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Excuse my english:

I just want to say that, as a french guy working in a musical association, I disagree with most of the posts on this wall.
Indeed there is a risk in State-promoted-art, because art must stay completely free.
But: first, you can think about the place of the artists in music or cinema industry.
then, you have to understand that State is not always involved in the decisions, and is mostly a "money provider", which is pretty nice for artists. / I explain: the association I work for recieve +- 2.5 million € subs/year, and has very little control in the choice of the artists we choose to promote.

Well, a Cultural Department can seems absurd or dangerous, but it's money for artists!

I have an IDEA while listening to NPR this morning on " Fresh Air " by Terry Gross.

I'm interested in exploring the idea, Ministry/Secretary of Culture dealing with China
in particular.

My question is ' How to Get to President Obama'
Ears '?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Mario [847-681-9117 ]

If people in other countries think that all our music is rpa and all our movies are Hollyweood action flicks - both of which SUH-UCK - than that's all the more reason to have anArts and Culture Department! How else cna we support art that isn't commercially viable when al lthe stuff that is is crapola??

I am reminded of the comments of Nobel prize for literature judge Horace Engdahl. Last fall, Engdahl ruled out any chance of an American writer winning the prize in the near future -- no Roth, no Delillo, no Updike (RIP). Clearly, the private sector is failing to export the best in American culture, when pop entertainments prove much more lucrative. It is tragic to think that decades from now, our artistic legacy may consist of only Dan Brown and Fergie.

Just a correction for [43] Bill from NYC who said, " Funny how no conversation about Adam's blatant rip off of Aaron Copeland."

The commissioned Inaugural music was by John Williams, not John Adams, and he quoted Copeland intentionally and with credit.

My whole band (along with everyone I know) has been totally wrapped up in the energy surrounding the inauguration. Perhaps with an arts czar in place, we may one day be able to imagine making this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WQzqn2685o without the sacrifice of constantly worrying about bills, groceries, healthcare, retirement, etc. We made the video on Saturday, and I was off to DC on Sunday to join the festivities. GOBAMA!

maude, i'm sorry for your experience, but ALL higher education in this country is difficult to afford. plenty of english-major-would-be-authors are working as administrative assistants and barristas while going to school, to say nothing of future economists, teachers of the 3 Rs, and other hopefuls. i'll cop to working full-time to support my liberal arts education.

there are "trust fund kids" in every sort of college, as well. the past 30 years have seen many baby boomer parents pull down an exceptional living, and in turn, give plenty of students a good leg up. look for that to change dramatically in the very near future. many of my husband's art school students have come to him saying their families can no longer support them as full-time students.

No to an Arts Czar. This country has a miserable history of proper support of the arts when it is in the government's hands. The fact that some schools are able to genuinely develop an appreciation of visual and performing arts shows that government does not need to be involved. A Minister of Culture in this country would not be able to find consensus on what "art" is, let alone what is worthy of conservation. A waste of time, money and political capital.

The last question I didn't have the chance to ask John as he ended the segment:
What IS American culture in the 21st century?
Who deserves tax dollars: the wonderful singer Karrin Allyson who is nominated for a JAZZ Grammy with the album Imagina, Songs of Brasil ( she sings in Portuguese),
or a funk group from a favela in Rio? Karrin is an American singing Brazilian music, the kids promote American music but may not even be able to afford applying for Brazilian passports.

PS just wanted to say that it is interesting how many "trust fund" kids there are in art schools these days.
If you don't get a bunch of fellowships or scholarships, you're screwed. Art school (well, school in general) is prohibitively expensive in NY especially.

PS just wanted to say that it is interesting how many "trust fund" kids there are in art schools these days.
If you don't get a bunch of fellowships or scholarships, you're screwed. Art school (well, school in general) is prohibitively expensive in NY especially.

We need a Ministry of Culture about as much as we need a Ministry of Silly Walks.

I am a 47 year old unemployed music teacher. I have a strong passion to be on the conductor's podium directing a symphonic band. The Arts needs someone who has such strong passions in order for the Arts to be an important part of everyone's lives here in the USA.

Just amazing how low your show will stoop. Keep up the good work with rap and other whiney rock as a great example of how clueless most of this country is with regards to art. Last night's neighborhood 'ball' line-up is right in line with the current state of your program and probably in concert with any appointed 'minister'. Funny how no conversation about Adam's blatant rip off of Aaron Copeland. Did you say 'Maria Callas',,, no sorry, it's Mariah Carey,, she's the real artist. Keep on sucking up!!!

