11 February 2009
Do arts jobs count as jobs?
By Andrew Taylor | www.artsjournal.com
Scott Lilly at the Center for American Progress floats a timely reminder to the good folks in Congress currently bristling about the stimulus package: arts jobs are jobs, regardless of your opinion of what they produce. He quotes Rep. Jack Kingston’s (R-GA) remarks when complaining about the NEA funding (now removed) from the bill:
“We have real people out of work right now and putting $50 million in the NEA and pretending that’s going to save jobs as opposed to putting $50 million in a road project is disingenuous.”
Which suggests, of course, that artists, cultural managers, stagehands, gallery staff, technicians, costume designers, and anybody else involved in artistic pursuits aren’t actually working, or earning a paycheck, or supporting their families, or any of the other productive things road workers might do. Or, to put it more bluntly, arts workers are not ”real people.”
It’s perfectly fair to challenge the ‘’stimulus potential” of any line item in the massive bill. And there are legitimate arguments to be made that one form of spending or incentive works more quickly, more effectively, more efficiently than another. But this particular line of attack, suggesting that the arts don’t involve people doing jobs, is staggering in its ignorance.
Before we go railing off on conservative politicians, however, we might look for the same bias and blindness among ourselves. I was at a conference panel recently, for example, in which an architect from a well-respected firm with extensive cultural facility projects to their credit made an astounding admission: up until their most recent project, that involved direct discussion with a wide range of practitioners, they hadn’t thought of a cultural facility as a workplace. A performance/display space, an audience chamber, and a public venue, to be sure. Even an administrative office tucked away in the back. But the entire building as a daily workplace for professionals and tradespeople? A novel idea.
Perhaps that explains why so many cultural facilities have spaces that can’t be cleaned, lightbulbs that can’t be changed without massive machinery, and offices and common spaces that cramp and confound the folks who come to work there every day.
Somewhere between our lofty rhetoric about the power of the arts, and our mechanical arguments about social and civic benefits, there seems to be a disconnect in our message. The arts are people. They don’t just serve people or help people, they are people. It’s astounding that anyone would understand otherwise.
Hi Ehren,
Your post is timely and cogent. As one who specializes in research and consultation to the risk management and insurance industries (bet you didn’t know that!), I can tell you that the literature on occupational safety and health issues for performing artists is vast. And yes, the fact that performance venues are not designed as workplacces is a contributing factor. Think of we poor choristers, who must stand for extended periods on hard surfaces, with inadequate lighting and heating. Heating is a real concern, too, for instrumentalists whose repetitive motion injuries are exacerbated by cold. Many of these issues (particularly light, heat, noise, walking and working surfaces) are addressed in OSHA regulations, but these would not apply to the legions of amateur musicians who make up the bulk of our communities’ performing forces.
Sarah