Protest Art: Occupy

I was thinking about the Occupy movement the other day and the great posters I saw from the protests. Every movement creates artwork to define and convey their message. With the rise of social media and the internet, protest or resistance art has transformed from printed material and art to videos, blogs, and multimedia presentations. With the Occupy movement being an on foot and in the streets movement, there has been a rise of signs, prints, posters, and music again. Internet is being used to reach a wider audience, but art is being utilized in the streets to convey the message.

I haven't seen anyone carrying a Guernica around yet, but I did find this piece below from an article in the Washington Post about the pepper spraying cop.


And again spraying Lady Liberty in Delacroix's work.


There appears to have been a whole DIY art movement around the Occupy protests. Websites like www.occupytogether.org have printable posters, instructions for making your own posters and banners and graphics you can use to protest. Occupy art galleries and showings have popped up throughout the nation. There are also currently 713 Occupy items for sale on Etsy. One of my favourite ones is below (The saying was apparently lifted from a protest poster, which really just brings up more questions in my mind, but I digress.).


And, of course, there is an OccupyArt facebook page.

Below is an invitation created by Shepherd Fairey for an Occupy event. There has been a lot of talk about Fairey evoking the black power movement; but, isn't that what great art does - get people talking!


As long as there is tyranny or unhappy people, there will be protest art. While I haven't gotten very political in this political blog, I will say something not about the nation's politics, but about art and museum politics. This kind of Occupy art does not belong in a museum or a gallery, it belongs in the streets. I would allow a museum show in perhaps fifty years though.

Access to the Arts

NPR had an interesting article about arts giving this weekend. While charitable giving (not fees generated by ticket sales, etc.) is up, the giving is flowing to larger organizations. This article really highlights my fear for the arts in the future – that only those who can afford access will benefit from the arts.

Dorfman says the majority of foundations giving to the arts goes to organizations with budgets of $5 million dollars a year or more.

"Most of your museums, symphonies, opera houses — large established cultural institutions that are promoting the European cannon," he says. "The audiences for those institutions continue to be predominantly upper income and white. So what it means is that this funding is not really benefiting everyone in our society.”

State and federal funding for the arts in Indiana flows through the Indiana Arts Commission (IAC). The commission distributes grants throughout the state through their Regional Arts Partners.

The Regional Arts Partnership is a network of 12 regions of Indiana, developed by the Indiana Arts Commission (IAC) to enhance the delivery of arts services and to move the decision-making about state and federal arts funding closer to the arts community and the arts consumer. Region 4 is the largest geographical partnership in the state. Serving a population of over 525,000, Tippecanoe Arts Federation (TAF) has proudly served as Region 4 Arts Partner of the Indiana Arts Commission (IAC), a state agency, since 1997.

I serve on the Regional Advisory Council (RAC) for the Tippecanoe Arts Federation. RAC is a board created by TAF to advise “on matters that affect planning, delivery, and evaluation of the four core services: cultural planning, grants making and grants management, information and referral, and technical assistance…The vision is that arts organizations will have better access to services at the regional level, and individuals will have better access to the arts at the community level.” (TAF website).

Each county in the region has a representative on the council and part of our charge is to ensure that arts funding reaches more rural areas (or our underserved population in our region). We do this through promotion of grant opportunities in our counties and sharing of information within the region. Even with this support, of the fifteen organizations awarded operating support grants, seven were from Tippecanoe County. I have also served as a grant panelist for the past two years and want to note that far more grant applications come from Tippecanoe County organizations than other counties (even Howard County [Kokomo]).

As there are not a lot of arts funding opportunities, community foundations can really make-up the difference in counties. Our own Montgomery County Community Foundation (one of the largest in the state) awarded $77,250 in the past year for arts support to organizations including the Crawfordsville Main Street Program (for the Athens of Indiana Arts Studio and Gallery), the Montgomery County Cultural Foundation (Rotary Jail Museum) and the Sugar Creek Players.

Access to the arts will be very important as schools continue to make cuts and the recession continues to hurt arts organizations. Arts organizations and museums in Montgomery County need to come together to create an arts and cultural plan for the county. This will ensure that a plan is in place that will allow for both access to the arts (and not just for those that can pay for it) and form partnerships that will strengthen economic development in the county through the arts. A comprehensive plan may also allow for more funding to flow in and throughout Montgomery County.

Art Shopping in Crawfordsville

I made my way to the Athens of Indiana Arts Studio & Gallery to do some early Christmas shopping and talk arts funding with the gallery director and ended up getting a new piece for myself by Jody Franklin (who was the featured gallery artist in September. Typical for west central Indiana are landscape and nature scenes, but what Franklin does is so different. It's such an interesting combination of surrealism and cubism - I really had to stop myself from buying more *ahem, Christmas - mom or dad*. There is a story about Franklin on the Athens blog here.

Get the Facts

Public Art Shelf Life

There has been an uproar recently in Indy public art world over the decision by the Indianapolis Airport Authority to remove James Wille Faust's work "Chrysalis" and replace it with digital art and advertising.

Faust won't be the only artist to see his work moved or replaced. Airport officials said they determined from the start of the public art program that work eventually would rotate. Bertolini said that policy was disclosed in the contracts with the artists.

