Jan 10 2009
One of my predictions comes true
Recently I made five predictions for 2009. Sadly, one of them is on its way to coming true. The Detroit News reported:
Metro Detroit’s hard-pressed arts organizations are reeling from a new blow. The GM Foundation has asked high-profile presenters like the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Opera Theatre to exclude the foundation from budget planning effective immediately.
(…)
The cancellations are part of the GM Foundation’s global suspension of major gift disbursements that amounted to $31.4 million in 2007, the last year for which the foundation has a complete accounting.
The Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts lost out on $350,000. The president of the Music Hall was “stunned”, according to the story, because they’d recently lost funding from DTE (the electrical utility company).
But so far, the other four predictions haven’t materialized. Only two black squirrel sightings…
I’m very sorry that the arts are losing funding. I’m not at all sorry that GM is, apparently, doing what it needs to do to survive. (I have no idea why DTE cut funding, unless it’s because of people defaulting on utility bills…)
I’m just waiting for the righteous indignation from my mother when she gets into town next week and hears this from all of her superliberal, anti-big-business friends.
Oddly enough, down here by Detroit the black squirrels are concentrated in Detroit and the edge of Grosse Pointe. I’m not quite sure how that happened, unless all the abandoned buildings and the dearth of new development have something to do with it…
Those of us who love the arts need to protect them. There is a petition circulating on the internet right now to create a Secretary of the Arts in the Cabinet.
I am for it.
Kasia, perhaps our black squirrels are vacationing in the city.
If you start seeing coyotes, you’ll know that de-urbanization has really gotten rolling.
Have you seen the proposal to “green” parts of the city for use as urban agriculture? The Capuchin Soup Kitchen is part of that group.
I have to smile about your mother and her friends. I noticed that even when art and theatre is subsidized, the people who most take advantage of it are the ones who can afford to pay more for the privilege. I’m going to join the DIA this year, even though I only go a couple times a year. I used to have a membership when I took classes at Wayne State. I often took visiting friends to the DIA for lunch, since the food was so good and I could use my student discount on the entrance fee. (The other place was 1800-and-something. Interesting ambiance and the food was pretty good, too.)
Laura, I’d be against having a Secretary of the Arts.
I was attending Michigan when I saw first-hand what NEA grants often sponsored. Often it seemed it wasn’t awarded for the art, but it was about the artist’s personal narrative or how much controversy it could generate.
Now, I don’t mind if there’s controversy about an art piece or an artist. I appreciate honest controversy. It just seemed a lot of it was manufactured.
I also watched funded artists who smoked away their art stipend, then threw together some crap (or a project they started before the stipend) to fulfill their requirement.
I contrast that with grassroots action at a state and local level. There’s more synergy. My local art association provides a gallery for “unknown” artists, a studio for local artists to work and teach, and sponsors the yearly art fair. It has also organized public works; e.g. sculptures, murals, and other permanent installations. These activities have involved local government and the cooperation (uncoerced) of local property owners.
The artists are little more representative of the population, too. Some have art degrees; others became artists by a more convoluted route.
I especially admire the people who built a “green” ampitheater in cooperation with a municipal parks program. They already had a traditional gazebo near their old townhall, and both provide provide a low-cost alternate for music and theatre lovers. That, in turn, encourages amateur groups in the area.
At the federal level, I’m concerned about NCLB’s affect on the arts. More and more art teaching positions are being eliminated through attrition. If it can’t fit on a multiple-choice test, it must not be important.
It would be better if the Education “Czar” became aware that art is also a core subject.
I haven’t seen coyotes, but I did see a wild turkey up at the Boulevard and Milwaukee en route to work a couple of years ago.
You probably mean Circa 1890 Saloon…you’re right, the food isn’t bad. Especially the pizza. Though the only time I’ve gotten cheese sticks there that still had cheese in them, it was because I showed the waiter my vulcanized hollow breading and nicely asked if they could re-make them. :-p
Nobody asked me, but I am more inclined to agree with Jean than Laura about the arts and the federal government. I’d also specifically argue that, while the arts are important and deserve to be supported, that it’s not the function of government to provide them. I realize that some things are not profitable and thus shouldn’t be left to the private sector, but that doesn’t mean government intervention is the only other solution. I think Jean’s grassroots examples are much more effective.
Incidentally, I received a membership card for the Republican National Committee in the mail the other day. I wonder how diplomatically I can say “please don’t insult me by insinuating that I am affiliated with you,” and whether it’s any less rude to say that if I point out that I would say the exact same thing to the DNC…
That’s it, Kasia – the Circa 1890 Saloon! I never had the pizza or cheesesticks. Too rich for my student’s wallet, back then. But their grilled sandwiches were great.
I wonder how you got on the RNC list. I found myself getting e-mails from some sort of “We B Church” group and had the darndest time getting them to unsubscribe me. I think I got on there due to a previous brush with neo-Gnostics. (blech)
The only “political” group I am planning to join is Feminists for Life. They did studies last year of how hard it was for pregnant students to find support services on campus (other than abortion), and they opened the eyes of some of the colleges.