Things change, Jo.

Dear Readers,

Thank you to those who have periodically checked in over the past three months, especially those in Russia (Привет!).  I apologize for the absence of reading material.  I was out living the dream and had a significant lack of time to document it.  I'm also way behind on reading arts industry articles.  I will do my best to summarize the last three months to bring you all up to date before we look to the future.

Shortly after my last post in June, I was offered an opportunity of a life time for at an amazing summer opera company in New York State.  They needed a replacement for their Executive Assistant and I happened to be available.  The position was only seasonal.  I had about a week to put my life into a storage unit and get myself to my new temporary location.  After spending an incredible summer working for a phenomenal woman, learning so much more about the workings of an opera company, and meeting so many incredible people, I was offered a full time position as the Assistant to the Artistic & General Director -- same position, better title.  I cannot be more thrilled.  I am actually getting paid to do what I went to school for and what I love!  How many people can say that, especially in this economy?

However, with getting a new job comes rearranging one's life.  At this point, I have an apartment in my new town, though I cannot move in until October.  I'm still looking for a new car, and I need to figure out when I'm heading to Cincinnati to retrieve all my belongings.  Even though there are only two items on my overall to do list, this experience is overwhelming.  There are so many other aspects to these two tasks that I didn't realize, like car insurance, changing my residency, registering the car.  I have to admit, I am not the best at transitions -- there are too many unknowns.  Not having a plan makes me uncomfortable.  I'm feeling a lot better now that I have an apartment to move in to.  Also, it's great having a job. 

No one told me how being employed full time was going to feel different than gigging.  I feel a lot more secure about life.  It's really kind of neat that I'll be working with this one company until I want to leave or the company no longer wants/needs me.  I like job security.  Plus, this steady paycheck thing is pretty boss.  Having my weekends free is something totally foreign to me.  For the first time in my entire life, I can have control of what I do in the evenings and on the weekends!  I honestly have no idea what to do with myself.  I could get a hobby or finish my thesis or start writing my memoir.  The options are limitless!

At any rate, let's discuss the future.  Once I'm finally moved into my new apartment and have secured reliable internet access, I will starting blogging again with much fervor.  I have missed reading articles on Arts Journal.  Working a summer festival season certainly leaves one with a deficit of time, and living in a converted motel in rural New York State leaves one without reliable internet.  Over the next couple weeks, I'll try to write a post or two about something arts related.  Please stay tuned, and thanks for sticking with me.

--Caro

Speaking of Paris

I just returned from the movie theater having seen "Midnight in Paris," directed by Woody Allen.  I found the premise of the film to be completely delightful!  Owen Wilson's character, Gil, an America screenwriter who desires to be a novelist, is traveling with his fiancee, Inez, played by Rachel McAdams, and her parents.  They foursome is out to dinner when a pedantic windbag and his ignorant female companion, both of whom are friends with Inez, enter.  At this point in the movie, it is decided these two couples shall spend copious amounts of time together.  All these encounters and interactions give way to the audience hating Rachel McAdams' character and the other couple.  I frequently thought to myself, "Rachel McAdams's character is such a self-serving, shallow creature."  I didn't think I could ever hate Rachel McAdams, but in this film, I do!  After suffering through so much pompous spew from Paul, the pedantic windbag, Gil begs out of an evening of dancing with the group to wander through the streets of Paris.  Traipsing about for some time has proven Gil lost.  When Gil sits down to ponder how to get back to his hotel, a vintage car comes up the boulevard.  It stops in front of the stairs upon Gil is sitting, and a gentleman beckons for Gil to join them.  Because this is the movies and not reality, Gil decides to get in the car, and he is suddenly transported back to Paris in the 1920s, which in his opinion is the city's Golden Age.  During this journey to the past, Gil meets many historical figures such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, Cole Porter, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali, among others.  Gil also meets a woman named Adrianna, who is Picasso's mistress.  She, too, is disenchanted with her present life in the City of Lights and yearns for the Paris of the 1890s.  This disenchantment is what brings Adrianna and Gil together, and ultimately leads to Gil rediscovering himself, leaving his fiancee, and moving to Paris.  I promise that doesn't ruin the ending.  Anyone who finds themselves loving Paris, struggling with their career, or is a history buff should see this film.  I know it confirmed that I will someday live in Paris, most realistically in the distant future, but it will happen.

