Secretary of the Arts

[Van]

Hello all,
Some might view this as the wrong place to post this bear with me.
No matter what our individual specialities are, no matter what area of production we are engaged in, and no matter what political party we belong to, I think we can all agree that we, the members of Controlbooth.com, owe our training and continued livlihood to "The Arts".
Whether you engineer sound for a Church or for Metallica, If you light Opera or strippers, If you build sets for Theatre or Indies, your tools, your training, your technology, were almost surely an evolution of something that began as part of "The Arts".
With the economic crisis that we are facing now, and will be for the coming 3-10 years, we should all be aware that funding for The Arts will surely suffer against the weight of debt generated by the need for Public investment, Relief programs, Heck maybe even soup lines. As a way of keeping The Arts active and healthy in these difficult times I strongly support the signing of a petition I was just made aware of. This Petition, addressed to President Elect Barak Obama, calls for him to heed the words of a friend of his, and a man to whom we all owe more than a passing amount of respect for his contributions to our collective cultural conscienous; Quincy Jones.
In a recent interview [November 14th 2008 WNYC interview by John Schaefer on "Soundcheck."] Mr. Jones stated:"...next conversation I have with President Obama is to beg for a Secretary of Arts."
My friends, please follow the link below and sign the petiton that asks the President Elect to listen to his friend .
Thanks for reading, thanks for signing.

Secretary of the Arts Petition

[jwl868]

A contrary opinion (and I think this is the first time that I’ve ever found myself disagreeing with Van).

The thought of a cabinet-level agency for the arts makes me shudder. These agencies have trouble with hard science (EPA, DOI), so I have my doubts at how well something as subjective as “art” could function. (There’s also the issue with the acronym – DOA.)

And executive-level agencies change depending on which way the wind is blowing from the White House. What would such an agency be like under the Bush administration?

Finally, my opinion on what happens when the federal government sponsors art can be summed up in two words: Tilted Arc.

Joe

[Van]

Originally Posted by jwl868

A contrary opinion (and I think this is the first time that I’ve ever found myself disagreeing with Van).

The thought of a cabinet-level agency for the arts makes me shudder. These agencies have trouble with hard science (EPA, DOI), so I have my doubts at how well something as subjective as “art” could function. (There’s also the issue with the acronym – DOA.)

And executive-level agencies change depending on which way the wind is blowing from the White House. What would such an agency be like under the Bush administration?

Finally, my opinion on what happens when the federal government sponsors art can be summed up in two words: Tilted Arc.

Joe

Joe, I agree that sometimes Regan was partially right when he said; " The eight most frightening words were: I'm with the government, I'm here to help....."
I can understand the possible issues with having a executive level agency in charge of the Arts, However, I feel the lack of a national arts agenda is hurting all of us a lot more than it's helping. Beauracracy is a *****, but it's a ***** we know.


Besides all that I don't mind you disagreeing with me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, even if it's stupid..........

[derekleffew]

Works Progress Administration
"The Federal Theatre Project was created on August 29, 1935, under the auspicious of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), to provide employment for displaced theatrical workers and entertainment for Americans."

Non-govt theatre in Iran struggling for survival
"Although these groups do not get financial support from the Government, they have better freedom in selecting the format and presentation of plays."

[MNicolai]

At the middle school I went to, there was an auditorium built in the 1930's as a gov't project to bring more people out of their homes on the tail end of the depression.

I'm not saying one way or the other that this would be a good idea, but it depends at what capacity a Secretary of the Arts would function. Anyone know?

[PeytonJr]

Coincidentally, Quincy Jones went to my high school, and our theatre/performing arts/PE building is named after him; the Quincy Jones Physical Education and Performing Arts Center. (Personally, I think they should add "for Excellence" on the end)

[TimmyP1955]

If 99% of every dollar we get did not go to pay some sort of tax, we might be able to afford to make private donations to help the arts.