I tried to go to art school here in NY and only made it one semester b/c couldn't afford to work and go to school at the same time, and now I have 11.000$ debt for only one semester. A friend went to Sydney Australia and is going to school for almost free, and getting a better education than I did, I think. She doesn't have an easy life there, but she has the *time* to pursue her artwork, which NY and US in general does not afford it's students. America seems to reward people who work work work--work and go to school at the same time. But for most people, they won't be able to be do quality work in school or quality at the job, if they are trying to do both. Most artists don't expect to have a ton of money! but we need help to get on our feet, that's all.

I believe everyone is missing the point - we don't fund culture. Do you think Italy would allow its second largest Opera company to flounder. I don't think so. So what would we need a secretary for? To cheer on the demise of NYCO?

Anna emailed us with this comment:

One of the primary jobs of a minister of culture would be to ensure public access to the arts. There is a fear of any government involvement in the arts since the culture wars of the 1990s.

American culture is currently almost completely privately supported.
It's incredibly naive to think that private support doesn't impose its own kind taste, often expansive, as often narrow, on music, theater, the visual arts.

There is room for both private and public support. A minister of culture, supported by an active constituency, might ensure, for example, a serious arts curriculum in the public school system. Or more free admission to museums. Right now, the arts are primarily enjoyed by the wealthy in this country. Oversight and vision don't necessarily have to mean a shrinking of ideals. Like a scale in music, they can provide the backbone. Access is democratic.

The Arts are an important economic engine for the nation. The nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion in economic activity and supports 5.7 million arts jobs in the U.S.(data from the Americans for the Arts)
The Arts need a strong advocate who has the President's ear, particularly during these difficult economic times.

I heard Quincy Jones's voice, and his heartbreak, but as a grateful NEA recipient, a freelance writer (and collaborator of Roberta Tzvaras' autobiography about the Harlem Violins program, Music of the Heart), I cannot imagine anything worse than a "ministry of culture" (just the Kremlinesque language gives me the creep). Restore arts fundings to the public schools, bring visiting artists, painters, sculptors and musicians into the schools, restore NEA to its nonpolitical beginnings and heritage; give people like Dana Gioia, JayZee, James Taylor, Jane Alexander, Itzhak Perlman and Quincy Jones free rein to consult with curriculum "architects" to give our kids creative voice, and help them/teach them/give them the voices that came before. We can do all of that--we HAVE done all of that--without the codification of a cabinet-level position. I can't even imagine the congressional confirmation hearings on that one, with Rick Warren leading us all in art-approriate prayer...

First, my thanks to Soundcheck for inviting me to talk about this important.

Second, I can't resist asking: How can Bill Ferris be sure that the new Federal Minister of Culture wouldn't do for New Orleans' art and culture, what the Federal Army Corps of Engineers did for New Orleans' levees?

Many issues at hand bleed into other departments as far as artist difficulties/challenges:
1) healthcare
2) getting artist VISAs from artists abroad to visit and perform in the US
3) granting artist VISAs to artists living in the US who wish to stay and are contributing vitally to their communities

would Minister of Culture be able to influence these other areas? It is vital to have international cultural exchange as well as support the lives and health of our international artist community right here.

I am familiar w/ how things work in Sweden where every substantial city has an arts budget and an office of culture that distributes funds to organizations that are open to the public. Organizations must provide documentation proving that they are active, productive and that their events are well attended.
Often arts organizations only need seed money to get their projects off the ground, but it is the less sexy aspects of basic day to day overhead that are the most necessary and often hardest to fund.

Whats the point. We don't fund arts in any significant way as is done in other counties.

YES, and here's why:

Poets, including those who also play music, can put us in touch with ourselves.

As we confront the greatest challenges this civilization has ever faced, we need to understand what's holding us back. Musicians are like secular preachers, they can exalt us in very real ways, to reach for our highest selves.

We'd be doing the world a favor if we were willing to start giving this part of ourselves a 'formal' place in society.

I would go to argue that its lack of a home, the acknowledgement of the need for connection, gives rise to all kinds of crazy behavior, from breast implants to domestic violence.

Thanks!

Aren't we talking about the idea of preserving American culture, not necessarily promoting it?
Baily seems to think that all arts are well known and need no promotion or preservation. What about the forgotten treasures of this country? There are so many, and bound to be many, many more the way things are currently going.

The big question is: "What artists and type of art/culture should receive support"?

The number one distinctive feature of American culture is our diversity.