I happen to adore France.  I am a bit of a Francophile.  I desperately regret letting my friend, iRene (yes, that is how she spells it) talk me into taking Spanish in high school.  Though, I suppose at the time it was the better career move as I was still planning on becoming a psychologist.  However, as my career has very much steered from that original path, French would have been much more sensible.  During my last May Term at Simpson, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel through historical Burgundy with the Simpson Madgrial Singers.  I wasn't singing, but I was more than happy to join the trip as a groupie just to see Francis the First's castle, the Louvre, DaVinci's home in France, L'arc de triomphe, Giverny, Mt. Saint Micheal, Saint Chapelle, and the Eiffel Tower, among other amazing sites.  I find there's such a rich history that America can't offer.  Everything in Europe seems so interconnected and America feels very siloed. For me the Golden Age of France was during the Romantic Period when so much of the art being produced was politically charged.  As I mentioned in my first post, the idea of Le Cenacle and the salons before it are so intriguing to me.  Perhaps the thought of sitting around someone's living room, discussing the issues of the day while enjoying new compositions, poetry, and novels makes me a modern day hippie.  So be it!

I firmly believe there is a lack of discourse today.  As the middle class begins to die out and our time is as valuable as ever, we desperately search for someone else to form an opinion we halfheartedly agree with so we can have an opinion.  As a result we have groups of thought that are so drastically different with no middle ground.  We want everything to be black and white, cut and dry.  I am equally as guilty.  What would happen if we took a step back and actually thought about what's happening today and how our words and actions affect others?  What if we all formed our own opinions and could support how we feel?  Perhaps we'd be more innovative and make more intelligent decisions.  This is definitely something to ponder.


--Caro

Public Transportation: A Traveling Circus

As I rode the bus to school the other day, I thought about all the strange sights and sounds that one chances to encounter when taking part in the glorious tradition of public transportation.  For instance, one Wednesday morning I sat down in the front of the bus in a seat the faces in.  In the seat across from me was a rotund man wearing jeans and a windbreaker.  Not so strange from that description, but this very hairy man was not wearing a shirt and the windbreaker was open.  Suffice to say it was difficult to keep from staring.  Five minutes into the ride, I realized he was sitting next to a pet carrier which made me a little nervous.

I have to say I prefer life to be as normal as possible.  Anything too out of the ordinary makes me uncomfortable.  I think a lot of it has to do with growing up in the Midwest.  We like to keep to ourselves and go about our business as usual without drawing too much attention.  However, when I step onto some form of public transportation those feelings melt away because I know even at my most insane, I will look normal compared to some of the specimens traveling about the metropolis.  As my good friend and partner in culinary crime says, "I always feel like I'm in a sociological experiment."

While I tried not to stare at the natural sweater-wearing man with the purple pet carrier, I couldn't help feeling better about myself and wondering why he wasn't wearing a shirt.  This made me reminisce about all the magic I've come across while riding public transportation.  Once in Chicago I happened upon a group of Latino, Spanish-speaking trannies.  The best part of that ride was that my travel companion having grown up in a shelter where everyone appears normal was so flabbergasted and uncomfortable.  I on the other hand was excited to be in a city where such occurrences were considered mainstream, so much so that no one made a big deal except my friend.  This past week I was in Boston for the annual Opera America Conference. While I took the T from the airport out to Boston University to meet a friend, I watched a deaf hipster girl sign.  I'm pretty sure she wasn't with or signing to anyone in particular, but instead she was absentmindedly thinking "out loud."  It made me wish I knew sign language so I could hear her.

These are the situations at the forefront of my mind, but there are many other gems.

Until next time.

--Caro

Opera in High Definition

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of hearing a panel discuss the Metropolitan Opera's HD Broadcast program.  The panel included Marc Scorca, President and CEO of Opera America, Marcus Kuechle, Director of Artistic Operations for Cincinnati Opera, and Robin Guarino, CCM Opera Chair and international director, with Majorie Fox, CCM Electronic Media Division Head as mediator.  Many of the questions asked were centered around the audience building aspect of the HD broadcasts.  Are these broadcasts actually bringing in new audiences?  The sentiment expressed by the panel is that this initiative is still very young, being started in the 2006-2007 season, and it is rather early to tell.  Throughout the evening's discussion a few points were brought up that I'd like to address here. (If you'd like a review of the session check out these articles:  ConcertoNet.com and Cincinnati.com.)

The first issue I'd like to discuss is the lack of age diversity in the broadcast audiences.  One gentleman mentioned that youngsters did not want to spend a Saturday afternoon in a theatre.  That may be true on several accounts.  However, I would like to mention that as a "youngster," one still in school at that, I don't have the time to spend sitting in a theatre on a Saturday afternoon. It isn't that I don't want to, I just don't have the time.  I'm usually sitting in my favorite coffee shop writing papers or reading for class on Saturdays and Sundays.  Then, when the operas are rebroadcast on Wednesday evenings, I'm actually in class.  You can see how this causes a problem or two.  However, another gentleman suggested the performances be rebroadcast at a more suitable time for the younger audiences members, such as 1:00am.  I do agree that showing an opera in a movie theatre in the late evening would probably be better for capturing the younger demographic, though 1:00am may be a bit extreme.

