Archive for February, 2010
The Truth about Arts & Culture
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday, I addressed the meeting of the Phoenix East Rotary - a small, but great-spirited group of people.
The meeting began with a recitation:
Rotary’s ”4-Way Test of the things we think, say or do”
- Is it the truth?
- Is it fair to all concerned?
- Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
- Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
The group shared with me that they attend Broadway tours that visit ASU Gammage – and take part in community productions at Scottsdale Desert Stages Theatre. Many loved last year’s Chihuly installation at the Desert Botanical Garden – and one had enjoyed a recent Nearly Naked Theatre production. Like I said – GREAT group of people!
After about 10 minutes of discussing all the fun things they’d recently attended, I asked: “Why does arts & culture matter in our community.” The common answers to this question (here & everywhere) mention ”economic vitality”, “cultural tourism”, “enjoyment” and, less frequently, “community pride.”
Then a man, an architect, raised his hand and said, (I’m paraphrasing here) that the arts are the cure to the deplorable way homes & communities have been designed here in the Valley of the Sun for decades – with walls between yards and drive-in garages that preclude even the most basic of neighborly relations. Cultural participation, he stated clearly & simply, gets us out of our homes and behaving like a real community.
Not just well said, a solid testament to the #1 question of Rotary’s 4-Way Test.
To Connect People, Arts & Culture
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Some jobs are too big to do entirely on your own.
You don’t grow your own food. You don’t build your own house. And you don’t treat your own major illness.
What’s true for individuals is also true for arts & cultural organizations. Some jobs, like raising the public visibility of our sector’s offerings and increasing rates of audience participation, are beyond the capability of any of single organization to affect alone.
That’s the whole reason for organizing an alliance for audience development – an independent collaboration of Arizona’s arts and cultural organizations established in 2003 to enable an incredibly diverse community of organizations – large & small, performing arts & visual arts, professional & community, cultural destinations and arts organizations, traditional and contemporary - to work together to pursue mutually significant objectives.
The need to make the most of scarce resources has never been greater. Interestingly, the opportunity for collaborative creativity and innovation has never been greater.
Please stay tuned to this new communications tool for dialogue & action whose goal is nothing less than to explore, shape, debate & learn new ways for Arizona’s arts & cultural organizations to join forces to pursue shared goals.
And, as always, please let me know whenever we may be of service.