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culture

Obama Goes Hollywood for the Arts and Humanities Committee

by Andrew Hazlett on November 2, 2009

in Politics,Washington

Heavy on Hollywood and the arts… but no humanities fans?

President Obama is tapping some big names from Hollywood to serve on the President’s Committee on Arts and the Humanities.

Among the 25 members announced Monday by the White House were actors Edward Norton, Forest Whitaker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kerry Washington and Alfre Woodard; CAA partner and managing director Bryan Lourd; independent film producer Liz Manne; and publicist Andy Spahn.

They join a committee that will include Vogue editor Anna Wintour, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Teresa Heinz, a philanthropist and wife of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

via thewrap.com

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities varies in importance from administration to administration. In the Reagan years, the PCAH was founded as a potential private-public alternative to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Some presidents just appoint a few big donors and forget about it.

It may surprise some that the Bush administration ended up with a very active and effective PCAH. The committee members were major supporters (financially and morally) of the work of the federal cultural agencies (i.e., the NEH, NEA, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services). They also fostered unprecedented cooperation among the cultural agencies to promote domestic programs and international cultural exchange.

Today, President Obama named to the PCAH an impressive group of smart-seeming actors and other bold-faced names. Several of the actors, Kerry Washington in particular, are not averse to regular trips to Washington. Of actors who show an interest in politics, these are among the most informed and intelligent.

For purposes of the federal cultural agencies, however, I see two potential problems:

I wonder how much time and energy can these people spare for something as low-profile as the PCAH? I cannot imagine the likes of Anna Wintour showing up for more than one meeting amid the moldering plaster of Room 527 of the Old Post Office.

The biggest problem I see here is that, of twenty-five appointments, there are next to none from the worlds of museums, libraries, or the humanities.

By my reading of the full list of PCAH appointees there are only two with tenuous connections outside the arts: Victoria Strauss Kennedy, an “educational consultant for Loyola Marymount University” and Jill Cooper Udall, who “works with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.”

For all the struggles faced by the artists and arts organizations in a Great Recession, they bask in wealth and glamor compared to the libraries, museums, archives, non-fiction filmmakers, and other components of the “H” in “PCAH.”  Will they get any attention at all from this Hollywood crowd?

I hope so.

Posted via web from Hazlett’s Occasional

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Trillions in play, Fox News nickel-and-dimes the humanities

by Andrew Hazlett on October 24, 2009

in Politics,Washington,Ways and Means

Are the Humanities a Waste of Money

Are the Humanities a Waste of Money?

Fox News and the National Taxpayers Union are wrong to search for wasteful government spending by kicking around in the “decimal dust” of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Over the last year or so, politicians of both parties have commanded taxpayers and future generations to provide billions and trillions of dollars to prop-up dying industries, fund a pork-tainted stimulus, and rescue reckless debtors and financial institutions from the consequences of their own actions.  We are experiencing a massive, probably permanent expansion of the size and power of the federal government, all under the guise of addressing the financial crisis.

In response, we’ve seen the inchoate anxiety of the Tea Party movement, a sneering progressive retort about “teabaggers,” and juvenile battles between the executive branch and populist media entities.  Of course, Capitol Hill hasn’t been any better.

There’s been precious little grown-up debate about what we are doing to ourselves and future generations.  Instead, from all sides, we’re getting mutual demonization, cartoon duels, and mindless appeals to emotion (principally fear and loathing).  I don’t see much of a sense of proportion or history anywhere.

Take this latest kerfuffle, for instance: Why, in this era of unprecedented thirteen-figure government spending, is a representative of the National Taxpayers Union taking time to swat six-figure gnats?  Why is now the time for limited government proponents to attack the National Endowment for the Humanities?

As if the life of a college professor weren’t easy enough, millions of taxpayer dollars are going to fund monthlong vacations for sightseeing scholars in Europe and South America, part of the $144 million [sic] budget provided for the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Government watchdogs say those trips are a waste of taxpayer money, and they’re not alone on an eye-popping list of NEH funding for projects…

“Everybody should be angry … that federal taxpayer dollars are being used on projects at a time when we have such bigger priorities, like getting the national debt under control,” said Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union.

“They’re being done with tax money we don’t have. We are mortgaging our future with projects people may never even see.”

You can read more examples of “shocking” NEH grants at the Fox News website, but I suggest viewing this video report from correspondent William La Jeunesse:

Reading and viewing these comments leaves me sad and deflated.  I’m sure my liberal friends turned away with disgust at the first mention of “Fox News,” so I’ll address this post to people who are more likely to be skeptical about NEH grants.

From 2002 to 2009, I worked at the National Endowment for the Humanities as an appointee of President George W. Bush. I’ve seen how the grant process unfolds and I’ve read countless applications in detail. I’ve seen outstanding projects and hair-curlingly awful stuff. I don’t believe I was brainwashed by the career bureacrats at the NEH, nor do I have a connection with the agency now. I am well acquainted with all the flaws and dangers of government funding for scholarship, the arts, and culture.

After watching William La Jeunesse’s report, and looking at the supposedly horrible grants he cites, I see something very different.