Thank you to Robin Guarino who mentioned that the $22 ticket price is still pretty expensive for a student.  Twenty-two dollars is a lot of money for a someone who has a negative income.  If I'm going to spend that much money on an arts event, I'd rather spend it on a live, in house performance.  Mr. Kuechle did touch on the idea that going to the opera is still an event for the younger audiences.  Again, this is something with which I agree, to an extent.  I have to admit I still get very excited to watch an opera in house because I really enjoy the live aspect.  Personally, I would much rather go to the actual opera house rather than watch a broadcast because I can choose what to look at.  With the broadcast, I only get to look at what the HD Director chose as the appropriate shot.  While that allows me to have an intimate view of a duet, I don't get to see how the singers are relating to the rest of the set or the other singers on stage.

Ms. Guarino discussed how today's audiences are much more sophisticated than they were fifty years ago.  We expect the sets to be more realistic.  We expect a consumptive Violetta to be slender with a sense of fragility and not like she spends her time sitting on her recamier, eating bonbons. What does that mean for the opera industry as a whole?  Will this sort of expected realism lend itself to an increase in smaller opera houses that allow for a more intimate setting giving the audience an up close look at the action?  Or will we trend towards grandiose spectacle.  I hope for the sake of everyone's pocketbook that we do not become excessive.  How will the conservatories and music schools react to the need for stronger actors?  Will there be an increase in acting class requirements, or will these additional acting classes be substitutes for other classes?  Truth be told, acting classes may be more beneficial than most advanced theory classes. How would that affect the staff and faculty associated with teaching such classes -- will they be paid more; will the schools hire more individuals to teach?  

If the nation's conservatories and music schools are truly invested in the success of their students, they will provide adequate stage training through acting classes, opera scene workshops and on stage roles.  Singers who possess the ability to physically communicate the ideas and emotions in the text of an aria or song have a better advantage than their counterparts.  I am not implying that every singer will perform at the Met during an HD broadcast. However, in this transitive time, as more houses are starting their own HD programs, it is imperative that singers be prepared to do what is expected of them.  The ultimate goal should be artistry rather than technical perfection.  Emotion is not perfect, but it is real.  In the quest for realism, in an industry that is based on survival of the fittest, it would be in every artist's interest to become a stronger actor.

--Caro

Earth Hour!

In one hour from now the best hour of the year will begin:  Earth Hour! What is Earth Hour, you ask.  Well let me educate you.  At 8:30pm the lights of the world will go dark for one hour.  This act of collective solidarity helps us all to remember we are united as global citizens.  We have one earth, and for one hour, we honor her.

I have celebrate three Earth Hours in my day.  The first, harkens back to my senior year of college.  The lights when out and somehow I ended up in the bathtub with my two roommates.  They say college is all about experimenting, right?  To calm the heart rates of my family members who happen to read my blog, I must clarify. Anne, Dani and I were fully clothed.  We decided we wanted to try this cool thing Anne had read about.  First you needed to be in a completely dark room.  The darkest place in our apartment at the time was the bathroom because it had no windows.  Second you needed a camera with a flash.  The idea was each person would make a funny face and the flash would go off and you'd be able to see the negative of the funny face.  So the three of us climbed into the bathtub.  We were quite a sight, twisted this way and that, making faces and such.  What a good time*. 

This year I plan to sit in my bathtub, fully clothed and read my favorite book of all time, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by candlelight. 

Why don't you join the rest of the world in this collective tribute to Lady Earth.  Turn off your lights and have a little fun.

--Caro


*For the inquiring minds, we were completely sober.

How Art Can Save the World

As I was sipping on my bold coffee blend from my favorite local organic, fair trade coffee shop Aquarius Star, I was catching up on all my blog subscriptions on google reader and this post caught my eye:  Solving World Disasters through Art.  This post is from "Books of Adam," a blog written by a fellow misanthrope, Adam Ellis, who chooses to bestow the goings-on of his life upon the undeserving, but ultimately grateful community of the internets.

When I first saw the title I thought to myself, "I love art!  The world's pretty boss.  How do I save the world with art?!"  Naturally, I clicked on the link and read Adam's post.  He delightfully insulted the American people and their obsession with reality television while simultaneously asking for the world to provide support the Japanese people.  Adam has created a few drawings and put them up for auction on eBay.  All proceeds will go to the rescue efforts in Japan via International Medical Corp.

So, you have a choice.  You can either go to eBay and vote on any one of these three picture (personally, I'm a fan of the Sailor Moon one) or you can text REDCROSS to 90999 (US) to donate $10 to help Japan.

