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Michael Kaiser on the universality of the arts
Published: 2/3/2010 11:14 AM
Last Modified: 2/3/2010 11:14 AM

Michael Kaiser, the executive director of the Kennedy Center, came to Tulsa in October as part of his "Arts in Crisis" tour, discussing the current dilemmas facing performing arts groups of all kinds, and offering suggestions as to how these problems might be overcome.

He talks about some of the things he's learned in the course of his travels in his latest blog on the Huffington Post:

"As I was preparing for my "Arts in Crisis" tour stops in a series of southern states, I was reflecting on the claims of too many politicians that the arts are the province of the elite in big coastal cities like New York and Los Angeles. This is used as an excuse for denigrating public support for the arts, and by extension, the arts themselves. The argument goes that investing in the arts only affects a very small, very rich, and very concentrated segment of our population.
"While it is true that many of our largest arts organizations are in large Northeastern cities and that these arts groups have raised their ticket prices so high as to make them unaffordable for many, the arts play a vital role in virtually every community across the nation. It is not simply rich New Yorkers who care about music or dance or theater. People of all backgrounds and income levels are involved with the arts across the United States.
"Why else would 400 enthusiastic people come to my presentation in Kalamazoo, Michigan and 750 attend in Kansas City, Missouri? In fact, I have already spoken with over 7,000 people on the 38 tour stops to date. I have met with passionate advocates for arts and arts education in Tulsa, Des Moines, and Wichita. These arts leaders were no different in knowledge, sophistication or creativity than their counterparts in New York, Chicago or San Francisco."

The entire post is here:
Read the story: Why are the arts important?



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ARTS

James D. Watts Jr. has lived in Oklahoma for most his life, even though he still has people saying to him, "Don't sound like you're from around these parts." A University of Oklahoma Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Watts has received the Governor Arts Award, Harwelden Award and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Beth Macklin Award for his writing. Before coming to the Tulsa World, Watts worked for the Tulsa Tribune.

Contact him at (918) 581-8478.

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