An Appeal to Connecticut Artists

Where is the art that opens a dialogue about race? After the post-9/11/Bush years of silencing all dissenting dialogue, I had expected this flourish of art that would challenge assumptions, assess where we had been and were going. More importantly I had expected artists to do what they do so well: stimulate dialogue on difficult and oft avoided topics.

Despite news reports to the contrary, we are not in a post-racial era. I measure our progress by the number of times shortly after President Obama was elected that my white counterparts let doors and elevators close in my face. I measure it by the length of a drive- to a meeting in Bridgeport the day after the election that I took with a corporate vice president- during which every topic was discussed save the one at hand- the election. I measure it by the Connecticut schools and workplaces that had outright bans in place on watching or listening to the Inauguration Ceremony. I measure it by the vitriol that I hear on a daily basis with regard to “that one,” “this is what happens when a black is president,” the evils of socialism, or referencing of the President simply as “Mr. Obama.” I measure the need for art that challenges us to stand and speak on difficult topics- which we shy away from save with the like-minded- by the veritable silence and mournful tone of my office the day after the election.

A fundamental truth has died regarding the ability and intellect of non-white Americans. Mistakenly it seems that many had long thought this belief to have been overthrown by the deeds and achievements of careers, lives. Hidden hatred and prejudices are bubbling to the surface, and to tacitly say we are past race seems a dangerous game of denial.

I ask again: where is the art that will force us to grapple, see, and progress? Can we as a community and nation afford to remain silent? May brushes and musical notes, lens and keystrokes soon compel us to speak and argue, but invariably see one another.

Tia Blassingame

On art, Web 2.0, and physical/digital seamlessness

Last month, New York-based photographer and digital-media artist An Xiao participated in a panel discussion called "Big Love: Artists and Social Networking Technology," a conversation organized to complement "Status Update," an exhibition presented by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven in collaboration with Haskins Laboratories that explores the use of emerging social networking technologies.

More recently, An was kind enough to put some of her thoughts about art, Web 2.0, and physical/digital seamlessness into words. Enjoy ...

Toward the end of the "Big Love" panel discussion, moderator Sharon Butler asked an intriguing question: "What do you see as the future of all this?"

By "this," she meant art and social media, and social media and society. I believe strongly that if you want to understand the future of social media and the tools of Web 2.0, you should look at either digital natives (i.e., teenagers and younger) or citizens of developing nations (i.e., those whose first important encounters with communications technologies were via cell phone, rather than the Web).

During the panel discussion, I discussed briefly the idea of digital/physical seamlessness, a world in which our digital and physical lives intersect seamlessly. In this view, the line between "real life" and "virtual life" is blurred, for activities in the digital realm can and do have very real consequences in the physical realm, and vice versa. Whereas computers and phones first evolved as tools for business and communications, they have further evolved into extensions of ourselves, storing vast amounts of personal information and allowing us to keep in touch with thousands of people.

This is most true in the lives of today's teenagers, who have scarcely known any other life but that which is infused with social media technology. Witness the 21st century teenage break-up. Teenager A posts a dramatic Status Update about Teenager B, her boyfriend. Teenager B leaves a comment about Teenager A's photos. All of this is carried out on the stage of common news feeds viewed by mutual friends, and rumors quickly spread both via texting and Facebook, and then, when school starts, via traditional whispers and notes. News of the break-up, along with the attendant emotions, spreads rapidly through the physical and digital worlds.

The future of social media is simple: it won't be known as social media. Online social media will simply be part of a balanced social diet, a mixture of both online and offline interactions. And with this seamlessness will come new values and norms, as Web 2.0 becomes Life 2.0.

Edutopia, a project of the George Lucas Education Foundation, has identified that digital natives, armed with tools and technology unlike any other generation, prefer to create, collaborate, and teach while learning. In other words, the TV generation sits on a couch and absorbs; the YouTube generation wants in on the fun.

