Chris Wilkinson continues covering discussions over here at the Guardian. I'm going to respond to just this:
But the institutions that Daisey is concerned about are not the only places where art can be produced, and if they are not working properly, then artists just have to find other contexts in which to be creative.
(Highlighting my own.)
I agree with the thrust of this, however the way it is worded—opening with "but", and that we "just have to find", minimizes the issues. It makes it sound as though it's as simple as if not A, then we'll simply choose B, that it's a simple change of context and we're done. If the repertory theater won't have us, we'll use this warehouse and that's that.
But A is where all of the arts funding and institutional support is in this country, and B is in the shadows. If our arts are so enervated that artists are driven by institutional malaise to choose B again and again, it's the culture at large that pays the price. I support linking artists to security and stability in communities not only because it is good for the artists—I believe it is essential if the theater at large is going to remain a vital force.
If the best theater in America is consistently happening in warehouses rather than theaters, that's an issue for the ecology at large.
12:05 PM
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