Skip to main content

Interesting article in Next American City - can we be "cultural locavores"

This Web article from Next American City - Next American City » Daily Report » The Revolution Will be Locally Funded - proposes that there is an arts  counterpart to the "locavore" movement. “Could we take the tactics from sustainable food production and apply that to art production?” asks Jeff Hnilicka, cofounder of the Brooklyn organization FEAST, short for Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics.

I think between organizations like InLiquid and events like IgnitePhilly, and the Philly Fringe Festival there is definitely a movement here in Philly that is very place-based and about making, supporting and promoting local art and creative endeavors. Yet, at the same time there is the struggle to support these enterprises in the face of other competitive pressures. How to deal with art collectors who might dabble a bit buying local art but go to NY galleries and Art Basel to buy their "real" art? What about artists who are nurtured in Philly but as soon as they are able to get NY gallery/dealer representation abandon their local roots? And what about galleries that represent ONLY local artists and don't give Philadelphians a chance to experience artists from around the world, and collectors the opportunity to not HAVE to go to NY to buy work by artists of international stature? And the Fringe Festival now has the companion Live Arts Festival that brings in artists from around the country and the globe (as well as also highlighting some of our most innovative local artists such as Pig Iron Theatre. Is that evolution an abandonment of the local commitment or an exciting expansion that allows our local artists and audiences to experience an infusion of new art and energy?

A lot of questions and no answers but I think this dialogue, this balancing of a commitment to local art and artists while striving to be a world-class cultural center, is a conversation at the heart of where Philadelphia and its arts and creative economy scene are now.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Greatest Sacrifice Arts Workers Make for the Arts

With all the financial challenges arts workers are facing these days - struggling to balance the budgets of their organizations, or dealing with salary and benefit cuts on compensation that was modest to begin with - it is easy to view the sacrifices people make to work in this field as being entirely financial. Not to minimize the financial sacrifices - they ARE significant - but I would argue they are probably no more significant than a wide array of professions where people choose to devote themselves to the pursuit of "making the world a better place". This includes early childhood workers, teachers, social workers, the whole world of NGOs working in challenged communities, both domestically and abroad. And the sacrifices all these workers make are also not just financial. We all work long hours, and often under trying and unglamorous circumstances (though to outsiders arts work can seem glamorous). No, I think the more significant - and unique - sacrifice arts worke...
27 comments
Read more

Is it a problem when an arts group is too dependent on a single donor?

Dancer Jin Young Woon of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet source: Cedar Lake Facebook page, photographer not credited The recent case of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York City shuttering as a result of the withdrawal of support from their major benefactor, Nancy Laurie, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune, has sparked a dialogue around the pitfalls of over-reliance on a single donor. The New York Times wrote about the dance company's closure  here , and Michael Kaiser addressed the larger issue in a blog post here . Clearly, significant dependence on a single donor by an arts group poses serious challenges, and adds to institutional risk. On the other hand there has been a significant growth of arts institutions, largely in the visual arts, that are the creation of single donors/collectors. Would the excellent Neue Galerie in New York be able to survive without the support of Ronald Lauder and his family wealth? Unlikely. And many of our now-great institutions with d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Inside/Outside - Art by Prison Inmates and Ex-Offenders

Leon Jesse James, "Space Modulator", acrylic on board. SCI Graterford The Art in City Hall program of the City of Philadelphia has just opened a new exhibition, INSIDE/OUTSIDE - Art by Prison Inmates and Ex-Offenders . This is a wonderful, powerful, and thought-provoking new show and I encourage everyone to see it. It is open until October 29th, on the secod and fourth floors of City Hall. More information is available here . The show involves participating artists from SCI Graterford, The Philadelphia Prison System, Art for Justice , Snyderman-Works Galleries , Connection Training Services , and the Mural Arts Program 's Youth Violence Reduction Partnership Guild Program, as well as local ex-offenders. Thomas Schilk, "Beetle", melted plastic spoons, paint. When I came to my position in 2008 as Chief Cultural Officer, one of the appeals of the position was the fact that the administration of Mayor Michael Nutter viewed the arts as being integral to virt...
6 comments
Read more