in the context of a culture and to become who they are going to be. The candidates spend all their time playing into fear and talking about abstract concepts like “hope” and “change.” A coherent arts program would provide a concrete foundation for understanding how those abstract concepts can go from the “feel-good” banalities of campaigning to a real, tangible, and yes, with appropriate structure, measurable means of transforming lives.
Jean (April 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 pm)
While not in the forefront, Barack Obama mentioned the arts, specifically with respect to education and schools in at least one of his speeches - in NH I think. I remember because I was so surprised to hear it. It is rare as you say… but it was at least a peep… from one outstanding candidate, in my opinion.
CBrown (April 3rd, 2008 at 10:31 pm)
Have they been invited to address any arts organizations?
I think that anyone active in the arts needs to make it a part of the life/work balance to ensure that they are taking advantage of all of the resources that are available through their cities/counties/states etc.
Having a more governmental branch that focuses on the Arts not only would give a new voice to the Arts, but it will also give a new voice to the cultural pride and preservation that exists when you are a part of our community. For years, arts have constantly fallen under the wheels of change and are replaced by the ever present signs of evolution. Universities would rather spend there money on Science Research and Development and how to create an unmanned vehicle to go into war. How wonderful would they feel to perform on the same stage with groups representing 7 countries, where your art and dedication is what unites you?
For Hilary and Barack, my hope is that there will be a voice given to what most look at as mere entertainment. It’s so much more. It gives children purpose. It gives teens a way to see their future. It gives adults a life to live. When education and the arts are combined, I think we will start to focus on things other than war.
“…we create the dreams.” Live your bliss.
David R White (April 4th, 2008 at 11:00 am)
David,
I oversaw the first ever Arts Vote 2008 effort in NH (conducted in partnership and with funding from Americans for the Arts in DC)in the months leading up to the NH Primary. Every Democrat and Mike Huckabee (alone among Republicans)offered increasingly in-depth policy overviews (i.e., beyond simply the NEA and arts-in-education). You can find them online at the Arts Vote link at the Americans for the Arts website (sorry, don’t have the URL on me).
Megan (April 4th, 2008 at 11:43 am)
For those who want to check out the policy overviews mentioned above the links are listed in the Art Policy Post here
Tara (April 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am)
Perhaps creating opportunities for a more robust work force for the arts and instituing mandatory arts curriculums in schools should be looked at as one in the same. There is no hope for strong arts programs in the schools, as long as arts (particularly dance) is looked at by the majority of Americans as an extra curricular activity, or as means to satisfy our competitive cravings on reality T.V-not as a viable and necessary part of society. How many parents steer their kids away from pursing an art form once they reach the college level? On one hand, you can’t blame them for wanting stabiltiy and financial security for their children-yet it is incredibly sad. I can only hope that conversations like this one do make it to the national platform now-then maybe by the time I have children who may want to pursue an interest/career in the arts, they will get taken seriously.
Lets keep talking- these ideas and worthwhile even if our next president continues to just humour us!
Liz (April 7th, 2008 at 6:08 pm)
Here is the link to the ArtsVote website David mentioned above: http://www.ArtsVote.org
There you can find the 10 point Pro-Arts Policy Brief and links to the candidates’ positions on arts issues, as well as ways you can get involved.
Lana (April 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm)
Thanks for this terrific post.
The Obama arts policy mention that Jean is thinking of is, “We need to teach our kids art, and music, and poetry, and civics, and history.”–Obama uses it in about half of his stump speeches.
All of your specific points are fantastic.
Eva Yaa Asantewaa (April 8th, 2008 at 12:31 pm)
It’s good to see that Barack Obama will be meeting with some arts- and education-related voters who won his recent “Dinner with Barack” contest. See http://my.barackobama.com/dinnerguests.
Eva Yaa Asantewaa
InfiniteBody blog
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com
David Sheingold (April 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm)
Thanks to everyone for their posts. I did want to add that since writing this memo it has become clear that Barack is speaking out about his support of the arts, which is encouraging.
PERFORMA » Blog Archive » MEMO to John, Barack and Hillary from DTW (April 9th, 2008 at 10:29 am)
[...] GUEST BLOGGER: Lana Fee, PERFORMA Dance Theater Workshop’s David Sheingold writes a fantastic blog post to our future president regarding the future of the arts in this country. We can all agree that the next lucky one in the hot seat will have to get creative in more ways than one, but we simply must invest more into our cultural persona as Americans and factor this into our thirst for change! Appointed leadership, funding, art education that translates to reasonable income: all very good points David. Pretty embarrassing that we even have to argue the importance of supporting our greatest innovators (not just those who can afford it)! America’s bloated budget is being disputed no doubt, but we must continue discussing this problem to exhaustion! Imperialists with no taste- we cannot go down this way!!Please read: http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org/blog/2008/03/28/memotohillarybarackandjohn/ [...]
