Arts Gone Wilde

This from Shami McCormick, Artistic Director of the Depot Theatre and 30-year veteran of New York State arts:

I suppose I look forward to the day when art doesn't need to justify its importance only in terms of its economic benefits; similarly when the artist does not need to explain that his/her work is "real" and that he/she too has a mortgage, kids and health needs. Oscar Wilde said "I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being."

I think there is also something terribly spiritual about the collective experience of theatre--in being part of an audience and bearing witness to stories unfolding. History recounts that the human experience has always involved "a gathering of a collective" to tell the tale of who we are and what we have done. For what other purpose than to help decide how we act in the future? Art and culture are not frills or whimsy and our ability to create or be engaged in an artistic experience is part of what helps define our "human-ness".

A lot of people have weighed in on this discussion about the importance of the Arts or lack thereof. We all have made the case for the economic benefits of the Arts; However, perhaps we have been less eloquent about their inherent worth, allowing people like Rep. Kingston to tag the Arts as "the favorite of the left" and Sen. Coburn throwing arts and culture into the same spittoon as casinos and golf courses. At any rate, I look forward to the outcome of all this talk and wonder if and by what means the "Arts" will redefine itself for a confused and anxious nation.

In the meantime - and to bastardize Shakespeare and Shylock: "If you prick and artist, doth not an artist bleed?" Like the construction foreman, the office manager, the auto worker, the cop and the teacher, I have a mortgage, kids and health needs. I am an American who happens to be an artist. I may have been misguided in my choice of careers, but I remain unapologetic and full of goodwill and hope for my fellow workers regardless of their professional callings. I hope we all survive these times and become more resourceful and more productive.