The Arts Betrayed - Bread and Circuses - Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts Ignores the influence of Ellington and other Jazz Masters
During Spring of 2013, I attended a meeting about the future of the arts in Maryland that was sponsored by the Maryland State Arts Council.
From promoting my own 600+ compositions, along with dozens of works by other area jazz artists, I know of the talent we have here in Baltimore, talent that has basically been ignored by our supposed jazz and cultural “experts”. This has been an issue I’ve had with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) since the early 1990s, when it was known as the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Arts and Culture.
I brought this up again at this “arts” meeting, saying that the city was ignoring a treasure trove of new music, whose inspiration is derived from the work of Ellington, Monk, and others, and instead concentrating almost exclusively on “smooth” jazz.
A representative of BOPA answered by saying that because “smooth” jazz was popular, it had priority.
Before sitting down, I stated that I thought the “arts” were supposed to be about excellence.
I was vindicated a minute on so later when we took a look at the Maryland State Arts Council’s priorities, which were listed in a handout. Number one was EXCELLENCE. I was actually applauded.
I'm not a snob. On occasion I play smooth jazz, and enjoy it. I personally have nothing against popular music. It’s part of the world and I certainly don’t expect everyone to feel the way I do. However, there's a real difference between the output of someone like Duke Ellington and someone like Kenny G.
BOPA, just like the National Endowment for the Arts, is a government agency that is funded in part, by tax dollars. In fact, it's part of a national network that has the NEA at the top, followed by regional arts organizations, then state organizations, and finally various municipalities.
About the NEA, I thought it was created to help the public appreciate art, artists and their commitment to the study and mastery, and dedication to a higher ideal: to give innovative artists an edge over commercial interests. I feel however, that in the ensuing years since its founding, those ideals have been betrayed. Because of demands to keep the books in the black, that original lofty ideal has been corrupted. Instead of being educated by being exposed to excellence, audiences are being fed a diet of entertainment, akin to the ancient days of Roman "Bread and Circuses."
Specifically, tax dollars are going to support music that by definition is ineligible for Federal funding. Smooth jazz is a popular, common denominator style whose purpose is to make the audience feel good. Fine, but a Miles Davis, or a Monk, or a Coltrane would not be welcomed into this world.
As it is, the NEA has been flipped on its head. Those who benefit most from NEA and similar funding are the arts administrators themselves, via their salaries. As I learned in an exchange of letters with Baltimore's former mayor, Kurt Schmoke in the early 1990s, the priority of BOPA (known then as the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Arts & Culture <MACAC>) isn't excellence, it's bean counting. He kept bragging about Artscape attendance numbers. My concern was that nothing was being done to educate those numbers.
That exchange came to an end when I received a dismissive letter from then Executive Director Claire Liszt. That letter would serve to open a can of worms several months later, about how MACAC, and probably now BOPA, apparently cheat in their awarding of artistic support and funds.
The fact that real art is being deliberately suppressed in favor of entertainment seems to be of small concern to the festival organizers and administrators, for to them, more beans means more funding, which means increased salaries and other perks.
Another aspect of 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations like BOPA is education. With the current policy of BOPA, and possibly the NEA too, the audience is being educated in mediocrity. They are also being left ignorant as to what excellence truly is. At this juncture, it would seem that the Maryland State Art Council's claim of promoting excellence is questionable.
Every so often I see laments by jazz experts and educators, as to why audiences don't support jazz.
Well there it is. Why should people care about jazz when it's perceived as being just another variation of pop music, a mesmerizing, easy to swallow pablum: no thinking required. Add sinister political overtones, and one can see this as a situation in which the "people" are being lulled in a state of submissiveness by the State (certainly, the city :)
Even worse yet, this whole situation is a slap in the face to the contributions of masters like Ellington, Armstrong, and Parker. I thought that with the advent of civil rights, we, as a nation, would honor the legacy of Black innovators.
The art of Jazz music, by joint resolutions of the U.S. House and Senate, has been declared a National American Treasure. I know, because I was a member of the team that made it happen. Yet in spite of the NEA, Civil Rights, and that joint resolution, it would appear that the city of Baltimore could care less.
As I implied earlier, I’ve been reminding arts administrators about this disparity for over 20 years. Except for indulgent smiles, nothing’s changed. It’s as if they feel that they are immune and above this sort of criticism.
