<p>In thinking about proposed NEA funding and the Rose Art Museum closing, here is some food for thought:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>more:</p>
<p>[Why</a> should we care about the arts? - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/02/05/why_should_we_care_about_the_arts/]Why”>http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/02/05/why_should_we_care_about_the_arts/)</p>
<p>I’m a science, engineering and technology person but I have to frequently impress upon my kids that arts and humanities are important in life. That’s not always easy to do with kids today so I use parental propaganda - do it long enough and they eventually may see your point of view.</p>
<p>That said, valuing the arts is our current problem.</p>
<p>Boston Public Schools this morning said that they will be laying off 4,000 teachers (out of 47,000 total). That will mean shutting down schools. They are also considering fees for school buses. The arts are secondary here when there are draconian cuts around the corner and probably more to come in three months.</p>
<p>Back in graduate school, I wrote a paper on this topic…the importance of arts in education. It is too bad that it is still a topic of discussion 28 years later. I am pleased to read that Obama is including the arts in the bailout, which I did not know. </p>
<p>I won’t get into why the arts are important (or my post would be too long), but as it turns out one of my kids is about to graduate in the performing arts (Musical Theater / Acting) and one is in an arts related field (Architecture). I would never have known back in grad school that my children that I would have some day would be so immersed in the arts but I have felt strongly about this topic since I was young.</p>
<p>My parents always loved the old movie musicals and told me how they were an “escape” during the great depression. I have never really been a worrier, but in the last 4 months I’ve really come to understand “escapism.” I remember that Friday last fall when the stock market took a monumental nose dive. That night was our HS’s football game against our arch rival…after the game I realized that I had not thought about the stock market once during the game. It’s the same with a good play, movie or TV show…if I can forget everything for a few hours, so much the better for my mental health.</p>
<p>One who realy cares about having art in life does not have to have all museums open, going to concerts all the time and ask for other funds to afford his preferences. Art could be huge part of life without expendatures that cannot be afforded any more. One can enjoy art for many hours every day after work without leaving his home. It is the same as people’s complain that they do not exersice because they cannot afford gym membership. All is up to individual. I enjoy both at home, many hours every day. something to look forward after work.</p>
<p>Not all of the arts can be enjoyed IN the home. Yes, music recordings, TV, films can be. But not live theater, live music, live dance performance, fine works of art, and so on.</p>
<p>I volunteer at my local museums. That’s how I continue to appreciate the arts. Free admission and volunteer discounts. ;)</p>
<p>Well, I meant all arts, not just selective few.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP…I don’t get your post above. If you meant ALL arts, I don’t see how certain arts can be enjoyed IN the home, as I mentioned in #6.</p>
<p>You can get an approximation for live at home.</p>
<p>Technology is getting better and better at replicating the live experience but it will never get all the way there. But in entertainment, as in many other aspects in life, often good enough works.</p>
<p>There’s been a lot of deflation in the entertainment business as the costs to replicate content has been driven down by piracy.</p>
<p>Money spent on the arts creates many jobs not only for those involved in the productions themselves but in area businesses near their venues and for suppport staff at the venues. And the arts goes way beyond what some would call high brow events. They include folk festivals, artisan crafters, childrens events which entertain a very broad range of the population.</p>
<p>I don’t think anything replicates live in the theatre
I would rather see a great high school production live- than a broadway production on the television
[Cradle</a> Will Rock (1999)](<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150216/]Cradle”>Cradle Will Rock (1999) - IMDb)
we should all see this^</p>
<p>Much of theater cannot be seen on film or TV.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s interesting to me that here, of all places, this view of Brandeis comes up over and over again. I view it as Brandeis putting their committment to the people who make up a university (staff, faculty, students) over any material object. Including art.</p>
<p>Our local schools are cutting the Reading Recovery and Math Recovery teachers. They are cutting down to the minimum therapy hours (speech, occupational.) I truly believe that art is essential to a good education and it can be a very life line for some students. But I do put reading and math skills first. </p>
