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'Radical Ideas' at arts conference draws protest

By Lisa Bornstein, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 12, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.
Updated June 12, 2008 at 1:04 p.m.

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Nearly 4,000 artists and arts administrators have converged on Denver for the National Performing Arts Convention, only the second of its kind. During the next four days music, theater and dance groups will meet to try and determine a direction for the performing arts in the United States. We’ll be reporting on what we’ve seen and heard.

3 p.m. Friday: Protest at 'Radical Ideas' session

Turns out the “Radical Ideas From Beyond Our Borders” session was aptly named, as a small protest erupted surrounding the non-appearance by a radical documentary film-maker from India.

As the session in the Wells Fargo Theatre ended, a dozen or so delegates stood silently and held up signs reading, “Where is Madhusree Dutta?” Ironically, the protest followed a set of cheerful tunes from the Colorado Children’s Chorale that had concluded the session, moderated by conductor Marin Alsop and featuring Jose Antonio Abreu from Venezuela and Germaine Acogny of Senegal.

As the meeting broke up, a delegate stepped up to the microphone and informed the departing crowd that Dutta had been slated to appear at the session but had declined the invitation when she was asked to make cuts in her introductory video. Requests by organizers that the anti-American references be cut led Dutta to remain in Bombay, Melanie Joseph, a board member of the Theatre Communications Guild, told the delegates.

“There were two sections in the film that (organizers) wanted her to remove,” Joseph explained. “One showed a man carrying a sign reading, ‘George Bush is a murderer,’ and another short clip showed a UN envoy speaking against America’s invasion of Iraq.” Dutta, she said, refused to make the requested cuts and announced she would not attend the convention.

Not so, said NPAC co-chair Ann Meier Baker. “She was on the final short list of speakers being considered (for the session), but when we got her video, we realized that she wanted to have a different conversation. Her material contained a very political message, which is something we didn’t want to get into (at NPAC). We had several conversations with her two to three weeks ago, and we discussed a variety of approaches with her, but in the end it was decided that she was not the right fit.

“We respect her art, and we are welcome to have an open mic (for dissenters) at the session. Free speech is important.”

In her short statement to departing delegates, an emotional Joseph had raised that issue. “She’s allowed to say what she believes,” she said of Dutta. “She’s an artist. She’s a human being.”

11 a.m. Friday: Visiting with a pioneer in music education

Jose Antonio Abreu is a slight man, but the Venezuelan educator has become a giant in the international music community, through a program he created in his homeland in 1975. “El Sistema,” as it’s known, is a system of early education that places instruments in the hands of children – no matter where they live or in what level of poverty they’ve been raised.

During a visit at the Colorado Convention Center, Abreu, an energetic man of 80, spoke of the success of his program, which has spread around the world. Yes, he said (speaking through a translator), it’s been called “the Venezuelan miracle,” but there is nothing miraculous about the fact that 265,000 children in his country are now studying orchestral instruments.

“It has not come from nowhere, but from a lot of hard work. There has been no improvisation. Which doesn’t mean that God hasn’t helped us. And, of course, we received a lot of help from the State.” The current and previous regimes in Venezuela provided major funding for “El Sistema,” including money for instruments and teacher salaries.

In the beginning, though, there was no money.

“I started with 10 teachers, and they worked for nothing,” Abreu said. “It all began on Feb. 12, 1975 – there were 11 students only. The teachers were learning, as the children were learning. Then, over the years, little by little, there were more teachers. And they taught the younger ones to become teachers.

“Now, we find people who can bring many abilities, not just teaching. There are those who know how to ask for money, those who can become leaders (in music education) and soon, we hope, there will be a national system for training instrument makers. That is starting out, but it is not quite an industry yet.”

Hundreds of young people have grown into world-class professional musicians – including the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s music director-designate, Gustavo Dudamel – and teachers, too, have benefited, Abreu said. “For them, it can be like a religious experience. The way they put their whole being into it. This comes from the heart.”

The program has spread to every corner of Venezuela as well as to every Latin American country, Abreu noted. “We didn’t go to those countries – they adapted it from us.”

Spain recently honored him and “El Sistema,” which has raised the profile of the program in Latin America. Recently, it entered the United States.

“I’ve found that there’s an enormous development of it in this country,” he said. “Through the Los Angeles Philharmonic, through the New England Conservatory (of Music) and other places. That’s where it must begin here: with the orchestras and the music schools. But with the enormous richness of your country, I’m sure it can succeed.”

1:30 p.m. Thursday: Inspiring words on the arts (or such…..)

Measured words of optimism voiced in a one-on-one interview with National Endowment for the Arts chairman Dana Gioia were loudly echoed in energetic remarks delivered earlier to a packed Wells Fargo Theater by motivational speaker Jim Collins.

“I’m confident about the future of the NEA,” Gioia said in a quiet corner of the Colorado Convention Center, clearly buoyed by news that a house sub-committee had given approval on Wednesday to a $15-million increase in the agency’s budget. It’s another sign, he said, that the agency has been restored to “robust health through bi-partisan (Congressional) support.”