I don’t know if any of this is illegal, but it certainly points to a gross insensitivity by those whom one would expect would be most interested in arts innovation.
My opinion.
From promoting my own 600+ compositions, along with dozens of works by other area jazz artists, I know of the talent we have here in Baltimore, talent that has basically been ignored by our supposed jazz and cultural “experts”. This has been an issue I’ve had with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) since the early 1990s, when it was known as the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Arts and Culture.
I brought this up again at this “arts” meeting, saying that the city was ignoring a treasure trove of new music, whose inspiration is derived from the work of Ellington, Monk, and others, and instead concentrating almost exclusively on “smooth” jazz.
A representative of BOPA answered by saying that because “smooth” jazz was popular, it had priority.
Before sitting down, I stated that I thought the “arts” were supposed to be about excellence.
I was vindicated a minute on so later when we took a look at the Maryland State Arts Council’s priorities, which were listed in a handout. Number one was EXCELLENCE. I was actually applauded.
I'm not a snob. On occasion I play smooth jazz, and enjoy it. I personally have nothing against popular music. It’s part of the world and I certainly don’t expect everyone to feel the way I do. However, there's a real difference between the output of someone like Duke Ellington and someone like Kenny G.
BOPA, just like the National Endowment for the Arts, is a government agency that is funded in part, by tax dollars. In fact, it's part of a national network that has the NEA at the top, followed by regional arts organizations, then state organizations, and finally various municipalities.
About the NEA, I thought it was created to help the public appreciate art, artists and their commitment to the study and mastery, and dedication to a higher ideal: to give innovative artists an edge over commercial interests. I feel however, that in the ensuing years since its founding, those ideals have been betrayed. Because of demands to keep the books in the black, that original lofty ideal has been corrupted. Instead of being educated by being exposed to excellence, audiences are being fed a diet of entertainment, akin to the ancient days of Roman "Bread and Circuses."
Specifically, tax dollars are going to support music that by definition is ineligible for Federal funding. Smooth jazz is a popular, common denominator style whose purpose is to make the audience feel good. Fine, but a Miles Davis, or a Monk, or a Coltrane would not be welcomed into this world.
As it is, the NEA has been flipped on its head. Those who benefit most from NEA and similar funding are the arts administrators themselves, via their salaries. As I learned in an exchange of letters with Baltimore's former mayor, Kurt Schmoke in the early 1990s, the priority of BOPA (known then as the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Arts & Culture <MACAC>) isn't excellence, it's bean counting. He kept bragging about Artscape attendance numbers. My concern was that nothing was being done to educate those numbers.
That exchange came to an end when I received a dismissive letter from then Executive Director Claire Liszt. That letter would serve to open a can of worms several months later, about how MACAC, and probably now BOPA, apparently cheat in their awarding of artistic support and funds.
The fact that real art is being deliberately suppressed in favor of entertainment seems to be of small concern to the festival organizers and administrators, for to them, more beans means more funding, which means increased salaries and other perks.
Another aspect of 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations like BOPA is education. With the current policy of BOPA, and possibly the NEA too, the audience is being educated in mediocrity. They are also being left ignorant as to what excellence truly is. At this juncture, it would seem that the Maryland State Art Council's claim of promoting excellence is questionable.
Every so often I see laments by jazz experts and educators, as to why audiences don't support jazz.
Well there it is. Why should people care about jazz when it's perceived as being just another variation of pop music, a mesmerizing, easy to swallow pablum: no thinking required. Add sinister political overtones, and one can see this as a situation in which the "people" are being lulled in a state of submissiveness by the State (certainly, the city :)
Even worse yet, this whole situation is a slap in the face to the contributions of masters like Ellington, Armstrong, and Parker. I thought that with the advent of civil rights, we, as a nation, would honor the legacy of Black innovators.
The art of Jazz music, by joint resolutions of the U.S. House and Senate, has been declared a National American Treasure. I know, because I was a member of the team that made it happen. Yet in spite of the NEA, Civil Rights, and that joint resolution, it would appear that the city of Baltimore could care less.
As I implied earlier, I’ve been reminding arts administrators about this disparity for over 20 years. Except for indulgent smiles, nothing’s changed. It’s as if they feel that they are immune and above this sort of criticism.
I don’t know if any of this is illegal, but it certainly points to a gross insensitivity by those whom one would expect would be most interested in arts innovation.
My opinion.