From the start of the debate, I also began to wonder how long public art should stay in one location. I suppose there are many answers. But, coming from a law background I am going to throw out there that public art like Chrysalis is sculptural public art with a contract. The airport authority and the artist entered into a contract which included terms and consideration. Upon completion of the project, it became the property of the Indianapolis Airport Authority (or the city of county).

The Public Art Indianapolis website has an example of a public art contract and I pulled out the part about removal of public art which is below (the artist and agency would agree on one of the following options):

[Option I]
8.2 Alterations of Site or Removal of Artwork
a. The Agency shall notify the Artist of any proposed significant alteration of the Site that would affect the intended character and appearance of the Artwork. The Agency shall make a good faith effort to consult with the Artist in the planning and execution of any such alteration. The Agency shall make a reasonable effort to maintain the integrity of the Artwork.
b. The Agency agrees not to arbitrarily remove or relocate the Artwork without first making a good faith effort to contact the Artist. The Artist shall not unreasonably withhold approval of removal or relocation of the Artwork. Should the Artist agree to such removal or relocation, the Artist shall provide the Agency with written handling instructions. In the event that the Artist is deceased or unable to otherwise give the Artist’s consent, the current owner of the copyright of the Artwork shall not unreasonably withhold permission, keeping in mind the intentions of the Artist at the time of commission and fabrication.
[OR]
[Option II]
8.2 Alterations of Site or Removal of Artwork
a. The Agency shall notify the Artist in writing upon [adoption of a plan of construction or alteration of the Site] which would entail removal or relocation of the Artwork which might result in the Artwork being destroyed, distorted or modified. The Artist shall be granted the right of consultation regarding the removal or relocation of the Artwork. If the Artwork cannot be successfully removed or relocated as determined by the Agency, the Artist may disavow the Artwork or have the Artwork returned to the Artist at the Artist’s expense.
b. The Artwork may be removed or relocated or destroyed by the Agency should the Artist and the Agency not reach mutual agreement on the removal or relocation of the Artwork after a period not to exceed [90] days after written notice to the Artist. During the [90] day period, the Parties shall engage in good faith negotiations concerning the Artwork’s removal or relocation.
c. In the event of changes in building codes or zoning laws or regulations that cause the Artwork to be in conflict with such codes, laws or regulations, the Agency may authorize the removal or relocation of the Artwork without the Artist’s prior permission. In the alternative, the Agency may commission the Artist by a separate agreement to make any necessary changes to the Artwork to render it in conformity with such codes, laws or regulations.
d. If the Agency reasonably determines that the Artwork presents imminent harm or hazard to the public, other than as a result of the Agency’s failure to maintain the Artwork as required under this Agreement, the Agency may authorize the removal of the Artwork without the prior approval of the Artist.
e. This clause is intended to replace and substitute for the rights of the Artist under the Visual Artists’ Rights Act to the extent that any portion of this Agreement is in direct conflict with those rights. The parties acknowledge that this Agreement supersedes that law to the extent that this Agreement is in direct conflict therewith.

Coming from a law background, I guess that's how I see the shelf life of sculptural public art. The Indianapolis Business Journal was apparently having the same thoughts as me and posted this article asking for responses about the shelf life of public art.

A Leap for the Arts or Overcompensation for Cuts?

The Indiana Business Journal had a May 14, 2011 article proclaiming that the number of Indiana arts organizations or arts related businesses had increased by 19% from 2009 to 2010. There was also an interesting quote from Lewis Ricci, the executive director for the Indiana Arts Commission, “In these challenging economic times, it is encouraging that the number of arts-related businesses increased from 2009 to 2010. Businesses must exist before jobs can be created, and such a significant increase in one year’s time should be a positive indicator for job growth."

I am always encouraged by a growth in the arts, I have to wonder if some of the growth doesn't come from a reduction in the arts in schools and funding cuts to the arts at the state and federal level. Some of what we have seen in the past year or two may be a rush by organizations and businesses to compensate for funding cuts. One other statistic from the article may help support this theory: The creative arts industries in Indiana have seen a 4% drop in employment from 2009 to 2010.

So, while the number organizations and businesses have increased by 19%, the people on the ground doing the work of these places has decreased by 4%. Perhaps Mr. Ricci shouldn't be so encouraged just yet.

Superbowl XLV and Nonprofits

Well, my Steelers didn't win the Superbowl last Sunday, but it was a good game and I don't like dislike the Packers, so I'm not super disappointed (at least not like the Saints-Colts loss).

I did learn one interesting fact in the past week though. My awesome ex-boyfriend sent me a link to a segment on the Rachel Maddow show about the Packers being the only non-profit football team in the NFL.



The way the Packer's ownership is set up is in violation of the current league rules, which state that there can only be 32 owners or less of one team and one of those owners must have a minimum 30% stake. That ownership policy was established in the 1980s and because the Packers have been around since 1919, they were grandfathered in and do not have to follow this ownership policy.

I think it is interesting that the NFL has this policy. The NFL teams involved are big business. They are corporations set up to earn a profit off entertainment. As a public organization, the Packers are not solely driven to earn a profit off entertainment. This public ownership allows Packers fans to participate in the governance of the organization and through that stake, they support something that benefits the entire community, not fewer than 32 owners. In return (and with good management decisions), Packers fans have been able to produce a Superbowl team.