But it’s not about funding, he stressed. “Any (NEA) chairman who focuses on money is making a mistake. The money is important, but we have to do everything else right. I think in strategic terms, not tactical ones. At the NEA, we have to think big.”

Gioia pointed to numerous programs that don’t involve the agency directly as evidence that the arts are becoming a larger part of federal-government spending. “Justice has been programming after-school programs for at-risk kids, State has become more involved in cultural exchange and the Department of Defense gave us $1 million to bring Shakespeare to military bases. For many of those soldiers, it became life-changing experiences.”

Emphasizing his non-political affiliation, Gioia declined to discuss the merits of the two presidential candidates, instead pointing to the uniting aspects of art and its importance in society. “The arts awaken and enhance our humanity,” he said. “Artists are valuable, contributing members of the community.”

He acknowledged that the image of the NEA was not always feel-good, noting that the House of Representatives had voted to shut down the agency 15 years ago. “The biggest problem was complacency about its value,” he suggested, adding that a renewed sense of accountability is crucial to public acceptance of the agency’s work.

And that, he said, has been growing. “Recently, Rush Limbaugh attacked the NEA, and me personally, on the radio. The next day, people called in and defended us, pointing to local programs that they supported.”

As for his future, Gioia said that, with his re-confirmation last year, his term will extend beyond the November election into 2009. After his current 2 ½-year term expires, he indicated that he’s looking forward to “going back to being a Bohemian” – a reference to his earlier career as a writer and poet.

“I’ve given six years of my life to this important work. And I believe we’ve built a strong foundation – not by dumbing the agency down or politicizing it, but by putting the focus on excellence in the arts, rather than on controversy. When there is a controversial work that we’ve funded, we argue that it’s superbly done. That’s what matters.”

Earlier in the day, Boulder-based author and business analyst Jim Collins spoke before a packed house in the Wells Fargo Theatre, encouraging the delegates to continue their significant work, observing, “America without great performers is not a great nation.”

Then, he got into details on how to elevate an organization from good to great. “It’s making a conscious choice, combined with a sense of discipline, that leads to greatness. It’s not mere circumstance,” he told the convention delegates.

Dismissing the concept of major breakthroughs and overnight success (“That takes an average of 20 years,” he said, drawing chuckles from the crowd), Collins stressed the value of greatness achieved through time, through a cumulative process.

He also noted that the process of good to great can be reversed. “There are six stages of failing,” Collins said. “You can look healthy, when in fact you’re in decline.” That can occur when an organization is tempted to pursue “undisciplined growth – when you’re trying to do too much too fast.”

Yes, any business must move forward, like a bus, he suggested. “But you need to get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off. Then, you can figure out where to drive the bus.”

11 a.m. Thursday: Artists in America a growing army

The number of artists in the United States has grown to 2 million – only slightly smaller than those who serve in our military – according to a study released today by the National Endowment for the Arts. In its study measuring the impact of working U.S. artists, the NEA reports that those earning a living in the visual and performing arts doubled between 1970 and 1990 – from 737,000 to 1.7 million. Active and reserve military personnel total 2.2 million.

NEA chairman Dana Gioia drew cheers here on Wednesday when he alluded to those numbers during his address at the National Performing Arts Convention’s general session in the Wells Fargo Theatre.

The report also noted an increase in the number of Hispanic, Asian and American Indian professional artists, from nine percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2005.

Art remains a difficult way to make a living, the NEA report showed: The average annual income for artists in 2005 was $34,800 – compared to the average of $43,200 for all professionals. Yet, artists’ aggregate income nationally averages $70 billion each year.

“Artists now play a huge but mostly unrecognized role in the new American economy of the 21st Century,” Gioia said in a prepared statement issued with the report.

7:30 p.m. Wednesday: Mike Daisey, "How Theater Failed America"

You know an audience is grooving to a show when it runs 20 minutes over thanks to frequent interruptions of laughter and applause -- sometimes, as Mike Daisey point outed, in places that regular theater audiences never laughed.

Daisey brought his acclaimed Off-Broadway show, How Theater Failed America, to the Tramway Theatre for a single performance filled with Theatre Communications Group members. With just a table and a ghostlight, the monologuist interspersed personal stories with his hilarious but darkly pointed observations about why the theater faces its current troubles. The result for much of the audience must have been like being licked by a tiger: Pleasing in its attention, yet terrifying in what may come next.

His sharpest tongue was reserved for regional theaters (Denver Center Theatre Company and the Arvada would fit in that category) that watch their audiences age and thin. He described organizations too busy maintaining themselves to take artistic risks, and a scene in which one regional theater looks very much like another. Rather than localized communities, the theaters he described put on productions with "an enormous box of freeze-dried actors shot in from New York City." Rehearsal periods were of uniform lengths, as if three and a half weeks "is exactly how long it takes to master every play ever written," he said.