Edutopia has a number of suggestions about what this means for education, and we're already seeing how digital/physical seamlessness and online social media have influenced everything from political campaigns to business. But what does all this mean for art? If I had to guess, there are three things artists working in any medium should consider as we look toward "Art 2.0," that is, art infused with the principles of Web 2.0.

1. Engage your audience in new ways.
While the traditional artist statement, Web site, and interviews will continue to serve your audience, your audience will continue to demand more. The social media audience wants to keep the conversation going and ask their own questions. Set up a Twitter account, set up a blog, set up a Facebook fan page (or make your own page public). Give your audience a way to interact with you after seeing your work, to learn more about your creative practice and the concepts behind it.

But, perhaps more radically, give your audience a way to interact with your art. You can convert your art to desktop backgrounds, yes. But what if you also made select works available in low-res digital form via a Creative Commons license, so fans of your work can "remix" it? It can sound shocking and uncomfortable, after pouring your heart and soul into your work, to release it to the world not simply for criticism but for editing. And yet musicians, including the ever-popular Nine Inch Nails, have been doing this for years.

This is the ethos of the YouTube generation: they want to create as often as they want to absorb. Try it with one or two of your more popular pieces and see what happens.

2. Connect your audience with one other.
Instead of thinking of art as a two-way experience between artist and audience, start thinking of Art 2.0 as a multi-way experience between artist and audience, and between audience members and one other. This is no different from chatting with your friends after seeing a movie, or going with your family to a museum exhibit and discussing it over coffee afterward. What's changed is that the audience has grown larger and more global, and the tools for connecting them to one another have become much more sophisticated.

The Obama campaign's success with the new generation partially came from the idea that anyone could help him run the campaign, as he crowdsourced campaign calls, meetings, and flyer distribution. He's doing this again as he tries to drum up support for his health-care program. You may not have the million-dollar resources of a national political campaign, but the tools of social media are free and available to all. Your audience will stay more engaged with your work if they can engage with one another.

Here's one basic idea: a Facebook-based guestbook at your next show, so folks can not only see one another's comments, but comment on their comments and stay in touch afterward.

3. Strike a balance between online and offline media.
Don't get me wrong: Art 2.0 can still hang on the wall and sell, and you can preserve your artistic mystique just fine (no one needs to know about the toil and trouble of every little detail in the studio!). I believe firmly that artists deserve fair compensation for their work. But audiences also deserve greater interaction with the work as well. This is true now (just look at how MoMA and the Brooklyn Museum have been giving visitors new ways to interact with their collections), but it will become even more so if we want to engage a world quickly growing accustomed to the values of Web 2.0.

Contrary to beliefs I've heard numerous times, the digital generation doesn't live on their computers and cell phones. They live through their communications devices, which make up a percentage of their lives. They still get together for movies and parties and study sessions and what have you. The need for in-person human interaction will never change; no one can deny the power of seeing a painting in person versus seeing it on the screen. The key is finding a balance by seamlessly integrating your physical art practice with the tools of the Internet.

In the end, what I hope to get across here is that Art 2.0 is less a difference of quality as it is of scale. The eroding borders between digital and physical life have led to new values and norms around interactivity and engagement being emphasized, but these values and norms have always existed. Artists have forever borrowed from and built upon one another's work, and audiences have forever chatted with one another after seeing a good show.

What's new is that the digital world has emphasized audience ownership to a greater degree, and it's allowed that audience to stay in touch for a longer period of time and across the world. A generation raised on YouTube and Facebook is no longer accustomed to passive experiences, whether with the Web or music or art. What artists do to engage this new audience with their art practice will, I suspect, come to define art in the 21st century.

An's Web site
An's blog
An's Twitter feed

The Arts Council's Web site

The Cellutations experience

From the Urban Dictionary:
“1. Cellutations
slang for cell phone
Call me on the cellutations”

Cellutations is an evolving exhibition of cell-phone art presented by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.

Cell-phone images have been sent by friends and strangers, from locations near and far, to a dedicated e-mail address, cellutations@gmail.com. Many of these can be viewed on the our Cellutations page on Flickr.

