Dear Sen. McCain: It’s the arts economy, stupid
So much for bipartisanship. All of a sudden it feels like we’re back in the bad old days of the 1980s and ’90s “culture wars,” when the right-wing juggernaut raised fears of chocolate-coated performance artists to push its narrow view of American culture and its broad view of the body politic as a happy economic hunting ground for the plucking of the many by the few. Maybe the language isn’t as strident as when Annie Sprinkle was flashing and Jesse Helms was waxing apoplectic, but the tactic’s still there, as Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma (whose daughter, ironically, is a prominent opera singer) and the recently right-wing-radicalized John McCain are making clear.
For Coburn’s arts slashing-and-burning, see here and here.
And listen to McCain’s recent take on the economic stimulus plan, which he apparently fears might benefit someone other than brokers and bankers if he doesn’t act swiftly to stem the unwashed tide:
“$50 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts — all of us are for the arts. Tell me how that creates any significant number of jobs? After-school snack program is probably a good idea. Do we really want to spend $726 million on it?”
Hell, no. Let them eat Twinkies. On their own dime.
Now, listen to the response to McCain from Tim DuRoche, Portland arts administrator, drummer, and writer of the smart Burnside Blog at Portland Spaces magazine. Tim sent us a copy of his letter:
Dear John–
I understand you are not aware of how funding for the arts creates jobs and stimulates the economy. So, I’d like to tell you what I do for a living and what our organization contributes to the economy. I work in community programs for a major theater company in Portland, OR—providing outreach, access and public programs to local and regional audiences and schools (approximately 200,000 people a year visit our theater), all of whom buy tickets, eat in restaurants, pay for parking, shop, and ride public transit, activities which dramatically fuel the local and regional economy.
The construction and operations of our theater (which opened in 2006) is predicted to produce a total economic impact of $116.4 million during construction and the first 10 years of operations. Investment of these funds were associated with the provision of 510 temporary jobs during the 24-month construction period, and 12 permanent jobs created and then retained during operations of the theater.
In addition, 104 existing theater operations jobs were retained through this project. An estimated total of $46.7 million in direct, indirect and induced wages will be paid during the construction period and ten years of operations. $15.8 million in Federal, State and Local tax revenues are estimated to be generated over twelve years, including $6.7 million during the 24-month construction period, and $915k annually over 10 years when fully operational.
Additionally the building is a LEED-certified Platinum historic renovation that was redeveloped on a brownfields site, engaged high-performance green technology that reduces overall potable water usage by 89%, diverted 95% of construction waste from landfills, and retained over 79% of the existing 1891 structure, among other sustainable features—ensuring that every system was designed to maximize the health of users and reduce the energy use of the building.
This is triple-bottom line proof why Sen. Coburn’s Amendment 175 is so off-base. Investing in arts and cultural infrastructure is an investment in the American spirit, it produces jobs, creates an economic multiplier effect that buoys our city’s mobility and freedom to dream, and translates into dollars that make sense for communities. It is not just social capital that the arts produce but hard capital, economic impact on the highest order–and one you can applaud nightly.
Thank you so much for asking what I do.
Sincerely,
Tim DuRoche
Community Programs Manager
Portland Center Stage
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Our friends at Culture Shock have also been following this closely. They found this provocative challenge to the arts world from Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones for its “stunning political ineptitude.” Time to think tactics, ladies and gentlemen.
February 11th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Tim, this is good, but it’s just a start to the over all picture. With dozens of cities across the country using the arts a magnet to revitalize and rebuild their cities, the arts are undergoing a decentralization and a renaissance in the USA.
Paducah, Kentucky, is a prime example of how the arts revitalizes a town. Their city was derelict, experiencing massive drug problems, and falling apart. The city set aside money to help artists relocate, and a few years later, the city is revitalized and renewed.
Cumberland, MD, Chattanooga TN, Johnstown PA, and other cities have all instituted similar programs with high degree of success. There’s such a need for revitalization, always, and the artists of the world are the ones that do it.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Excelllent letter Tim DuRoche, though I’m not surprised. I write from the heartland, Kansas City, MO where the arts are making this an interesting place to visit (and to work–I’m doing research here) overcoming its highly uninteresting natural setting. Example: the Nelson Gallery, also known as the Kansas City Art Museum, has a new wing, an extraordinarily well-designed (by Stephen Holl)that yesterday was packed with people, including a great many children and teenagers (yes, I said teenagers) looking carefully at some potentially hard to swallow contemporary art and enjoying it. The gift shop was doing a flourishing business I might add.
I’ve seen two fine productions by the Kansas City Repertory Theater, Arabian Nights written and directed by Mary Zimmerman of Chicago, at once an amusing and powerful anti-war statement, not easy to pull off, and a production of The Glass Menagerie that is so powerful it kept me awake. Terry Teachout liked it too. We went out to dinner before each of these performances, my host and I, and paid for parking etc. etc. Meanwhile, since I’m working in Todd Bolender’s archives housed at Kansas City Ballet I’m watching rehearsals from time to time of Yuri Possokhov’s Firebird, which premiered in Portland the first year (I think) of Christopher Stowell’s tenure as a.d. He commissioned it, including the sets and costumes and it is that production that KC Ballet is renting (did you hear me say RENTING?) for their performances next weekend. This puts a little money into the Portland economy, or at least our ballet company’s dwindling resources. I’ll see two performances before I come home on Saturday, looks like Kim Cowen who will perform the title role at those performances will be as lovely as Alison Roper, in of course a different way.
As for Senator McCain, the Great Whiner, Ballet Arizona, his hometown ballet company, is in perennial financial difficulties, even when times are good. Restaurants near the concert hall used to be quite empty on performance nights, and I’ll bet they are still. Fifty million for the NEA? It’s nothing Senator McCain. The arts provide jobs, for all kinds of people, from artists (who in this culture are considered undeserving) to the drivers of forklifts, and security guards.
February 16th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Welcome back to the discussion, Martha. We miss you! Yes, Tim’s letter is excellent, as is your summary of the situation. These stories need to be told again and again, firmly and strongly, without fear or shame. This is NOT 1988, and the right-wing culture-bashers, whether they realize it or not, have been repudiated. But they’re still dangerous, and they will create whatever mischief they’re allowed to. The arts world needs to be politically engaged. I don’t mean in a partisan way, although there will surely be plenty of that. I mean in the way that Tim and Martha have chosen to be politically engaged: By keeping front and center exactly what, in an economic sense, “the arts” means, quite apart from their aesthetic essence, which is why we value them but which doesn’t pay anyone’s bills. Tell me again, how do we remember the great cultures of the past? By their art and their ideas. Those things are, quite literally, PRODUCED. They are economic goods. And they have lasting value. They are NOT digging a hole and filling it in again. They STIMULATE us. Time to return the favor.
March 5th, 2009 at 6:34 am
I live in Cumberland, MD….where there is no sign of that “high degree of success” after instituting an arts program….other than the fact that the few galleries and new coffee house in town look nice compared to all the run-down empty businesses surrounding them…