Fame or Famine

At first I thought this was going to be some good news, an article in The Toronto Star: “...the idea of upper class forming cultural elite no longer valid” This would be a good thing, right? It means that we are all part of the arts, that it’s just as much a part of the lives of the lower and middle classes as those of the upper, right?

Well, yes, but only in the sense that “hardly at all” is considered a “part”:

“Status is now attached to material consumption, not cultural consumption,” Goldthorpe tells me. “People with status show who they are though expensive cars and houses rather than by going to museums and the like.”

Indeed, the report itself hammers home the blunt truth that “income has no effect on determining” the kind of culture being consumed. The bottom line? People who could help symphonies survive or back the arts don’t want to.

So, we need to increase arts education, right? Give everyone more exposure to dance, theatre, etc, and then we can all join in our wonderful celebration furthering the human aesthetic.

Except, no:

Better education does little to change this bleak picture. “There is a sizeable number of people in this group who don’t participate” in the elite arts, Goldthorpe says

Why?

“The short answer is, I don’t know,” says Goldthorpe.

Unfortunately, the Chan-Goldthorpe report will play into the hands of reactionary politicians who question whether the arts should be funded at all, since no one gives a hoot about them.

Unfortunately they’re right. Even though the NEA is an infinitesimal part of the budget, it is constantly embattled simply because it’s an easy target.

I guess the one part of this that I look at as not-quite-hopeless is that the arts have, traditionally, not been socially funded. Patrons (the Medicis, the Catholic Church, Larry Ellison) have sponsored the great artists of Western culture. In the East (and yes, I’m aware that I’m generalizing here) the arts were simply considered to be part of life – samurai were expected to be great poets and painters as well as their soldiering jobs, and accountants were also fine calligraphers.

The fact is, we all want to be artists and performers – the popularity of the dance reality shows is part of the proof, as is the hottest new video game – not a shoot-em-up, but a game where you and your friends play musical instruments to try and get good. Dance Dance Revolution is another good example, or hell, even karaoke.

I think perhaps just the days of the artist who could simply count on public funding are gone. I think we’re changing – not losing it. Art is produced regardless of the human condition; while I’m sad to see this support model go, I’m kind of excited to see what comes next.

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