also, there’s the secondary issue of whether writing funding into the state’s constitution is really what that document was intended for. i still support the idea, but i wish there was a better way to provide consistent, non-politicized funding without going to such extreme lengths. and if the various causes can’t ever fully articulate their needs, how are we to ever fully meet those needs? especially in such a permanent manner?

like i said, i still support the initiative, but there are lots of questions about whether this course is the best one.

rosie – of course, i was just “thinking out loud” and i know i got a little pessimisstic there… and i know i can count on you for optimism… thank goodness. but i ask you: how are the two causes so intertwined? when you have leaders and spokespeople voicing things like anderson voices (and only echoing and emphasizing the beliefs of the people they represent, the artists, the hunters), it seems like everyone is trying as hard as they can to demonstrate how different their causes are.

so, going back to my original point, what we need more than anything right now, are some voices speaking loudly about solidarity and what the two causes share, not attacking each other. i just don’t think we need the nastiness.

Wonderful, we save our roadless areas or our trout streams, but an emerging artist takes a job at a cubefarm because there’s no grant money and his talent dies a quiet death, or an art museum has to close another day out of the week, serving less school groups, or or or…

i believe that the one good turn begets the other, which is why if one of these two good causes succeeds, then the other succeeds because they are so intertwined. for the sake of saving what might be forever lost i agree with the bum that the environment ought to get first billing; but then there has to be the love and passion behind the movement to help the arts folks make the connection and vice versa.

Just as an aside…
On top of dedicated funding from sales taxes, I don’t see anything wrong with expanding the scope of dedicating funding for arts through license plates as has been done for conservation dollars. This has been a fantastic way to make money that goes directly back into conservation usage. Just one option of many, I suppose. As a contributor and listener of public radio, the Current in particular, I don’t want to see the arts lose out down the road either.

Everyone’s comments are very good food for thought.

Randy

Eric:

Are we now reaping the fruits that have been sown by the political system for the past 6 years? Or has the mentality always been prevalent?

I think the answer is… Yes. No one can deny that this country has become more culturally divided as it has become more politically divided. It seems to me like everyone is looking for ways that the group of people they identify with is different (and better) than other groups. Whether it’s NASCAR fans vs. Tour de France followers, SUV drivers vs. hybrid drivers, north vs. south, east vs. west, or, in this case, a fairly overarching dichotomy: arts vs. outdoors, paint brushes vs. shotguns… I emphasized the word “identify” because it seems to me that all of this is related to these carefully-constructed ideas of self that everyone seems so obsessed with. We look at celebrities, politicians, products, television shows, fashion, and latch onto specific images that we call “me.”

Which, is nothing new. And that’s why I say ‘yes’ that this has also always been prevalent. Seems to be human nature to seek out and “celebrate” differentness. In this country, perhaps it was the Civil War that really served as the watershed moment. Before that, it seems like there was still a cohesive American-ness, forged during the Revolution and… a shared hatred of those other others, the Redcoats. Or perhaps it was in the 1880s when the frontier finally died and that cohesion died with it… the sense of unlimited frontier and a shared belief in Manifest Destiny had reinforced what we held in common. Or maybe it’s been since the 1960s… No matter what, it seems like it’s been a long time since Americans weren’t seeking out ways to prove their superiority to each other.

cK:

We are nowhere without our environment, so we must guard that first. And we are no one–we are soulless and without community or inspiration–without art, so we must guard that second.

Excellent. I like that. It breaks down very nicely what I was trying to say, that both the environment and art are essential to our souls and our survival.

Randy
Sorry, no excerpt of your comments because I’d have to do the whole thing.

I think I get what you’re saying, that sometimes the only way to succeed (unfortunately) is to be vocal, to be a little vitriolic. Sort of Machiavellian, eh? That is indeed probably true… A sad truth, but true nonetheless.

The thing is, the stakes are so high. Especially with conservation issues, if we don’t act now, we might lose a lot of invaluable natural resources forever. So, let us win by any means necessary…

But, then, what about the losers? What if we stand up and are vocal and even vitriolic because we feel there is no other option, and what if we get so caught up that we defame an important cause like the arts and they lose because they aren’t as vitriolic (or as well-funded or well-connected or…)?

Wonderful, we save our roadless areas or our trout streams, but an emerging artist takes a job at a cubefarm because there’s no grant money and his talent dies a quiet death, or an art museum has to close another day out of the week, serving less school groups, or or or…

There are no easy answers here. You know that the environment is one of the things I hold above all else, but it doesn’t mean that we should necessarily feel good about our successes if it comes at such great expense elsewhere.

Am I making any sense?

Having worked on and with the state council of TU and working on local projects, coordination between individuals and groups (all within the conservation, environment umbrella) can become terribly heated, and unfortunately, sometimes the loudest voice wins because people choose to back down.

I wish there was an easy answer, or even an easy way to say what I’m trying to say, but in the current world of politics it can get too ugly for comfort.

For what it’s worth,
Randy

Everything else (business, defense, etc.) is either an opportunity or a reflex.

I retire to non-chambers.
-cK

Being a professional in the arts community and vocial advocate for the natural enviornment many times I’ve been caught in a hinterland alienated from both groups. Too often in today’s society we are faced with the “…with us or against us mentality,” forcing our issue afraid that if we listen to the other side we’ll be mistaken as weak. Are we now reaping the fruits that have been sown by the political system for the past 6 years? Or has the mentality always been prevalent?

It just saddens me terribly that we are still relegated to these antagonistic roles… the ‘artists’ mocking the ‘hicks,’ the hunters and fishers mocking the “artsy-fartsy” city folk. I wish both sides could see how much we all have in common…