The Creative Class
Now it's the little one's turn to be very, very sick. So I only have a minute or two.
But I wanted to mention that Brian Lehrer had an excellent show yesterday about funding for the arts, and if you have the time you can listen to it here.
Lots of interesting, intelligent discussion, but it all boils down to: let's stop viewing the arts as a charity case and start treating artists and "art workers" as a vital sector of the economy.
I suppose my role at the gallery places me in the latter group, although the semantic proximity of that term to "sex workers" is a little unsettling. No matter, though, because the most accurate term for me right now would be "home healthcare aide".
May all of you stay warm and healthy this week. Thanks for reading.
tt
posted by Tara Thayer at
8:05 AM
5 Comments:
I heard the BL Show yesterday too. What an important paradigm shift to think of art as an industry, just as vital as bridge construction, if not more so. Hooray for WNYC!
Good luck with the sick little one. Try to take care of yourself too - you're no good to anyone if you get it. Sending healthy wishes your way.
This morning my eighty-something grandmother said, "Well, the arts are nice, but they don't pay the bills." She was bragging about the success of her children in fields like law and medicine - relative to the tighter budgets of her artist nieces and nephews. To her, being an artist is irresponsible because it doesn't come with a regular paycheck and benefits.
I would LOVE to introduce a regular paycheck and benefits to this home, but I'm also hoping that my daughter doesn't ever abandon her plans to make art, full time.
And I hope that by the time she's doing it, our society will help prove her great-grandmother wrong.
Get healthy...
Hope your little one feels better soon!
To drive home how woeful is our appreciation of the arts, read/watch this amazing story by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post. To see whether ordinary folks would appreciate the extraordinary, he planted world-famous violinist Joshua Bell in a Washington DC metro station at rush hour, performing gorgeous, soulful music for nearly an hour. The result is hard to believe. BTW, Weingarten won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for this one. It's surprisingly moving. Enjoy!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
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