It's up to you.  Be a global citizen.  Help out the country that brought us George Tekai, Godzilla, and Mario Brothers.

--Caro

Second Star to the Right and Straight on 'Til Morning

I really enjoy making lists.  I have them all over my apartment -- in my planner, on my refrigerator, on the wall behind my computer, note cards on my desk, excel spreadsheets, etc.  I could single handedly keep 3M in business with all the Post-It Notes I use.  Each list is different.  I have my daily "Things To Accomplish: 'Day of the Week' Edition list, my recipes to try list, the accompanying grocery list, books I want to read, music I want to purchase, movies I want to see, articles I want to read, things I need to research for my thesis.  The list making never ends. 

The closer I am to finishing school, the longer my things to do/acquire when I'm a "real adult” list becomes. You might say, "But Carolyne, you are an adult.  You've been able to vote for almost 6 years.  You can legally drink.  Contracts are valid when you sign then, provided you've met the four requirements of a contract and you're not entering into a deal with a minor and something or other about life necessities." Yes, all those are true, but I still don't really feel like a real adult.  I can't rent a car without extraordinary insurance fees.  I still don't pay for my own health insurance.  I don't have a real job.  Frankly, I've never had a full time job for more than four months at a time.  I still operate at a deficit.  Again, you may say, "But Carolyne, lots of people are in debt.  It's almost like a mark of being a real adult -- going to school for something that may never pay off.  Also, with unemployment rates as high as they are, you won't be the only adult without a job!"  Again, that is true, but I have a certain list of things I need to do or acquire before I feel I’ve become a real adult.  I've already made a couple steps in that direction.  I own coasters and I purchased curtains.  I pay rent and other bills every month.  So what are these other mysterious real adult qualifications?  Let me write you a brief list.

1. Subscribe to the Sunday Times.
2. Subscribe to at least 3 art organizations, or be a member.
3. Keep a plant alive.
4. Have a career (or job) that has benefits!!! -- also having the same full time job for at least one year
5. Pay back student loans.
6. Start investing
7. Owning a real couch/love seat instead of a futon.
8. Matching silverware.
9. Actually being able to put money into my savings account and keep it there.
10. Subscribe to magazines, particularly Opera News, Classical Singer, Cooking Light, The New Yorker, Marie Claire, Time, and The Economist.
11. Colonoscopy.  Need I say more?

This is not an all inclusive list.  It doesn't even really begin to scratch the surface. Clearly some of the things on my list won't, well shouldn't, be crossed off for many, many years.  That begs the question, do we ever become "real adults?" 

In my life experience I have seen many adults act like children.  Even the most mature individuals still behave like a tantrum throwing four year old because someone told them no.  Are we really just children in adult bodies?  Is "adult" a societal concept we've created over the years to distinguish ourselves from children?  When does childhood really end?  A good friend of mine brought up an interesting point saying, "Your childhood seems to affect everything that happens in your adulthood.  We are constantly referring to what happened to us when we were kids whether we're trying to recreate it or change it."  That's very true.  Some parents live vicariously through their own children because they had terrible childhoods.  Adult versus child is a very interesting concept.  Are we confusing “grown up” or “mature” with “adult?” Are we really trying to identify the point at which a person stops thinking only of themselves and starts considering other people?  Believe you me, it sure as hell isn't 18.  Perhaps this is something, like how many licks it takes to get the the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop, the world will never know.

--Caro

Donde esta Maria?

Dr. Maria DiPalma is a large reason I decided to attend Simpson College.  I came down to Indianola for my audition on April 19, 2005.  Maria greeted my mother and me, introduced herself and told me about the audition process.  The moment my eyes laid upon Maria I knew Simpson would be the school for me.  She was wearing the coolest shoes I'd ever seen a professor wear!  Admittedly, I hadn't seen many professors, but these shoes were awesome.  They had giant rhinestones all over them!  Also, without even knowing her last name, I could tell Dr. DiPalma was Italian.  She looked a lot like some of the women in my family -- conveniently my mother happens to be full-blood Italian.  Unfortunately, you can't tell I'm half Italian thanks to my dad's English/German/Irish genes.  I digress.  After Maria explained the audition process she asked if I had any questions.  I cannot recall what I said, but I can only assume it was funny because I remember Maria laughing or cackling, rather.  Maria is a cackler.