Roberto (April 13th, 2008 at 9:41 pm)
David,
Your call for action is a necessary one and hopefully can be realized with a Democrat in the White House. But don’t hold your breath. Congress likes to talk about the arts but they behaviorally differently. After many years working with elected officials at the national, state and local level on efforts to strengthening the cultural sector and protect the rights of artists what I’ve seen is that in last 30 years are governmental cultural policies focus on controlling the content of artistic speech. Otherwise, it is the policy of willful neglect.
Your policy recommendations are on the mark. If Barack is elected an ArtCorps may happen, especially if our economy continues it’s downward spiral. Before you adulthood, and a bit of art history, during the 1970’s recession, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (or CETA) job works program was created and CETA employed artists’ prompted and created the artists’ space movement.
U.S Cultural Policy operates as a system of arrangements that include the NEA, State and Local Arts Councils, Corporate and Private Foundations, Cultural Institutions, Artists, Cultural Workers, Patrons, Arts Administrators…. What I hope for, from whoever is elected is an understanding of the decentralized nature of our nation’s cultural policy and given the symbolic importance of the NEA they appoint a Director who understands this dynamic.
The uninspired current leadership of Chairman Dana Gioia has turned the NEA into a branding device and if there’s a policy objective of the agency it is to construct complicity behind the idea of a nation as some kind of homogenized “Happy Face” without paradoxes, difference, innovation or risk.
Current cultural policymaking is dominated by technocratics blinded by the empiricist imperative to “measure” – the impact or outcome of the arts. (As if the knowledge gained by the quantifiable trumps the knowledge of aesthetic experiences) Measuring the world is different than composing the world. Artists’ compose the world - they create meaning.
Our change now is take this election moment and hopefully the election of Obama as opportunity to reengage and reanimate the potentiality of art and its power to present the beautiful, trigger the social imaginary and shape our relation to each other our -plurality.
So Mr. Sheingold, - onward and what’s my homework assignment?
Love
Roberto
Azaro (April 14th, 2008 at 3:01 pm)
Dana Gioia is exactly the problem. So what if he’s a nice man doing an adequate job of defending a sub-minimal budget? He needs to be as effective in winning support for the arts as the Secretary of Defense is at winning support for the military– and he needs to be the kind of person who can read that assertion without giggling or grumbling, or he won’t be the right kind of person to convince the electorate and their representatives of the real value of the arts. Know what I’m sayin’?
David Sheingold (April 15th, 2008 at 9:38 am)
Roberto, Azaro and anyone else that would like to chime in - who would you like to see as the Chairman of the NEA?
And, Roberto, I really appreciate your discussion of measuring and composing/creating meaning. This is a trap that the foundation world seems to be getting more and more stuck in as they focus on metrics to evaluate impact.
Azaro (April 15th, 2008 at 3:27 pm)
How about Maya Angelou?
Eva Yaa Asantewaa (April 16th, 2008 at 6:23 am)
I want the job! LOL!
Actually, at this point, I’d nominate Bill T. Jones.
Dance Theater Workshop » Blog Archive » NEA Leader Wanted (April 17th, 2008 at 9:48 am)
[...] in a recent post, MEMO: To Barack, Hillary and John, have led to an interesting discussion about the need for a new Chairman of the [...]
Tom Tresser (April 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 pm)
In order for an interest group to be taken seriously, it needs to be organized. The creative community - artists, teachers, scientists, designers, etc. - needs to think about power.
A few suggestions:
- organize local “Arts for Change” groups to seek out and support candidates for local office who will be creativity champions.
- hold candidate forums ask ask local candidates to express a position on the arts and culture for your area.
- finally, stop trying to influence bad politicians and BECOME the elected leaders you seek. Run for office yourselves as creativity champions. Tell your story of success in the arts and explain why you will be a better leader to help solve local problems than would the typical candidate - who is usually a lawyer, a prosecutor, a veteran or law enforcement person.
john (May 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm)
Now that we’re even more in the thick of things with the Democratic nominee, has anyone’s opinion changed about Hillary, Barack or John McCain?