I wonder, do we really want cultural democracy? What would it look like?

I am conflicted on this issue.

We can talk in abstract terms but there comes a time when we have to narrow this down to actual examples of how the arts funding scene would change if a different model were developed.

Let’s look at a real example and how changing from this curatorial model could work. I co-ordinate the Community Presenters Assistance which is a program of the BC Arts Council and administered by the BC Touring Council.

The program provides funding to community presenters throughout the province who book touring artists as part of a season in their community. It includes both volunteer and professional presenters.

Once per year these presenters apply for a grant to assist with fees they pay professional artists. Only performances of professional artists are able to be supported through the program.

There are two levels of “curatorial” work done here. One is at the grants level itself where a peer review committee looks at each application to ensure it meets the requirements of the program and makes recommendations on funding level. In my opinion, the primary purpose of this committee is to be oversight of public funds. There is very little “artistic” meddling which frankly, is a good thing.

The other level of curatorial work is done by the presenters themselves when they choose who to book to perform in their communities.

The benefits of the current system are that you have people in each community choosing who will come and perform. I highly favour this method. If you didn’t do it this way, you’d have organizations like the BC Arts Council deciding which artists would work and where. Or, heaven forbid, you’d have governments telling you what you’d be doing. In some ways, the Canada Council, in choosing which artists to support is also saying who will thrive/who will die. It is always done with the best intentions as in “your heart is in the right place but your head is up your @%%”

Is the program perfect? Does it address everyone’s needs? Is it truly democratic? No, but… if we were to remove the curatorial aspect of this, what would we be left with? The program I’ve just described would be gone. And with it, a whole lot of small concert series and a whole lot less work for emerging artists who wish to tour. Is that a good thing? I don’t think so.

Perhaps, if we want to be democratic about this, we should just remove all funding for professional artists, companies and organizations. Let’s just give all the money to the arts councils around the province to set up programs for people to do art. But wait, isn’t that curatorial?

Let’s get really democratic and just give each citizen a cheque to spend on arts as they see fit. Based on how much our government spends now per capita on arts funding, I could buy a new set of guitar strings and a paintbrush.

I guess my point is, I think we still need both types of support.

We often talk of democracy as if it’s the height of a civilized world but since when is democracy perfect? We have elections now where fewer people voted for the party in power than didn’t. Is that democratic and fair? No, it’s messy.

I think we need the messy system we have but be open to making changes and adjustments.

What are your thoughts?

Subject: AFC Lecture: Cultural Democracy in a Time of Diminished Resources

The American Folklife Center presents a lecture in the 2010 Benjamin
Botkin Folklife Lecture Series

Cultural Democracy in a Time of Diminished Resources

presented by Bau Graves, Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago

July 22, 2010, 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Mary Pickford Theater, 3rd Floor, James Madison Building, Library of
Congress

Simply stated, “Cultural Democracy” is the notion that everybody’s
heritage and cultural expression is worthwhile and deserving of an
equitable share of whatever resources are available. In recent years,
Cultural Democracy has also gained traction as a descriptor for the
whole realm of participatory, community-centered arts activities,
practiced by millions of Americans everyday in their homes,
backyards, public parks, places of worship, schools – pretty much
everywhere except in the designated art spaces of our museums and
concert halls, where they happen infrequently.

The mechanisms that we have inherited for the support of public
culture were inspired by the practices of the fine arts economy of
the first half of the 20th century, and were designed to validate
curatorial authority.

This is the top-down version of culture.

Financial and programmatic decision-making is vested in highly-
trained, credentialed individuals who are positioned to determine
what the entire community should see, hear and experience.

Cultural Democracy requires a paradigm shift away from this curatorial model,
and towards a process of continuous and intense community engagement,
using culture as a catalyst for addressing social issues: art of the
people, made by the people, and presented for the people.

James Bau Graves is Executive Director of the Old Town School of Folk
Music, in Chicago, Illinois, the largest community school of the arts
in the United States.

His work is focused on exploration of the personal, political, aesthetic and
ethical issues embedded in the concept and practice of public culture.
He is the past Director of the Jefferson Center Foundation, in Roanoke, Virginia,
and co-founder of the Center for Cultural Exchange in Maine, where he facilitated
the creation of an extended series of programs, in close
collaboration with community groups and artists, addressing grass
roots cultural aspirations, questions of identity and social/
financial power relations.

Bau’s work as a field researcher, arts presenter, community organizer,
project manager and tour director has been prolific, winning numerous
awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wallace Foundation,
Americans for the Arts’ Animating Democracy program, the Rockefeller Foundation,
and many others.

Bau has performed and recorded with several jazz and
traditional music ensembles, and composed original scores for two
collaborative projects with dancer/director Ann Carlson. He holds a
Masters degree in ethnomusicology from Tufts University, has
published essays concerning cultural issues in both the academic and
popular press, and has appeared on and/or produced numerous
recordings.

Bau Graves’ first book, Cultural Democracy, was published
in 2005 by the University of Illinois Press.

For more information, please visit http://www.loc.gov/folklife/events/
botkin-lectures.html#july22 or call 202-707-5510.

Jo Rasi
American Folklife Center
Library of Congress
jrasi@loc.gov