For anyone who has known me more than 30 seconds should be well aware of how nerdy I am.  So what I’m about to tell you should be no shock.  Truthfully, I should probably be ashamed to admit this, but I'm not.  When I first got to Simpson in the fall of 2005, I pretended I was at Hogwarts.  Like Hogwarts for Harry, Simpson was this new magical (metaphorically) escape from what I considered to be the torturous clutches of rural Iowa.  I tried to match my professors to the characters in the Harry Potter series.  Maria DiPalma was clearly the understated badass that is Minerva McGonagall.  Knowing I had my own version of Professor McGonagall was strangely comforting to me.  Maria’s office was full of eclectic oddities like little metal spiders or a stegosaurus figurine or the boar’s head that we used for the madrigal dinner.  She always had coffee mugs and teacups strewn around the office.  I never told Maria about this comparison, but I can only imagine she’d be pleased to hear about it.

I was never in Maria’s studio, but she was my advisor.  We had a mutual understanding that I would figure out my schedule and she’d sign me up for the classes.  There wasn’t much advising.  Every once in awhile, Maria would recommend I sign up for a different section of a class because she liked that professor better.  The only time she really warned me against taking a specific class was for my senior colloquium.  This is a capstone at Simpson where seniors take a class that helps them to define who they are and what their contributions to society as a whole can be.  Yank, yank, right?  Anyway, I was signing up for “Crafting Your Life” with one of the school chaplains.  Maria told me point blank that I would hate this class and she didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to take it citing that it was “very touchy –feely and about finger painting.”  Unfortunately, this was the only senior colloquium that would fit in my schedule.  I would love to say that Maria was wrong and this class was a wonderful learning experience for me and allowed me to grow mentally, creatively and spiritually.  However, Maria was 100% right.  I hated every damn minute of that class. 

It was a project in this class that got me sent to Maria’s office like I was a truant teenager.  We were assigned a cornerstone project where each student to create a power point presentation about each of the general education classes we had taken throughout our time at Simpson.  At the time the presentation was completed I still had three cornerstones left to take.  After I turned in my project, my professor e-mailed informing me that my project was incomplete and I had 24 hours to add the three pictures and paragraphs or I’d fail.  Believe you me I wrote an angry response to my professor outlining her syllabus; stating that I had in fact completed the project to her specifications and that if she wanted something different she should have so.  Turns out she had changed the project during the one class I missed the whole semester.  The next day there was a note for me on the board summoning me to Maria’s office.  I figured she needed to talk to me about some props for the opera, except she didn’t.  She informed me that my senior colloquium professor had essentially tattled on me and requested Maria give me a talking-to.  Though she agreed with my assessment of the situation, Maria warned me against the consequences of e-mailing while angry.  She made me apologize to my professor and told me to pretend like I was interacting with a donor – it would be good practice for me.  Maria offered me some sage advice that day when she said, “Carolyne, stupid people don’t like it when you point out their stupidity.”  Truer words were never spoken, Maria.

It has been a few days since I learned that Maria has stopped her chemo treatments and moved into a hospice center this week after a nine year battle with cancer.  While the idea that this could happen has been sitting in the back of my mind, I always believed she'd kick cancer in groin and prevail triumphantly.  Dr. DiPalma isn't one to take shit from anyone.  She's a tough, straight-shooting broad – a wonderful role model.  I can only imagine as she passes on from this world to the next that she’ll be making a grand entrance at a party wearing some elaborately fabulous ensemble with some equally amazing shoes.  Someone will hand her a very dirty martini.  Someone else will tell a dirty joke, and Maria’s cackle will be heard throughout kingdom come.

Does Non-profit Mean Unaccountable?

I recently read a blog post by Diane Ragsdale in which she discusses the amount of nonprofit arts organizations and the funding pool in which they exist.  She accurately used the metaphor of "too many fish in the pond."  In a simple economic look at our sub-sector, we have a surplus and not enough demand. While the arts help make a community vibrant, is there a point at which we have too much?  Is our market so saturated with arts organizations that our audiences, current and potential, are so overwhelmed to the point of indifference?  This begs the time old question:  quality versus quantity?  If our revenue streams vis a vis individual and corporate contributions were more focused on a smaller number of organizations, would the quality improve?  Would more people be willing to donate if there were fewer organizations asking for money?

Is there something we as citizens can do to deal with this potential problem?  I've been thinking about the possibility of a policy that could help cut down on the number of arts organizations.  Before you get your panties of righteousness in a bunch, hear me out.  There is a definite problem with arts organizations being poorly managed and having to close their doors as a result.  The worse the economy gets the more organizations are forced to file for bankruptcy or dramatically scale back their seasons or cease to exist altogether.  The strongest factor in this problem is the reliance upon public funding.  Ragsdale suggests that "the lack of ‘ownership’ in the nonprofit system too often seems to result in a lack of ‘accountability.’"  Meaning that because nonprofits are for public benefit with boards of directors seeing over the administrative staff there isn't always a clear communication stream nor a clear sense of ownership.