"Nationalized Culture" may make sense when you are trying to preserve history, but government-promoted culture is fundamentally un-American.

Frankly it sounds scary to me. The notion of having it makes me want to write a punk song to riot against 'the man' trying to tell me what art is!

A secretary of culture would not deplete the private institutions, rather it would add to the diversity of art in America. This is as important to the definition of America to the outside world as our deprived space program.

William Ferris's idea for a ten year term for a cabinet level position makes it NOT a cabinet position

ALSO: what about the use of cultural soft power in the '50s (international promotion of our abstract expressionists) by the US government DESPITE not having a Sec. of Culture.

ALSO: the idea smacks of a Ministry of Propaganda

I have worked in theater for almost 20 years. I can attest that artists and arts organizations on every level are in desperate need of more funding. However, I can't support the idea of a cabinet of culture. To me, it smacks of a government agency codifying what is and is not "Art."

Arts in education is a no-brainer ... but do we need a separate cabinet to achieve that? Do we not already have a Department of Education that should be addressing that? Mr. Ferris was just talking about the benefits of sending established artists abroad? Does the State Department not already do that? In fact, many American performing artists already make a significant portion of their income from foreign tours and festivals, invited there by their hosts without any help from the U.S. government. I'd be more interested in the U.S. government helping to IMPORT artists from across the globe.

Most of the artists I work with are alternative or underground or just plain young and poor. They are the ones who need help the most, and would still likely not get support from a government agency. Would a Secretary of Arts have supported graffiti artists or the originators of hip-hop and rap in the 80s?

Jack Valente had a long term of office, too, and like the Chief Justice it doesn't isulate him from politics, it just means he gets to exert his influence longer.

We need to distinguish between arts education and supporting artists. Artists need freedom to critique society and government.

One of the primary jobs of a minister of culture would be to ensure public access to the arts.

American culture is currently almost completely privately supported. It's incredibly naive to think that private support doesn't impose its own kind of taste, often expansive, as often narrow, on music, theater, the visual arts.

There is room for both private and public support. A minister of culture, supported by an active constituency, might ensure, for example, a serious arts curriculum in the public school system. Or more free admission to museums. Right now, the arts are primarily enjoyed by the wealthy in this country. Oversight and vision don't necessarily have to mean a shrinking of ideals. Like a scale in music, they can provide the backbone. Access is democratic.

CITA grants in the 1970's provided funds for small arts organizations to cover the basic costs of keeping their doors open. Today, small dance companies and other arts organizations have to close their doors after every production putting their employees on the unemployment roles or worse until they can raise enough funds to start again. An arts czar could oversee the fair distribution of funds to organizations that can prove they are active and productive without being involved in the content issue.

The State Department currently sends jazz and pop acts all over the world to "win hearts and mind."

I believe that government spending is the key rather than some one in charge of promoting culture in the US. Holland has about the same population as New York City, yet that country has over two hundred publicly-funded theaters. Let's follow the (ancient) Greeks and make concert halls and theaters part of our necessary infrastructure.

What about the renaissance, remember the Medici family? Of course the system is quite different now, but they were to Florence what the President is to this country, without them we might be missing some of the giants on which the arts was built.

Small point and not really germane to the topic at hand, but "Killer Joe" IS NOT Quincy Jones's piece. He certainly recorded it, but calling it "his" suggests that he wrote it, and with all due respect to Jones, he didn't. Benny Golson did.

It's a short road from Culture Czar to Reichskulturkammer.

It would be more beneficial to FAR more artists to create a universal health care system.

I'm tired of hearing how we are a "young" country. We are plenty old enough to appreciate our heritage, where we came from and support the arts.

I wonder...is there a way to strike a balance? I am an artist who does not want to be tied to public funding and therefore public commentary and I believe that art should evolve organically - but what of education and value of assisting in the preservation of art history? for example how can the US support the survival of the Martha Graham Dance Company? how do we build awareness when the "mother" of American modern dance's legacy is in danger?

Actually, Italy no longer supports the arts in ways it did even a few years ago. Its culture minister (Ministro di beni culturali) is now responsible for safeguarding antiquities and funding museums, but it is done poorly. Then there is the Ministro dello Spettacolo, Turismo e Sport, which is to say that performing arts have been folded in with tourism and sports. Under the Berlusconi governments since 1994 there have been huge cuts and the expectation is that the arts "earn out." Most arts broadcasting has disappeared -- we have much more here. Most Italians nowadays have little arts education and those who want to perform or create art often go abroad to find the means to do it.

