Monday, October 02, 2006
Arts and the Political Environment
The political environment has changed radically in the last 10-12 years. There tend to be hard lines between the Republicans and the Democrats which is odd as they are both fairly conservative parties by international standards. Money has siphoned away from education, health, the arts--all agendas that benefit the public good. Most recently multiple wars have further depleted the federal coffers.
Even so, the landscape has become bitterly polarized. The social agenda is so very different between the two parties with no middle ground seemingly in sight.
The next election seems to clearly show that the incumbents are going to do badly, and most of the incumbents are Republican. With the most recent scandal in Florida things look bad for the Republican party.
This presents an opportunity for the arts community. Brand new representation will possibly enter Congress. These men and women may or may not be more supportive of the arts, but they may be less inclined to dig in heels and not support what I believe is of value.
Some thoughts on this.
1) We SHOULDN'T care if members of Congress like or value the arts. We won't ever be able to convince those who are not already inclined to be supportive (or at least not opposed) of the arts to become supporters.
2) What we SHOULD want are the votes that support what we care about. These means horse trading. It means helping members of Congress get what they want.
3) We need to resonate with the constituent base. Not those who are elitists, but those who are regular/every day folks. These are the people who don't go to the orchestra but the ones that buy DVDs and iTunes songs. These are the people who sing in the church choir. They are people who knit, who read pulp fiction, who bake. We need to resonate with those who DON'T know that they are supporters of the arts.
So, we need to mobilize. We need to articulate to the constituency. We need to help our legislators get what they want. It is a time of great opportunity. Lets not blow it.
Even so, the landscape has become bitterly polarized. The social agenda is so very different between the two parties with no middle ground seemingly in sight.
The next election seems to clearly show that the incumbents are going to do badly, and most of the incumbents are Republican. With the most recent scandal in Florida things look bad for the Republican party.
This presents an opportunity for the arts community. Brand new representation will possibly enter Congress. These men and women may or may not be more supportive of the arts, but they may be less inclined to dig in heels and not support what I believe is of value.
Some thoughts on this.
1) We SHOULDN'T care if members of Congress like or value the arts. We won't ever be able to convince those who are not already inclined to be supportive (or at least not opposed) of the arts to become supporters.
2) What we SHOULD want are the votes that support what we care about. These means horse trading. It means helping members of Congress get what they want.
3) We need to resonate with the constituent base. Not those who are elitists, but those who are regular/every day folks. These are the people who don't go to the orchestra but the ones that buy DVDs and iTunes songs. These are the people who sing in the church choir. They are people who knit, who read pulp fiction, who bake. We need to resonate with those who DON'T know that they are supporters of the arts.
So, we need to mobilize. We need to articulate to the constituency. We need to help our legislators get what they want. It is a time of great opportunity. Lets not blow it.