I am suggesting that we, the public, demand accountability of our nonprofit organizations.  They are here for us, why not insist upon not only quality products and services, but quality management?  With the installation of some sort of policy that requires nonprofits to be more accountable, we would stipulate that companies do what they can to mitigate the possibility of running a deficit.  I know we already have some regulations in place such as tax filings, etc.  However, so many companies continually end their fiscal year in the red and don't do anything to change their practices.  Perhaps what I'm suggesting is the establishment of implications, consequences for poor management.  I am not completely sure how this will happen in our capitalistic free market.  Maybe Adam Smith's invisible hand needs speed up and use the proverbial fly swatter to help eliminate these mismanaged nonprofits from the market place for good.  I'm not sure how to solve this problem, but it's definitely something to think about.

--Caro

What is Cultural Policy?

What is cultural policy?  That is a great question, and a very pertinent one for a cultural and public policy class.  However, culture and policy can be difficult to define.  In attempts to better understand, I did some research.  I read a very interesting article by Caron Atlas discussing what cultural policy is.  She brought up some interesting points.  Cultural policy doesn’t always operate in the public realm, though public and cultural policy often go together.  She defines cultural policy as “both a product and a process, a framework for making rules and decisions that are informed by social relationships and values.”  I think this is a great definition.  However, to fully understand what is cultural policy, I think there needs to be an understanding of the basic key words culture, public, and policy.

According to the Conjecture Corporation, as published on wiseGeek.com,  public policy is "an attempt by the government to address a public issue.  The government, whether it is city, state, or federal, develops public policy in terms of laws, regulations, decisions, and actions."  To simplify this even further, there's a problem and a governing body does something to change or fix it.  According to thefreedictionary.com, public can be defined as "of, concerning, or affecting the community or the people."  I think public policy can be applied to any group, such as a school or a business.  As long as there is a group being affected by some sort of governing body's actions, there is public policy.  To bottom line this concept:  community action.

Now, the more difficult concept to define is culture.  One really needs to know the scope for which the concept is being defined – the frame of reference, if you will.  Is it culture as it relates to anthropology, the standard connotation of art, or perhaps it pertains to the medical and scientific fields?  As I am pursuing a master’s degree in Arts Administration, I can safely assume we are not using the last frame.  That still leaves culture in an anthropological sense or as it pertains to the arts. According to English anthropologist, Edward Tylor, culture, or civilization, includes “knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”  Based on this definition, anything within a society, or community, can be considered culture.  That opens a lot of door in terms of policy discussions.  However, as a member of the arts community, I know culture can be considered a community's foundation in the fine arts, such as theatre, art, dance, music.  If we take this more narrow focus, cultural policy would cover anything relating to art.

In summary a policy is something that addresses a problem and is enacted by a governing body.  A public is a group of people.  As we've discovered, culture can mean different things, but I believe in the context of the class I'm taking culture means relating to the arts.  After learning the definitions, Ms. Atlas' definition makes much more sense.

Help Secure Our Piece of the Pie

As we enter the New Year, Congress commences a new session.  There are many important issues on the docket:  the possible repeal of the Obama Health Care Reform, the Open Internet Order, and overall spending.  However, the issue most important to me is funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, a public agency dedicated to bringing the arts to all Americans.  The NEA is the largest annual national funder of the arts.  A strong connection to arts education, the NEA helps to fund and carry out educational initiatives, such as The Big Read, which gives communities the opportunity to read and discuss one of 31 selections from the U.S. and world literary cannon.

In fiscal year (FY) 2010, the NEA was granted $167.5 million to be disbursed to arts organizations, new and established, throughout the United States.   This past February President Obama proposed a $6.4 million decrease for the FY 2011 NEA budget.  The House of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), raised the initial funding level to $170 million this past July.  This is $2.5 million increase over the budget allotment in FY 2010.  The money the Federal government budgets for the NEA each year helps to fund jobs, create safe and educational places for our children to stay after school, enrich the lives of Americans, and increase our cultural worth in world.  While I could write hundreds of thousands of pages lauding the work of the NEA, I am here to ask each reader to contact his or her elected officials and ask them to support the increase to $170 million dollars for the NEA in FY 2011.  With five minutes of your time, you can help to support the arts in America.  Please click here to visit the Americans for the Arts advocacy page to contact your elected officials.  

Caro

Context Is Key

I recently read an article in Publishers Weekly about a professor who is "updating" The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventure of Tom Sawyer by replacing the now culturally offensive "nigger" with the more politically correct word "slave."  Alan Gribben is replacing the n-word in attempt to make the books more accessible and teachable in the 21st century classroom.  Gribben is working with the NEA's Big Read initiative in Alabama. 

