Cultural Policy

"The arts enrich society in so many ways.
They are a civilizing force — as essential
over time as adequate housing or a cleaner
environment or other compelling causes.
Art is surely the grandest expression of our
creativity and is our most lasting legacy.
People are transient. But art is forever.”
- John H. Bryan

If “the past is prologue” then the history of Sara Lee Corporation bears telling. It is a testament to corporate leadership over the years and the impact of Sara Lee's CEOs, past and present, not only on a company, but on the city of Chicago.

In the fall 2001, the Center for Arts and Culture, an independent Washington, D.C.-based think tank on cultural policy, began distributing two series of publications. One consists of commissioned papers, part of the Center's Art, Culture and the National Agenda project. The other documents discussion forums convened by the Center. Publications in both series are small-format booklets. Several landed on our desks in quick succession last fall, but production now seems to be moving at a slower pace, allowing us to keep track of each one a little more easily.

Overhaul of Elementary and Secondary Education

Last October I attended my first "Social Theory, Politics and the Arts" conference, speaking on a panel with playwright Brian Freeman, writer Karen Clark, and puppeteer/actor Jonathan Youtt to offer reflections from artists at the conference's culmination. The gathering's international scope was refreshing and eye-opening.

On November 12, 2000, a headline on the front page of the Atlanta Journal/Constitution read, "Study finds Atlanta arts community trailing peers." A full-page story in Section A followed. This one headline challenged the city's cherished self-assessment as "cultural jewel of the South" and quietly affirmed the suspicions of many of its artists and cultural workers.

This is the story about the headline, the study, and the volunteer efforts of an incorporated ad hoc group that calls itself the Atlanta Arts Think Tank and that commissioned the landmark study.

I privilege the making of arts as an activity to support, and hence my advocacy for strengthening the creation system. I do not see or define the worth of art on what it delivers, whether what it delivers is audiences, civic engagement, or the "next new art thing." This is not to separate art from context, from the creation and delivery systems, but serves to place the focus on arts as transformative. Art is a passionate force that creates metaphors, images, sounds, and aesthetic experiences. How does one make a policy for transformation?

Two streams of thought come together here. On the one hand, we want the Reader to reflect the continuing impact on our lives of the events of September 11, 2001. On the other, we want to follow an emphasis in GIA's current plan on the organization's second purpose — to increase the presence of arts philanthropy within philanthropy in order to strengthen support for arts and culture.

2001, 120 pages. The Rockefeller Foundation.

May 2000, 92 pages. Council of Europe Publishing; U.S. sales agent: Manhattan Publishing Co., 468 Albany Post Road, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520, 914-271-5194.

The future seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking...
-E.B. White

It's broccoli, dear.
I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it.
-Caption for a New Yorker cartoon by Carl Rose

The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture by John Seabrook
2000, 215 pages, Alfred A. Knopf

American Culture, American Tastes Social Change and the Twentieth Century by Michael Kammen
1999, 320 pages, Basic Books