This is an exhibition that will evolve without end, a show whose beauty lies in the fact that anyone can see it, and anyone can be a part of it.

While its physical home is in the Arts Council's Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery at 70 Audubon St., in New Haven, Conn., Cellutations really exists in the frozen moment each image represents.

Cellutations

Cellutations, the Arts Council's evolving cell-phone art exhibition, has gone viral. This recent submission (above) came from K. Brian Söderquist in Copenhagen, Denmark.

This image (Brusselsislookinggreytoday) was submitted by Johan Orye.


And Susan Farricielli sent in this image (Joe Munroe at McSorley's).

Be part of Cellutations. Send your cell-phone images to cellutations@gmail.com today!

Has the down economy affected your creativity?

The New York Times recently talked to several artists about how the down economy has affected their work. The story is worth a read (it's not all doom and gloom).

What about you? Has the down economy affected your creativity?

Orchestras are taking requests by text message

Have you had an interactive audience experience like this?

Would New Haven be an Arts Hub Without Yale?

Chris Arnott wrote an interesting piece for the Yale Alumni Magazine suggesting that New Haven was destined to be a cultural hub, even without the abundant resources of Yale. He asserts that "New Haven arts can be just as inclusive as Yale can be exclusive. . . ."

Ian David Moss' "Revisiting arts advocacy"

Today, on his blog, Createquity.com, Ian David Moss posted a piece called "Revisiting arts advocacy." Take a few minutes to read this and other posts on Moss' blog. It's a blog worth adding to your "Bookmarked" Web sites.

Have you seen the NEA's latest grant announcement?

See how $83 million in arts funding will be distributed, then share your thoughts here.

BSO musicians surprise management with $1 million "donation"

This past week, the musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra "donated" $1 million to help the organization weather the economic downturn. Read the story in the Washington Post and share your thoughts here.

"In the Write," a column by New Haven Review publisher Bennett Lovett-Graff, appears each month in The Arts Paper. It's a valuable source of information about the literary scene here in New Haven.

In addition to writing about literary goings-on in the Elm City, Bennett and the editors at the New Haven Review have been organizing literary events around town.

Yesterday, the New Haven Independent published a story about the recent Westville Poetry Crawl, which was organized by the New Haven Review and the Westville Village Renaissance.

Check it out and share your thoughts.

On the importance of riding the curve

It’s about more than just the economy …

David A. Brensilver

On St. Patrick’s Day, representatives from eight small cultural organizations gathered in the conference room at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven to discuss the greening of the arts in the Elm City — that is, how they are faring and adapting to the current economic climate.

In attendance were representatives from the Arts Council, Artspace, Collective Consciousness Theatre, Elm Shakespeare Company, Music Haven, New Haven Folk, New Haven Oratorio Choir and Orchestra, and Orchestra New England.

The spirit of the meeting was decidedly optimistic. Organizational and cross-sector collaborations, marketing strategies and resource sharing were discussed once fiscal woes were aired and shared. The Arts Council-hosted happy-hour conversation was much more a brainstorming session than it was a collective lament. This was not a woe-is-us, group-hug sort of get-together, but, rather, a forum on looking, and moving, forward. This was representatives from eight institutions looking into a mirror and asking: Is my organization relevant?

Several local arts administrators recently shared their thoughts on the arts and the economy, a topic that has been as unavoidable in these circles as bailouts and bonuses have been in others. It is a painful, reactionary time for many. After all, no one forecasted just how pronounced the economic downturn would be. And many are at the whim of others’ whose purse strings have been pulled tighter.

Leslie Shaffer, executive director of Artspace, said in an interview after the Arts Council gathering that her organization has been feeling the pinch of the economy for about a year. Artspace relies heavily on foundation and some corporate support, as well as state and federal support, all of which, Shaffer said, has diminished. Over the past six months, one staff position has been eliminated and remaining staff members have accepted reduced hours and pay cuts instead of seeing another position eliminated, and the budget has been reduced by 25 percent.