<p>I aboslutely hate that we are having to make these choices but I do think that when it comes down to it, it is right to cut the arts before cutting more basic services. I wish it wasn’t that way, but for now it is. </p>
<p>I also believe that communities speak loudly with their feet and their wallets. Our local symphony struggles to say afloat. This year, instead of donating there we are donating to the local domestic violence shelter which has had its funding cut. </p>
<p>I’m now asking myself if an area of the arts that a community is not supporting should be kept afloat. Not that it should all come down to the bottom line but it’s not as if there are letters to the editor or even town chatter about how people wish they could go to the symphony but cannot afford it. The interest is just not there. The Rose was not well attended. Is liking the idea of something being what it has always been enough of a reason to justify its existence? Is ensuring a collection stay together supporting the arts? Or is it an attempt to freeze time? </p>
<p>And while it’s easy to view that as a terrible thing, the fact is that the groups here that perform traditional Mexican music draw large, enthusiastic crowds. It’s interesting to hear one population lament the loss of the “arts” while there is a growing, thriving arts scene in the same town.</p>
<p>Museums are becoming more creative by establishing lecture/brunch series and luring families and their children to arts and crafts and storytelling events. Yes, museums are cutting membership prices and cutting back their hours to stay profitable.</p>
<p>“Much of theater cannot be seen on film or TV.”</p>
<p>When I was going to college, much of music wasn’t available to me. Today, the availability of music to me at very low cost (free with ads or purchased music) is amazing with products like iTunes, Pandora, Amazon, etc.</p>
<p>40 years ago, we were watching I Love Lucy and Star Trek in black and white. Today we watch it in high-def.</p>
<p>Today we have gaming experiences that were not possible a few decades ago. Today they are common and routine.</p>
<p>So we may not have the theater experience yet, but we can get closer to it with technology. Maybe not tomorrow, the next decade or the one after but look at the improvements just in the past 30 years and extrapolate to the future.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It isn’t a lack of technology that prevents the broadcast of theatre. It’s the licensing rights. Susan is right, and I would add, it is not even a case of “much” theatre not being available, it’s MOST! Every Broadway show is filmed for archival purposes but those tapes sit in a library at Lincoln Center and can only be viewed under certain circumstances, and certainly not broadcast. Some shows make arrangements with a few organizations/PBS to have the show filmed and then broadcast on tv, or released in dvd format after the show closes on Broadway, as was the case recently with RENT. However, the vast majority of live performances do not permit taping, either video or audio, and thus, the only people who have access to them are those in the audience. You can’t even tape a high school musical legally. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.</p>
<p>^^^ Precisely.</p>
<p>The point is that during hard times, people need the arts more than ever. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[From</a> Great Depression’s Depths, Creativity Reached New Heights](<a href=“http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2006-09/2006-09-20-voa1.cfm]From”>http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2006-09/2006-09-20-voa1.cfm)</p>
<p>“””That said, valuing the arts is our current problem.”””</p>
<p>WOW! Are you kidding me? How is that? The Arts are the leaders in creative thought and have been since the beginning of time. Everything else follows. Many science minds are creatively stimulated by the arts. The first question that is asked in most Math departments is what instrument do you play? In my city (an others) if the artists populate an area of the city, it becomes the latest hot area and can turn an area around. Many teachers will tell you that engaging students in arts programming often turns around the students who are hard-to-reach. </p>
<p>The Rhode Island School of Design (which is the Harvard of art schools) is run by a former director from MIT (got his baccalaureate and masters from MIT and went back to art school for a Ph.D.). You cannot value the arts enough. They are intertwined with science and our whole culture. Creative thought is what we all need right now. </p>
<p>And regarding the Rose Museum. It was totally financially independent of the school and even paid 15% of sold and acquired art to Brandis for the building and lights. 80% of the art was DONATED to the museum. It paid its own way. The fact is that the museum is worth a bunch of dollars my friends. They will be selling priceless artwork at rock bottom prices in this market. Stupid! And ask yourself how Brandis got into this financial fix? Who did it? It wasn’t the artists. It looks like the artists and artwork will be helping to pull their butts out!</p>
<p>P.S. I am a science person.</p>