Isn't the argument for a DEFENDER of the arts, not of a CZAR?

You're allowing a LIBERTARIAN to twist the argument into something about the free market. The arts should never be subject to the free market. Arts should be beyond the market and tell ourselves uncomfortable truths.

Your guest didn't win the election. Reason magazine had its day. It's done. Go home, libertarian.

Clearly your guest arguing against the idea is not an artist. The financial reality of the arts today is grim to say the least. Any infusion of cash into the arts can only be a good thing and frees up money for smaller institutions when larger ones are funded by the government. A ministry of culture is also a symbolic gesture to the country that acknowledges the importance and place of the arts in our culture.

I think the program is missing the point.

When I think Secretary of Culture, I don't think of a body that promotes any specific contemporary musicians, artists, dancers or performers.

I think about a government body that advocates and guides the arts in general, and sets standards for and promotes music and arts education in schools.

I'm a painter. I'm afraid that as far as painting goes an arts ministry would just promote the kind of work that already is culturally sanctioned. It would promote fashionable painters like Julian Schnabel and Carroll Dunham or the newer generation's Dana Schutz etc and work that addresses political or social agendas. It wouldn't bring diversity and expose less courant forms. When I was in art school in the late 70s the NEA started giving grants to artists and it was name artists like Rachenburg who got grants that were judged by panels of successful artist peers or wannabes.

Gilberto Gil is no longer the Minister of Culture for Brazil.

"reason" magazine. I wish I could indicate the irony dripping from my use of the name. I call it "teasin'" magazine; it is so trivial.

Off the top of my head, I'll name the National Buildings Museum, originally built to handle masses of Civil War vets, as at least one interesting DC building. It's one of the 100 most-loved buildings in the US.

Not ALL gov is bad, "Reason." But bad gov is sure all we've had for the last 8 years--ever since your guy got in!

the united states should have a minister of culture. after living in france for 4 years, i realized that A. we do not ahve any such person B. the benefits of such an office C. to show to the rest of the world that culture in the US does not always entail HOLLYWOOD. The US has something to offer and such a minister can be the one to help represent it.

What we don't need is the government telling us what Art is, or what Art is good.

What we do need is a government that makes sure we have libraries in every neighborhood and the Arts taught every school.

Please let this one die. It could become Obama's "gays in the military", hijacking his first 100 days.

Dana Gioia, the current chairman of the NEA, said on Studio 360 last week that he is afraid that a cabinet position may be too easily politicized. And may also quickly become a “Hollywood and Video Game trade office.”

Bad idea Freedom, freedom, freedom.
Homeland Security was a bad idea too AND poorly managed.
That's ALL we need. I can't say enough against this idea.

A Secretary of the Arts has a broader mandate than the re-worked NEA/ WPA. 1) Every art-form requires non-verbal problem solving, abstract ideas made accessible. Arts Education is crucial for promoting alternate 'ways' to think, rather than 'what' to think. 2) With our country's gift for improvisation (jazz, tap-dancing, the newest art-form, art-crafts), our culture is increasingly our largest export. Yet only large corporations can protect their intellectual property internationally. 3) Most artists are self-employed. Whether part or full-time, we're taxed at 20+%, but can't deduct research, reference materials, health insurance, carry a business loss forward, income average, etc. 4) Dangerous materials are often unidentified unless someone is denied life insurance. 5) Artists/ Performers/ Authors / Musicians often denied entry for cultural events without numerous- often uncoordinated- efforts from politicians & sponsors. An Arts Sec'y could protect the Arts more cost-effectively- than the wasteful nothing we have now.

How much gov't. sponsored art is worth seeing?
Does Jones mean a Sec. of Art or a Sec. of Entertainment? We certainly don't need the latter and the former just sounds like the triumph of grant-writers, not of artists.

Support the arts, preserve jobs in the arts, make sure it is included in all public education and enrich a nation. Yes, Yes, Yes!

Until the conservatives take control and want to limit all funding to only those that they don't find "offensive" then we can go back to No, No, No!

My initial reaction: so much of the art made in Europe is bombastic rubbish, and artists, relatively speaking, have to struggle less for their art. I value the robust nature of
American art that is at least partially a result of zero state support.

To which a friend replied: "But then I figured that since we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting Euro-style arts support anytime soon, I shouldn't really worry. And maybe a secretary would get us to a happier middle ground."

France isn't the only country that has a minister of culture. France isn't the only other country in the world!