“What’s hurting the most are the creative things people see,” Shaffer said, pointing out that what comes off the top are non-fixed expenses.

With the glass inarguably half empty, is it possible to focus on new ways to fill it? In some voices one hears fear. Others sound determined to figure it out. After all, there is no other choice.

It should be said that a sense of entitlement is a dangerous thing. Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations cannot simply expect to exist because they currently exist.

Mary Lou Aleskie is executive director of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, an organization whose $1 million line-item in the state budget is eliminated over two years in Gov. M. Jodi’s Rell’s proposal. Like the Arts Council, whose $125,000 line-item in the state budget would also be eliminated over two years — first halved, then zeroed out — the festival would be eligible to apply and compete for state grant funding. Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget “would seriously impact” festival programming, Aleskie said, as state funding is what makes the heart and soul of the festival possible, the heart and soul being “free programming that engages people broadly.”

Still, Aleskie sees the glass half full.

“There is a committed understanding of the value of arts and culture, in particular the festival,” she said with regard to legislators in Hartford.

Aleskie is not at all consumed with fear in the face of the current economy. Yes, there are serious issues that require attention in the short term. Looking to the future and thinking long-term though, she’s hopeful. And she’s frank.

“Anyone who thinks that hanging on to what they know today as a way to survive should be voted off the island,” she said.

She’s talking, of course, about being able to adapt and staying relevant. Aleskie said she’s tired of hearing about “sustainability, as if that should be a goal. I’m not interested in it. I’m really not.”

John Fisher, vice president and executive director of the Shubert Theater, knows his organization, too, has to adapt to the times, and is aggressively pursuing the development of younger audiences. The Shubert’s Red Carpet Club for Young Professionals, for example, offers a wealth of member benefits for $150 annually.

(Of course, audience diversification is something arts and cultural organizations have been talking about for years.)

For Fisher, whose organization is “down 15 to 20 percent in general” in terms of ticket sales and contributed revenue, audience development has been an area of focus for the last five years. And that focus has intensified in the face of the economic crisis. Fisher said his organization is working with area schools with an eye on developing audiences for the future, and is tapping into the concert market, booking acts such as Ryan Adams Ben Folds, k.d. lang and John Prine to attract the 20s demographic.

Fisher also talked about selling tickets at a discount, something his organization is doing more of than it used to.

This is an area that needs to be approached carefully. Fisher said one doesn’t want to send a message that his or her organization is discounting all the time. He believes discounting in the retail sector may lead to people expecting discounts. Sales do go up when the Shubert does promotions and discounts tickets, Fisher said. The challenge is to put more people in seats without forfeiting income.

There is another balance to strike, as well: the balance between accessibility and devaluation.

Jamie Gilpatrick, general manager at Long Wharf Theatre, said his organization’s income is 50 percent earned (through ticket sales) and 50 percent contributed. Ticket sales, he said, are on track. The organization did well selling subscription packages before the economy went south.

“It’s clear that this community wants and needs theater,” Gilpatrick said, pointing out that culture and entertainment have played important roles during down economies.

Even so, the Long Wharf Theatre is not immune to the fiscal crisis. Contributions have diminished and the organization’s endowment earnings are down about 25 percent. So the theater, more than ever, is looking to its donors for support.

Gilpatrick said Long Wharf Theatre is doing a lot of analysis and reassessment, and is aware of the importance of being appropriately realistic about future revenues. He echoed Aleskie’s sentiment about sustainability, saying there’s been a lot of talk in the industry about the nonprofit model being broken, that the goal has been to break even.

“I think that’s what’s broken,” Gilpatrick said.

Projecting that contributions to the Long Wharf Theatre will be down by 15 percent, Gilpatrick said the organization has to raise a lot of money by the end of its fiscal year, June 30, to meet that number.

“We have a big challenge in front of us,” he said, a challenge that’s bigger than the moment.