Most scathingly, he described the American corporate culture that says if an organization isn't growing, it's dying, and the resultant multi-million-dollar cathedrals of theater built. After the buildings go up, artistic directors are terrified of alienating audiences from the seats they have to fill.

"Theaters are not buildings," Daisey said. "Theaters are the people. If you value the shell above the people, you're valuing real estate over art."

2 p.m. Wednesday: Opening General Session

The mood was decidedly upbeat Wednesday as 3,500 delegates to the National Performing Arts Convention gathered in the Wells Fargo Theatre for a pep talk from convention organizers, some thought-provoking words of wisdom from actor/playwright Anna Deavere Smith -- and some unexpected boogie-woogie piano from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

After tickling the ivories a bit, the mayor introduced a mini-showcase of local performing artists, including Kim Robards Dance and the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus, backed by a video of the city’s parks and, strangely, its public transportation system. There was some hip-hop dance and a shortened, multi-lingual version of Romeo and Juliet (both characters portrayed by young women). This was, Hickenlooper suggested, a look at the arts in Denver in 2028. A curious presentation, but one that was greeted warmly.

Smith excited the crowd by describing an imaginary plaza where the arts becomes a humble and accessible part of the community, rather than hidden in cubbie holes and granite buildings.

She then praised the concept of the artist as beloved outsider. “I still revere the fools who sat by kings,” she said, describing the world of the arts as “a great place for what we do as fools in this country.”

Smith raised eyebrows by pondering the business-like atmosphere in some arts organizations (“Are we too organized, too rational?” Smith asked), and scolded arts groups for not hiring more ethnically diverse staffs.

Even the concept of art becoming more integral in society was questioned. Art, she claimed, should not be at the center of civic life. “I don’t mind sitting outside in the rain. I want to be on the outside of that great door. There, we can talk to people who can’t even get on the path to that door.”

She then introduced Oregon Shakespeare Festival artistic director Bill Rauch, who talked about the value of weaving the arts into the community, citing examples of how even the smallest project can inspire local citizens. “You can’t know the ripples of your work,” he told the delegates.

Beginning Thursday, daily round-table discussions will be held throughout the Convention Center, in which participants will discuss the direction of the performing arts in America, concluding on Saturday with a town hall-style gathering in which electronic voting will determine the favored actions and philosophies of the particating organizations.

Eric Booth, who will direct these caucuses, described the process as “the largest improvisation in this country’s art history.”

Earlier in the opening session, National Endowment for the Arts director Dana Gioia announced that the House Interior Subcommittee had approved a $160-million budget for the NEA, an increase of $15 million. “Don’t spend the money yet,” he cautioned the delegates, referring to the continuing progress of the allocation through Congress.

9 a.m. Wednesday: Theatre Communications Group, Opening Session

Theatre Communications Group, the largest organization of non-profit theaters in the country, convened its conference Wednesday morning with Teresa Eyring, TCG executive director, outlining the challenges ahead.

The goal for the group, she said, was to determine “the way theater can live at the center of community life ... and how it can have more impact as a cultural force that connects us.”

Unlike dance, music and opera, most cities have several major theater organizations that both compete and work together. In addition, Eyring pointed out, because its medium is language, theater faces the most assaults on freedom of speech.

“Not all performing arts groups experience the challenge to it in the way that theater does,” she said.

Kent Thompson, artistic director of Denver Center Theatre Company, welcomed participants and asked for their help.

“Please, please, figure out how we’re going to keep theater relevant in the 21st century and, when you do, would you let us know?” he said.

A shrinking economy put him mind of theaters responses to post-2001 belt-tightening. At that time, theaters across the country downsized and began programming what they considered safe, unthreatening plays.

“The audience shrank in my opinion only faster,” he said. “They knew we were bored and playing it safe. Enough with the comfort food. Let’s try instead to confront and console in our artistic offerings.”

Thompson also pointed to DCTC’s latest attempt to innovate in its programming, with the hiring of a full-time videographer and video blogger.

With an increasingly fractured audience, theaters can no longer rely on a single-pronged approach. Kinney Zalesne, a former Clinton-Gore campaign strategist and founder of the non-profit College Summit, spoke on her book, Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes.

A proliferation of choice has resulted in Starbucks culture, she said, in which everyone has very particular, customized tastes. Rather than forming large umbrella groups, organizations need to identify these breakout niches. As an example, she pointed to people who understand but are rejecting the Internet, and what she called Long Attention Spanners, people who want more information. As circulations of word-heavy magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Foreign Affairs go up, they demonstrate a collection of people who want to be absorbed.

“They will listen as long as you can effectively engage them,” she said.

Similarly, she pointed out a rise in teens who knit.

“Young people want old-fashioned entertainment,” she said. “They want something that’s real for them, and tangible.”

The challenge to any organization, she concluded, is to find common values, respect the breadth and diversity of human experience, and find smarter ways of doing business.

Comments

  • June 25, 2008

    4:10 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    nicktaste writes:

    "Her material contained a very political message, which is something we didn’t want to get into (at NPAC)"

    learn to take a stand

    pathetic