Bau’s Blaug
The latest news from “the Big Cheese” - Executive Director Bau Graves.
Go to 2040
The “Go to 2040” Arts and Culture Advisory Committee met this week to discuss how to measure cultural vitality in our community. A presenter from the Urban Institute pointed out that it is easy to count the number of theaters in a city or how many people visit museums, but the “informal arts” that take place in personal or small-scale community spaces are far more difficult to quantify. The Census Bureau doesn’t keep track of jam sessions. One result is that the folk arts often get left out of the discussions about how to allocate public resources. How do we quantify the spirit that infuses our field in a manner that will translate to bankers and bureaucrats?
Another interesting distinction was touched upon at the meeting. Thriving arts communities require healthy presenters – the theaters and clubs, galleries and festivals where artists can show their work; and they need plentiful arts education opportunities, where people can participate directly and an informed audience can develop. Old Town School fulfills both of these roles exceptionally well. But a vibrant cultural ecosystem also demands support for artistic creativity. There have to be systems that can encourage and reward artists to astonish us, and this is perhaps a greater challenge. I’ve always contended that there is as much room for creativity within the folk arts as there is in any other discipline, but traditional arts institutions have not historically played much of a role in stimulating new works. Is this an area in which Old Town School could set a new direction? Our recent commission of a new, evening-length performance piece by Artist In Residence Michael Miles (premiere performance in 2010) opens an intriguing new front. Surely the School already offers an enormous outlet for composers, songwriters and choreographers – but how much more could we do with an enhanced awareness of the importance that support for creativity has in ensuring Chicago’s cultural vitality?
Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | September 3, 2008 |
1 Comment so far
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I’ve often wondered if it would be of use to have an independent weekly for the folk arts. Whether its an actual print piece or an online collection of all things folk, it would be a great way to get all of the events, performances, etc. listed in one place. It would allow funding institutions to see beyond the larger folk organizations in the city to smaller, active groups.
But perhaps what the Census bureau really needs is a liason who can help guide them in the right direction to create a strategy for gathering census stats for the folk arts community.
I’ll have to ponder your second point. It seems to me that, to a great extent, commissions, cash grants and awards pave the way for many works of art. Perhaps we could head in the direction of supporting artists outside our existing community. Connecting people to the school and people to other people in this way might help to create a web of collaboration and creativity necessary to ensure the vitality that you speak of?