Author: Associated Councils of the Arts

Publication Year: 1965

Media Type: Report

Summary:

With the human and material resources that currently exist in the , the opportunities for full development of the arts are boundless. The job is to understand the rapid changes taking place and to mobilize our resources so that the highest achievements may flourish, not just for the few, but for the many. Arts Councils of America, the national and private association of state and community arts councils, is dedicated to this goal.

Abstract:

With the human and material resources that currently exist in the , the opportunities for full development of the arts are boundless. The job is to understand the rapid changes taking place and to mobilize our resources so that the highest achievements may flourish, not just for the few, but for the many. Arts Councils of America, the national and private association of state and community arts councils, is dedicated to this goal.

The real magnitude of the changes taking place in the arts becomes ever more apparent. The development of arts councils, which began quietly in 1946, has grown so dramatically in the last eighteen months that almost overnight a new system of communication and patronage in the arts is being created in the . Today there are some 300 community councils and 53 state and territorial councils.

The intent of the conference and of this book is to provide some practical tools to understand these changes for those involved with the direction of arts organizations and councils and to provide a public forum for discussion of change and its implications to the artist and to the general public. Without the tools, without broad public understanding, the rapid changes taking place cannot be utilized to the best advantage of the arts; hence, the theme - The Arts: Planning for Change. There is little possibility of capturing in print the excitement and vitality of the Arts Councils of America national conference held in New York in May 1966.

The speeches and major panel discussions have been edited and are published with the assistance and generosity of the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. As the arts become part of community life throughout the country, Marya Mannes charges the arts councils to lift the tone and sights of an entire society. She encourages the nation to shun the safe and to seek the talented; to abhor the junk and to transform the environment into patterns of beauty.

Arts centers are being built in city after city. Thoughtful citizens look at the facades and cannot help but wonder if more than bricks and mortar are needed to hold up the roofs. William Schuman tells us, We oughtta have heart, we must have a mission to explore, to educate, to develop, in his words, aristocratic art in a democratic society.

Harold Taylor forthrightly explores the subject of our educational system. If we are to have quality, if we are to have an environment in which life can be enriched, it is his view that we are going to have to redefine what we mean by education and what we mean by the arts and education. His vision gives challenge to everyone. Every council and every arts organization in the nation is concerned about audiences. Stanley Kauffmann, William Alfred, John Cage, Elizabeth Hardwick, and Richard Schechner add to the dimension of our thinking by illuminating various facets of the changing audience and the changing arts: What, in the future, will be on our stages? Who will be in our audiences?

If we are to have expanding audiences, fine arts centers, new concepts of education, Lucien Wulsin points out that corporate responsibility for the arts is important and recommends several areas of business involvement, and Harlow Heneman gives practical down-to-earth suggestions about how trustees and managers can meet changing conditions with order and direction. His remarks and those of Louis Jones, Gifford Phillips, Helen Thompson, and Harold Zellerbach are in effect a handbook of trustees of arts organizations and councils.

With the establishment of more than thirty state arts councils in the past eighteen months, with the important new federal programs, a good look has to be taken at the relationship between the arts and the political process of government. Alexander Dunbar presents an illuminating view of the British experience that gives us new insights derived from the relatively longer term of public and private cooperation in the arts in England and the newly forming regional concept of the arts, which is not unlike our state council development. The states are moving quickly ahead into largely uncharted areas, and the views of Rabbi Martin Siegel, Mrs. David Levene and Naomi Lightbourn on the responsibilities of the chairman, council member and staff member will be particularly helpful to those involved directly in the state movement. The governor of our host state, Nelson A. Rockefeller, who has taken leadership in the arts for many years, stresses the continuing need for strong leadership that will respect the trusteeship of citizen councils established to encourage the arts. (p. ix-xi)

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.
Introduction.
What art - for whom? by Marya Mannes.
The heart of an arts center by William Schuman.
The arts in education by Harold Taylor.
The changing audience for the changing arts by Stanley Kauffmann, Moderator; William Alfred, John Cage, Elizabeth Hardwick and Richard Schechner.
Industry's stake in the arts by Lucien Wulsin. Better management for new needs by Harlow J. Heneman.
Responsibilities of an arts trustee by Harlow J. Heneman, Chairman; Louis Clark Jones, Gifford Phillips, Mrs Helen M. Thompson, and Harold L. Zellerbach.
Meeting change - the British way by Alexander Dunbar.
States and the arts: The council chairman by Rabbi Martin Siegel.
States and the arts: the council member by Mrs. David Levene.
States and the arts: the Council director and staff by Naomi Lightbourn.
Leadership for the Arts by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.
Report of the President by R. Philip Hanes, Jr. 1966 conference: Committee, staff and assistants, program and participants.
Publications available from Arts Councils of America.
Arts Councils of America: officers, board members, staff, state planning panel.
Arts Councils of America Sponsors.

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