Art

I got a call from a reporter last Friday. She was cooperating with a countywide charitable organization associated with investing endowment funds for maximum capital growth for the purpose of funding future projects. Those projects benefit medical, cultural, educational and social welfare purposes. Conservation programs is one area. Medical care for indigents another. And art.

The DuPage Community Foundation is currently pondering the feasibility of a countywide arts council. Exactly what the council’s mission and vision is has yet to be spelled out. However, they learned about our small town’s art council, found it on the web and called me. They noted that we had recently shut down our operation. It was then the reporter called me.

As it turns out the reporter is using her skills to research the project for the foundation. Her job is more researcher than reporter. And that openness of purpose produced a good interview with free flow of information.

Of course she asked why our organization failed. My answer, at least my understanding of it, is failure to attract, nurture and develop a volunteer corps sufficient to sustain the mission and vision of the organization. The work we did for 6 years was built on 3 years of development work (mine). We had funding support from our city’s arts commission but only in part. During our time together the arts council engaged in heavy work loads that exhausted the volunteers. Recruitment of more volunteers slowed and the remaining good folks grew more tired. Finally we simplified our operations, slimmed them down, but too late. Our resilience was spent. 

We did too much too soon with too few people.

I shared that with the researcher. She understood. However, she persisted with this question: Would an arts council model work on a countywide basis?

I pondered that and slowly said yes if the mission and vision were carefully constructed and implemented with volunteer development firmly in mind. Organization development concepts would be helpful in building a sustainable county arts council. I gave examples.

At the end of the interview she asked me if I would be interested in participating in this effort. I said yes. I’m an organization development person, and a volunteer groupie. So this project is enticing.

Afterwards I continued to think on this project. Specifically, I wondered how a council like this would function, how the individual communities would be involved and if they would be interested in doing so. Then the ideas kept spinning.

Here’s an example. People interested in art tend to think more broadly than other people. They let art become for them a medium for thinking, sort of like a language. It is a highly conceptual process but very real for these people. The challenge is to support budding artistic development in the community while programming excellence of established artists.  One such super star artist is glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. His creations are magical, multifaceted, colorful, and flowing. Staging venues become part of an exhibit of his work. We have a commercial building in town (IBEW Local 701 headquarters and training center) that is stunning architecturally – huge rectangular lobby 3 stories high, all glass, open space flooded with natural light. Nighttime lighting is variable and highly creative. Installing an exhibit of Chihuly’s work would be a stunner.

The cost of such an exhibition would be prohibitive for a small community. But with county resources shared, such an exhibit would be affordable for county residents. And the location of an exhibit would need support from the local community as well. Our suburb, small as it is, has a formidable arts programming budget which could easily support a contribution to make the exhibit happen. Plus the site is immediately off of an Interstate highway and has plentiful parking to match the visibility. Talk about tourism draw!

That’s one idea that popped to mind. A countywide arts council could bring world class art to a suburban county, expose the residents to this wealth of excellence, and hopefully provide impetus for new artists, budding artists, or fresh motivation for long-time struggling artists.  Art classes, education and appreciation would get a shot in the arm.

So, art might get another chance in our town. Not because we failed but because we learned from mistakes.

Art is like that. It has a life of its own. It has a rhythm that is heard by some and heeded. Meanwhile its magic speaks to the masses unknown. Their lives are enriched by color, shape, function and beauty. Most likely they take this for granted. Unheeded accouterments of living. An environmental factor.

We are fortunate that art abounds in our culture. But it is no accident. It needs our help to be all that it can be, not for itself, but for us and our quality of life.

Maybe a countywide arts council would be a good idea!

June 2, 2014