“(You) can’t rely on (the) history of what your organization can do in a good economy,” Gilpatrick said.

If the nonprofit model is broken, and history is an unreliable guide, perhaps service-oriented arts and cultural organizations especially should be asking what they can do for their constituents, instead of telling their constituents what’s being offered them.

Lawrence Zukof, executive director of Neighborhood Music School, echoed some of Gilpatrick’s remarks, saying, “People come to this place, they need it more than ever.”

Recently, Zukof offered free music, dance and drama classes to employees of local social-service agencies. He was hopeful they’d see the value of the classes and tell their friends. It was an altruistic gesture that could generate some free marketing.

Neighborhood Music School’s income is 80 percent tuition based, 20 percent contributed. For the first time, Zukof has seen a decline in enrollment (the school serves 2,500 to 3,000 students each year), and, along with declines in contributed revenue and grant funding, is facing a budget deficit. Zukof said there have been some salary reductions, that retirement contributions “will likely be suspended,” and that there could be some staff cuts.

Organizations, Zukof said, may want to consider aligning with other institutions and look for ways to partner and share resources — not a wholly original idea but nonetheless a vitally important one. He said, for example, that he’s been in touch with administrators at Creative Arts Workshop about the possibility of implementing some cost-sharing measures.

Arts and cultural organizations, large and small, must be able to adapt and ride the curve, not react when they find themselves behind it. That’s not to say organizations should or will be able to insulate themselves from economic crises. But knowing what they know now, arts and cultural institutions should look to other sectors for guidance in terms of what to do and what not to do.

The recording industry has changed dramatically to keep up with technological advances. The newspaper industry, on the other hand, has reacted, and, in Aleskie’s words, realized way too late in the game that their value was in the intellectual capital of their journalists, not in their printing presses.

Aleskie talked about Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb, who has “started to think outside the confines of his industry.”

The Met’s live high-definition simulcasts are a pioneering initiative. The Met also offers subscriptions for those who want to watch world-class productions online, as well as live and recorded performances on Sirius Satellite Radio.

“If you are living in cataclysmically changing times,” Aleskie said, to do the same thing you’ve been doing is “a sure-fire ticket to extinction.”

It would be, by Einstein’s definition, insane.

Last week I was in Washington, D.C. for Americans for the Arts' annual Arts Advocacy Day.

A highlight of the event was the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

This year’s speaker was Wynton Marsalis, who wove words and music together in a powerful message about art, unity and freedom.

Americans for the Arts posted video of Mr. Marsalis' lecture on its Web site.

Watch the video at http://www.americansforthearts.org/news/afta_news/default.asp#item18 and post your thoughts about what Mr. Marsalis had to say.

~ Arts Council Executive Director Cindy Clair

The Armory Show, NYC

The show was a mildly conservative explosion of flashy contemporary art, many of which were composed of mirrors, body parts, or words. The manipulation of light and reflections was a common theme, and many artists seemed to revel in the beauty of words, whether it was multiple words crafted as a list of questions an adult man might ask his father, or simply one word: vulnerable. Mirrors were a common sight; broken shards on the outside of a purse, a rippled reflective surface distorting and inverting its reflections, a reflective wall with shapes cut out of it, blurring the edges of its reflection. Body parts seemed even more popular; da Vinci’s belief that the human body is perfect was recaptured in all mediums. A twisting fluorescent light depicted the brain, a mannequin made of clay circles stood in a corner, and a naked female is having sex with a cockroach the size of a Great Dane (the possibility of censorship is scoffed at). Popular culture, humor, and contemporary issues were not ignored either; there was surprisingly only one piece of art concerning President Obama, and one American flag, made of ribbons weaving around Venetian blinds. A large egg, tucked into a baby carriage, nestled in hay A chair and its surrounding walls was made entirely of unraveled VHS tapes, with the film sitting on the mirror that makes the floor, providing a disconcerting illusion of a never ending pit lined with tapes. A clear glass bowl, cut into only three-fourths its size, sits in a corner hugging the mirror on the wall, yet another illusion created by a clever artist.