While I commend Gribben's efforts for trying to make these masterpieces more suitable for today's classrooms, I cannot help but be ashamed for our society.  We are raising a bunch of weak-minded children who cannot tolerate even learning, let alone questioning, the social conventions of yesteryear.  I read The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn in high school.  I felt uncomfortable every time I read the word "nigger," but my American Literature teacher took the time to explain to me and the class that in the historical context of the book, the n-word wasn't wrong.  It was part of the culture, socially acceptable.  That didn't mean she was advocating our use of it now or ever.  Instead she was opening our eyes to how America was and allowing us to see into a part of history that has helped us become the country we are today.  By glossing over issues like slavery and making books politically correct, we are taking away the importance of the issues being discussed in books like Huckleberry Finn.  Keeping the word "nigger" in the books opens up the opportunity to discuss the power of words -- the abuse thereof, how words came to have the connotations they do now, ways we can combat negative uses, etc.

Several of the teachers Gribben spoke to said they felt they couldn't teach Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer in the 21st century classroom.  Why?  Is it because today's children have been raised to believe that anything that doesn't fit the politically correct social mold we've created is offensive?  I find that ironic because these are the same kids who will call each other "slut," "whore," and "fag" without any thought.  I hear children and adult alike using the phrase, "That's gay." as a substitute for "That's stupid."  Why isn't anyone making a bigger deal about that?  Homosexuals have feelings too, and they do take offense when someone synonymously interchanges homosexuality with stupidity.  I used to be one of those kids who inappropriately used the word gay until my freshman year of college when a classmate, who later became one of my best friends, explained how offensive it was to him when I negatively connotated his lifestyle.  From that day on I never used gay to mean stupid.  All it took was someone pointing out how my words affect other people for me to change my ways.  I am not saying it's going to be the same way for everyone, but talking about it will help.  In 125 years are people going to change gay in every book?  By changing nigger to slave in Mark Twain's novels, we are giving the n-word more power, reinforcing its negative meanings.  If we ever want to progress as a nation we need to look at our history and question it, not rewrite it.

There's No Hole in My Bucket

I had a lot of time on my hands over break.  Instead of doing something productive like research for my thesis, I used this time to think.  About what may you ask?  Well, I am an indiscriminate thinker.  I'll think about whatever pops into my head.  Sometimes I will spend hours thinking about the most random things.  I once spent 30 minutes contemplating the purpose of doors.  I know that sounds like crazy talk because doors are here to create barriers, provide protection, serve as a fortress from your crazy aunts who will not leave you alone.  However, doors are not treated the same in all cultures.  In German households, as I learned in my one semester of German my sophomore year of college, most doors stay locked throughout the day and are only unlocked when someone needs to enter the room.  Here in America, that is not the case, at least from my experience.  For goodness sakes, the majority of people in my hometown keep their doors unlocked at night!  However, I digress.  As of late I've been thinking about traditions, the history and future of publishing, the art of comedy, domesticity, and much to my chagrin, my future.  The most recent thing on my mind is bucket lists.  I've never actually written out my bucket list and I think it might be beneficial for me to have a written record of what I'd like to accomplish before my time on the earth expires.  It may be helpful for forming my future plans.  Here are ten things unrelated to my career on my bucket list.

1. Go cage diving with sharks -- I have always loved Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, and ever since I first saw people cage diving on TV when I was five I have wanted to do so as well.  I am scared of a lot of things, but sharks is not one of those things.  This is probably the most adventurous thing on my bucket list.
2. Host SNL -- Sketch comedy, especially SNL, has been an important part of my life.  I cannot think of anything that would be more fun that spending a week with SNL cast and crew and being a part of a show.  I just have to do something that makes me famous and moderately influential.
3. Meet Ina Garten and host a dinner party with her. -- Ina Garten is my hero!  She's done so many amazing things, working for Presidents Ford and Carter, owning her own business and expanding it, her cookbook series, cooking show on Food Network, being a columnist in several magazines, and having what appears to be a wonderful marriage.  She isn't a classically trained chef, but her recipes and menus are phenomenal!  I could watch her show all day. Ina Garten is truly an inspiration to me.
4. Write a memoir. -I don't really care if it gets published, but I would like the hilarious stories that stem from the awkward situations I get myself into recorded in some form or fashion so my progeny may tell their friends of my awesome shenanigans.
5. Become a polyglot -- I plan to become fluent in French, German, and Italian.
6. Go on a cross country road trip -- I've never participated in a leisurely cross country road trip, stopping to see things like "The World's Largest Popcorn Ball."  I think this would be a good thing to do while in my 20s.  The stories and photos from this trip will be great fodder for my memoir.
7. Ice skate at Rockefeller Center on Christmas Eve -- This is another thing I've wanted to do since I was a kid.  
8.  Meet Joyce DiDonato -- She is a phenomenal artist, truly inspiring.  She seems so down to earth and honestly cares about the future generations of opera singers.  If you get the chance, check out her vlogs in youtube at TheYankeediva.  Everyone can learn a thing or two from here, even if you aren't into opera.
9. Have a joke published on a Laffy Taffy wrapper -- Yes, I realize that I should have done something to cross this one off my list when I was 10.  However, I never got around to it.  So I guess I should start now.
10. Plant a tree with Al Gore -- I absolutely adore Al Gore!  I love the environment.  Why not combine the two and plant a tree for the environment with Mr. Inconvenient Truth himself?