Exploring the bloody history of China’s cultural revolution and the horrors of Soviet collectivization; studying the philosophy of Aristotle, sending scholars to unlock the mysteries of ancient archives abroad, helping schoolteachers enrich their knowledge… Are these really frivolous concerns? [click to continue…]

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Create Your Own Economy: A Podcast Interview with Tyler Cowen

by Andrew Hazlett on October 12, 2009

in Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:50 — 11.4MB)

Tyler Cowen Create Your Own EconomyRecently, I had the opportunity to speak with Tyler Cowen about his fascinating new book Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World.  Our recorded conversation is now the inaugural Occasional Podcast.  The interview will be available on iTunes soon, but you can listen now through the embedded player above.

* * *

A professor of economics at George Mason University, Tyler Cowen is known to many habitual web surfers through his always absorbing blog Marginal Revolution.

A behavioral economist, Tyler is also deeply interested in culture, technology, and the arts.  His latest book combines all these subjects in one absorbing read.

Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World is loaded with provocative ideas and surprising claims.  I still haven’t wrapped my mind around a number of Cowen’s big ideas and insights.  I’ll be posting more about the book in the coming days, but (like it or not) I think he has identified some profound truths about our increasingly fragmented culture.  [click to continue…]

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The Week in Tweets: Fine Vintage Microcontent from @theoccasional

by Andrew Hazlett on August 20, 2009

in Digital Culture,Miscellany,Twitter Digest

Lest they disappear into the ether forever… here are some repurposed “best of” bits from recent tweets via @theoccasional.

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Interesting Videos: 1956 Disneyland in HD/Kodachrome

by Andrew Hazlett on August 20, 2009

in Digital Culture,History,Interesting Videos,video

Let’s visit 1956 Disneyland, a year after it opened… An HD transfer from a grandfather’s Kodachrome footage (includes some hanging out with Walt Disney himself):

More background on this footage at Vimeo.  You can also see other videos I’ve featured at The Occasional in the category “Interesting Videos.”

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Style: Before Hippies but after Beatniks, there was… Mod!

by Andrew Hazlett on February 25, 2009

in Art,Style and Design

modcultureSome very interesting styles, clothes, art, and music from a totally unique era of studied disaffection and universal nonchalance.

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Laptop Arts and Culture: Exploring Big Ideas and Great Art during a Great Recession

by Andrew Hazlett on February 22, 2009

in Art,Big Ideas,Books,Cheap Culture,Digital Culture,Education,History,Media,Movies,Music,Ways and Means

Looking for things to do when you are unemployed, underemployed, or just plain scared of spending money?

If you can afford to stay connected to the Internet, you now have access to a vast repository of enjoyable, intriguing, and edifying cultural content.  And a lot of it is free, cheap, and/or legal.

As mentioned here recently, science fiction author John Scalzi recently put together his own comprehensive family entertainment package for less than $100 per month with things like Netflix, Rhapsody, and a public library.  Scalzi’s list is a good starting point, but there are many cultural resources available for less than, say, the $20 it costs for the privilege of entering the Museum of Modern Art.

Cultural enrichment can be free or low-cost, especially if you look beyond “blockbusters.”  Today, there is more enlightening material available more widely than ever in human history.  From highbrow to lowbrow, and everything in between, there is an explosion of expression… more than any one person could digest in a lifetime.

Now is the time to explore that long tail of cultural production other than the biggest and latest thing.

From Project Gutenberg’s electronic editions of classic literature to historic music performances on YouTube, the most enduring works of our culture are suddenly the most accessible.  The Library of Congress has been steadily digitizing its treasures of American history, music, and culture…  it’s all free at the American Memory website.

For more contemporary fare, there is a flowering of creativity and energy to be found in podcasts, online video, ebooks, blogs, etc.  The only problem is how to start drinking-in this ocean of expression.

A great place to look for digital gems is the outstanding website, Open Culture, which is indexing these free cultural riches.

Which brings us to another advantage of the digital age… the ease with which people can share discoveries and insights with others.  Blogs, aggregators, and magazines can help us search out the best and most interesting content on the Internet.  Online social media provide unprecedented opportunities to converse with others who share idiosyncratic enthusiasms.  It is a wide open frontier for growing knowledge and experiencing art, and it is almost always free for the taking.

Where does this advice leave booksellers, public media, performing arts companies, arthouse movie theaters, and museums?  Anyone who can afford it should patronize and support these institutions as much as possible.  They are far more valuable than the nominal fees they charge.  Still, many of these institutions are adapting to the current environment.

Many museums have dropped admission charges entirely.  One way of engaging in cultural activities that would be otherwise out of reach is to volunteer on their behalf.  Who knows, maybe helping out for free could lead to a new career?

The arts and the humanities have always been sources of consolation, rejuvenation, information, or distraction in tough times.  Reading in history, matching music to mood, satisfying long-deferred curiosity… these are all important activities for mental and spiritual health and for a practical understanding of the world we inhabit.

As our Great Recession continues, these seemingly ephemeral things will only seem more important.  Thank goodness they are more available now than ever before.

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