Artistry as Civic Engagement – The Role of Performing Artists in Serving Their Communities
The Saturday morning 8 AM session was probably the best session I attended for musicians. It focused on examples of musicians reaching out to their communities in very real ways.
The panel was moderated by Alan Fletcher, President and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival. Panelists: Michael Morgan, Music Director, Oakland East Bay and Sacramento Symphonies; Jerod Tate, Member of the Chickasaw Nation and Artistic Director, Chickasaw Music Festival; Robert Wagner, Principal Bassoon, New Jersey Symphony; Gaylon Patterson, Asst. Principal Second Violin, Memphis Symphony; and Lisa Dixon, Director of Community Engagement and Operations, Memphis Symphony.
Michael Manley of the League asked me to videotape the session so that we can stream it on Polyphonic, and fortunately we were able to do so. Bob Wagner also has a PowerPoint presentation to go along with his remarks. So I’ll put it all together as an article; check back in a couple weeks.
Closing Session
The final session of the conference was an NPAC 21st Century Town Meeting on the Performing Arts, held in a ballroom at the Convention Center. Over 1200 delegates attended.
NPAC held a caucus each day for 90 minutes, assigning delegates to tables to mix up the constituencies. The purpose of the caucuses was to develop a vision for the performing arts in America going forward.
A group of representatives from each arts discipline had met for a long time before this conference – I believe it was ongoing for 4 years – to put together a starting point of beliefs and statements about the arts in America. The caucus groups were then charged with defining these statements and coming up with action statements to achieve them.
The caucus process was facilitated by AmericaSpeaks, a non-profit that has facilitated similar projects so that large numbers of people can participate in decision-making about an issue. Some of their other projects include a statewide discussion about health care policy reform in CA in 2007, community congresses in New Orleans after Katrina involving 4,000 people, and Listening to the City, where 5,000 people participated in a town meeting in NYC to help design key principles for the redevelopment of Ground Zero.
I attended the Wednesday caucus but just couldn’t make it to the Thursday and Friday sessions. AmericaSpeaks published a fancy newsletter each day: The Daily Caucus. I quote from these:
- Wednesday the groups discussed the elements of a shared vision for the future of the performing arts, as presented by the NPAC committee.
- Thursday they identified and prioritized the opportunities and challenges that will have to be met before we can reach our goal.
- Friday they began to identify strategies to turn challenges into opportunities and opportunities into successes.
On Saturday, there were three main areas and 5-8 possible action statements or strategies each for a National, Local, and Individual vision/advocacy. The delegates were assigned tables by geographic region, and everyone had an electronic device that enabled him/her to vote by pointing the device at the main dais while pushing a number. Loud music played when it was time to vote, and the device displayed a green light when the vote was counted.
Here are the results (one national, local, and individual strategy for each item):
1. Our communities do not sufficiently perceive the value, benefits, and relevance of the arts, which makes advocacy and building public support for the arts a challenge at every level.
National: Organize a national media campaign with celebrity spokespersons, catchy slogans (e.g., “I Got Milk”), unified message, and compelling stories.
Local: It was a tie – 1) Create an arts coalition to get involved in local decision-making, take leadership positions, and strengthen relationships with elected officials AND 2) Forge partnerships with other sectors to identify how the arts can serve community needs.
Individual: Build relationships with non-arts groups, including governments, corporations, community development organizations, etc.
2. The potential of arts education and lifelong learning in the arts is under realized.
National: Devise an advocacy campaign to promote the inclusion of performing arts in core curricula.
Local: Mobilize and collaborate with K-12 and higher education institutions to strengthen arts education and arts participation as core curriculum.
Individual: Lead lifelong education programs that actively involve people in multi-generational groups. “Make the arts part of a lifelong wellness plan.”
3. The increasing diversity of our communities creates an opportunity to engage a variety of ages, races, identities, and cultures in our audiences and organizations.
National: Charge national service organizations [e.g., the League] to create dialogue at convening, create training programs, promote diverse art and artists, and partner with grassroots organizations who are already connected to diverse communities.
Local: Open an honest dialogue across community groups and sectors to share priorities and identify barriers to participation.
Individual: Discover arts in your community offered by cultures other than your own and establish peer relationships.
I imagine the League’s website will have a much fuller report on this project next week or the week after. It’s difficult to give you a sense of what was going on without your seeing all the choices throughout the 4 days.
The crowd on Saturday was very buoyant – people cheered when their choice won, and several spontaneous waves swept through the room. When all voting was done, Eric Booth had all the organizers came up on stage to take a bow. He made a big point that diversity, which was rarely mentioned a few decades ago, was now one of the top three priorities.
Eric had an interesting metaphor – the trim-tab. Huge oil tankers cannot be steered in the normal way because the strain on the metal will tear them apart. A trim-tab is a rather small metal piece that is attached to the rudder of an oil tanker – it changes the flow conditions of the water around the boat such that the rudder can be moved and the boat can be steered without breaking apart. So small ideas can move large recalcitrant objects or beliefs.
Finally, Diana Reeves came out and performed for 10-15 minutes. A nice ending to a very, very full conference.