Some of these things are silly, some are dangerous, but they're what I want to do before the proverbial curtain closes on the final act of my life.

Until next time,
Caro

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action, Please

A college friend of mine, Carl, is a second year teacher at a high school in Eastern Iowa.  Over the past couple years we've had several conversations about the state of arts and general education.  We have come to the conclusion the potential is there, but nothing is being done.  Carl recently wrote a blog entry about the continuous conversation about the need for education reform in the State of Iowa and how often the blame of poor performing students is placed upon the shoulders of the educators.  Carl goes on to outline the top four obstacles teachers face: quality professional development, the evolution of academic priority, parents and public misconceptions.  As a young, enthusiastic educator trying to make a difference in the lives of his students, Carl has shed a new light of these issues.

I wholeheartedly agree with Carl's assessment and can only  hope and pray my tax dollars are being spent effectively to positively reform Iowa's education system.  For too long people have been complaining about the current system and giving suggestions as to make it better.  However, that doesn't do anyone any good until we actually DO something about it.  What does knowing the test teach us?  Absolutely nothing beyond the fact that our students have the capability to be mindless drones that can regurgitate force-fed facts.  What happened to education being about the experience?  Why are good grades a given, something a student deserves, rather than an award?  The grade inflation rate is outrageous!  Shouldn't what a student learned be more important than the overall grade earned in a class.  In my personal academic career, spanning from high school to graduate school, I have taken many classes where I received an A for my final grade and felt like I didn't learn anything.  However, on the flip-side, I've taken classes where I worked very hard to earn a B. Those B's are so much more important to be because I was challenged and felt I actually learned something.

Why does the whole of the fault of poor academic performance of students have to be placed on the shoulders of teachers?  As Carl points out in his post, parents are a major influence on the performances of their children.  This extends far beyond the academic arena.  When parents are supportive and involved in the lives of their children, they perform better.  They become contributing members of society.  Why? Because their parents were a good example.  If parents took the time to be a part of the lives of their children and teach them positive social values and good work ethic, perhaps our educators will be more successful in their teaching.  It is not fair to expect our grossly overworked and underpaid educators to be parents by proxy AND teach our children algebraic equations.  This is a challenge to all parents out there:  ask your child what he or she learned in school today, ask if they helped anyone, ask if they met anyone new.  Engage with your child.  Please do not expect television to raise your children.  Trust me, the Kardashians are far from the best example your children need.  Please inspire your child to aspire to be more than a contestant on the Bachelor in 2020.  Try to keep your kids in school and positively reinforce their good behavior.  At the least tell them you love them.  Seriously, all these daddy issues are guaranteeing us an army of strippers for generations to come.

I realize there are plenty of teachers out there who are in the field because it's a safer bet - benefits are good, guaranteed retirement. But there are so many more teachers who actually care.  Why not install some sort of reward system based on student evaluations within middle and high schools.  If nothing else, it's another way to get students to write.  I understand these students can't vote yet, but they do have opinions.  Maybe this is idealist in me, but I think allowing students to actively shape their education would empower them to take ownership of it.  Sometimes all it takes is to ask a student what they think to get them involved.  Plus the evaluations may help teachers who aren't effectively reaching their students to adapt their methods.

I understand that education reform is going to take a lot more money, time and effort than we really want to put it.  However, we must remember the age old adage, "You reap what you sow."  We need to invest in our future today.  Start small.  Parents pay attention to your children; encourage them to do their best and learn something.  Please, teach your children manners and positive social behaviors.  Teachers, keep up the good work.  Administrators, pay communicate with your teachers and with the parents in your district.  State Legislators, don't aim for perfection, aim for what is realistic. Small, measurable and achievable goals are a good idea.  Don't set yourselves up for failure.  It doesn't make you look good.  Community members, please act like you're in a community; take an interest in the schools and the education of your future community leaders.  We want to cultivate a flourishing garden of educated global citizens, but that takes time, effort, and money.  Please invest.