Category: issues

University of Chicago sociologist Eve L. Ewing: “Art creates pathways for subversion, for political understanding and solidarity among coalition builders. Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value. … Authoritarian leaders throughout history have intuited this fact and have acted accordingly.”

“In order to achieve a truly relational exchange between maker and recipient, the group’s founders conceived of a radically new approach: creating elaborately crafted performances for an audience of one. Since its inception in 2001, the group has selected one audience member per year through a call for applications and spent months composing a piece exclusively for her. It’s a provocative idea, and one that challenges some of our most cherished assumptions about art and its purpose.”

“Funders and donors, if you are restricting funding and focusing on “overhead,” you are actively preventing nonprofits from doing their work. You are helping to spread the fires of injustice. And at the same time, you are also disenfranchising the organizations led by communities of color and other communities most affected by inequity.”

Sparked by the fight over Dana Schutz’s painting of Emmett Till, Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic and the Cato Institute’s Jonathan Blanks debate the question and find more to agree on than one might expect – although, as Blanks says, “I think we have a fundamental disagreement about the responsibility of commentators and activists to cater to the feelings of the people who offend them.”

Didn’t this lesson sail into clear view after the Boaty McBoatface imbroglio? Or five years ago, when Mountain Dew solicited names for a new apple-flavoured drink? That campaign, “Dub the Dew,” was hastily aborted when the company suddenly realized it might be forced to sell a beverage dubbed “Hitler Did Nothing Wrong.”

“Who’s to say how much the filmmakers and playwrights of today were affected by NEA-funded plays and workshops at a young age, or to what extent the creators of tomorrow will suffer by missing out on such formative experiences if the NEA is defunded? Moreover, though NEA naysayers claim private expenditure can fill that void just as ably, there’s no free market mechanism to match the NEA’s stated and concerted efforts to reach low-income and minority communities.”

“Ironically, Trump is cutting the arts because it’s great theater. It’s such an easy target: low-hanging fruit that’s also high visibility. The artists know how to put up a fuss that’ll get noticed, and he’ll look like a hero to that supposed rust-and-Bible-belt antiart constituency. A statement will have been made about what America does and doesn’t value. If it doesn’t actually happen—if the NEA survives—it won’t matter. Trump’s base will have already seen the show.”

It’s a perfect storm of causes, and one is prestige TV. “Shorter seasons are the new norm, with many series consisting of 10 or fewer episodes on cable and streaming — less than half the length of traditional seasons on network shows. That has put writers in a financial crunch since many have exclusivity clauses that prevent them from working on multiple shows per season.”