Arts Advocacy

re: Museum, cornerstone of downtown redevelopment, would close under budget plan

Feel free to copy, paste, and amend as you see fit.

To whom it may concern:

I was dismayed to hear about the budget cuts, particularly as they impacted the State History Museum. My wife--a Tacoma native--and I are both deeply involved in the arts: she is an arts administrator; I am a music professor and performer. Having spent a fair amount of time this year examining the relationship between the arts and crisis situations, I feel compelled to share some thoughts. Generally, when budgets need to be cut, the arts and humanities are often the first thing on the chopping block because society deems them unnecessary: witness the recent cuts in the humanities department at the State University of New York at Albany. As members of the arts community, I’ll be the first to admit that we don’t always represent ourselves well, nor do we mount sufficient defenses. While I certainly would not propose doing away with programs like food stamps and law enforcement, I beg you to reconsider the importance of the arts and humanities to the vitality of the community.<

One of the first things any invading force attempts is the destruction of the victim's artistic and cultural heritage.In his efforts to conquer Poland, one of Hitler’s main interests was the destruction of art, music, and libraries, with the understanding that, to erase a civilization, one needed not only to eliminate the people, but also to eliminate their culture—that which transmits all that is important to them. He very nearly succeeded. Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest living Holocaust survivor, was once a concert pianist before she was shipped off to a concentration camp. In a recent interview, she asserted: “men don’t need to eat food.. maybe we don’t need food, when we have something spiritual. Music was our food. Through music, we were kept alive.” Out of the economic ruin of the Bronx in the 1970s emerged rap music which—like it or not—has become one of the most popular and vital American art forms since jazz. Throughout history, in situations where the basic needs of human beings—food, shelter, safety—are not being met, art is still created. Perhaps one could argue that the arts, too, are a fundamental human need?

I am very aware of the impact that arts and culture can have on local economies. Richard Florida argued this perhaps most cogently in his book “The rise of the Creative Class.” As the headline suggests, the closure of the museum will have a ripple effect on local business that rely on the tourism generated by the museum to sustain themselves.

While it may be too late to do anything at this juncture, I urge you and your colleagues to consider the importance of arts and culture to the community as you continue to work with the budget.

Respectfully,

MB

P.S. Please note that it is illegal to use state resources to communicate with government officials; if you choose to use this letter, don't do it from a school computer or e-mail account.