The show was scattered across an amazing volume of space. It was guaranteed that anyone who visits the show would get lost within minutes, and even knowing the number of the exhibit where he is currently located is a useless indicator of location. The space, however, made it difficult to tell the difference between bona fide art and constructional necessities. A tangle of thick black wires obscured an artist’s small gallery, yet did not draw attention away from the rest of the art; whether that is a testament to the art or the building I cannot say. Altogether, between jelly donuts, free beer, references to a 50 Cent album, and a massive cord telephone, the show was a proud collection of audacious artists who, in these economic times, cannot afford to be too bold.

-Geeta Talpade
March 7, 2009

If I Ruled the NEA

Many in the arts world are wondering who the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts will be and what vision she/he will bring to the job. The LA Times asked several prominent artists (including Tim Robbins, Bill T. Jones, Eve Ensler) what they would do if they ran the NEA. Check out their responses on the LA Times blog.

Ice Sculpture

I cut through The Green today on the way back to my dorm and came across this beautiful Valentines ice sculpture on the lawn. It's always a nice surprise to stumble across public art of such high quality.

A quote from the New Haven Bulletin: "This weekend and next sculptors will transform 300 pounds of block ice (donated by Elm City Ice) into temporary public art throughout downtown New Haven. The sculptures will remain in place through February at the following locations: The Green, Broadway Island, Temple Street Garage, The Shubert Theater, and Temple Plaza."

--Cynthia
Arts Council Intern

Essence & Artifact

TONIGHT:

Essence & Artifact featuring works by Silas Finch and Michael Shapcott
Opening Reception
Thursday, February 12, 2009
5:00pm - 10:00pm
HULL'S FINE FRAMING & GALLERY
ONE WHITNEY AVENUE
New Haven, CT


NOT TO BE MISSED!

ACT

Join ACT for Economy: Save Arts, Culture and Tourism in Connecticut on Facebook.

Recruit friends to join the cause and sign the petition at tourism4ct.org.

Obama Art

Arts Council friend Katro Storm traveled to Washington, D.C. on inauguration day to "document history." Armed with a video and digital camera, and without any particular agenda, he came across the Manifest Hope: DC Gallery in Georgetown.

Check out some of the work Katro and others saw over the course of this two-day exhibit.

New Haven Meets Mass MOCA

Over the holidays, I took a trip up to the Berkshires. I hadn't been to MASS MoCA in over a year and looked forward to visitng this wonderful sprawling art space that always offers a show or two that wows or perplexes me. I was delighted to discover "Badlands: New Horizons in Landscape," a show curated by Denise Markonish, the former curator of New Haven's own Artspace, who is now a curator at MASS MoCA. The exhibit explores and stretches the concept of landscape, contrasting the beauty of the natural world with the ugliness perpetrated by man. It's a compelling show featuring work by artists from throughout the U.S., including two New Haven area artists. Leila Daw is a textile artist, who creates amazing fabric images. Her tapestry of a volcano plays with perspective in a fascinating way. Joe Smolinski created a turbine inspired by cell phone towers disguised as trees (like the one on the Hutchinson Parkway). Not only are his sketches on display, but a real turbine tree with rotating trunk is set in the outdoor courtyard. The rotating trunk is connected to a generator that converts the wind energy into electricity. Pretty cool. It was exciting to find artists from our region represented at one of the country's most respected contemporary museums. Also at MASS MoCa is a new wing devoted to Sol LeWitt's wall drawings. This mammoth, three-story retrospective of the Connecticut artist (who passed away last year) is a collaboration between the Yale University Art Gallery, the Williams College Museum of Art and MASS MoCA. Over 100 of LeWitt's exquisite drawings are displayed chronologically. ( The LeWitt Drawing Retrospective is on view for 25 years, but you'll have to get to North Adams before April 12th to catch Badlands)

Cindy