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Topic: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Replies: 10 Pages: 1 Last Post: Oct 27, 2003 12:42 AM by: Ray Rolfe

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Replies: 10 Pages: 1

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Sep 16, 2003 11:34 AM

Hi Everyone,

Putting this survey in the forums has been on our list of possibilities for the last ten months. I held off so people could get used to the new site and to develop relationships outside the original context of the project. But, after a devastating year in arts funding and substantial community growth, I want to get back to these issues. Let us know what you are thinking presently about these questions. Also, let's start a discussion in this thread about the survey, how mnartists.org is doing, and strategies for meeting these needs more effectively.

Many people have been requesting more focused and easier to navigate discussions. With that in mind, I will be creating all the threads in this forum. If you have topic suggestions, please email me at colin.rusch@walkerart.org.

Colin

Lauren DeSteno

Posts: 1,520
From: Minneapolis, MN
Registered: Oct 19, 2001

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Sep 16, 2003 5:39 PM

A wonderful forum, Colin - I'm glad we're getting back to these issues.

It occurs to me that some folks out there might need some background on the topic. The questions in this forum are taken from 6 Questions, 2,430 Answers, a survey conducted by the McKnight Foundation in 1999.

From the introduction to the survey:

Periodically, The McKnight Foundation examines its arts funding program by conducting research, commissioning essays, and hiring evaluators. During this millennial year, we were interested in discovering more about the lives of artists in Minnesota. Through a friend, we discovered a survey done in England in 1946 while Winston Churchill was still prime minister and England was just beginning its recovery from the war. Cyril Connolly and Horizons magazine decided they wanted to find out more about the lives of English writers, so they asked six questions of striking directnedd and simplicity. We felt that this short survey - recently re-done by the Arts Council of England and Waterstone's W Magazine - was an excellent conveyance to engage artists and give them a voice. We sent out a few thousand of them to artists of all disciplines and received 405 back.
(You can read the rest of the intro on the website.)

Here is a link to the survey and the responses:

http://www.mcknight.org/cost_culture/survey_2.htm

lauren

Colin Rusch

Posts: 1,435
Registered: Oct 16, 2002

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Sep 16, 2003 8:27 PM

Thanks Lauren. I hope everyone has a chance to post in this forum. We can create an ongoing record of the needs in the arts community for ourselves, funders, patrons, and audiences to understand.

Colin

Gabriel Combs

Posts: 1,497
Registered: Jun 16, 2002

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Sep 26, 2003 8:00 PM

How is mnartists.org doing? It has created a direct portal to the arts. Direct access... direct access to almost the entire state and provided a foundation to have a vast state-wide community. Thank you, I beleive this will be a tool that will help sustain us for years...

Ray Rolfe

Posts: 3,263
From: Northeast Minneapolis
Registered: Sep 5, 2001

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 12, 2003 2:42 AM

	PT Sears.jpg (58.5 K)
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I hear there is a little rumor going around that MNARTISTS.ORG would like a physical manifestation of what we have going here on-line. And that the network has the resources to make it happen.

The Cost of Culture = 50 to 100 Million Dollars. Rough estimate. Could be as low as 30 million.

Bob Schulz

Posts: 416
From: Brooklyn Park, MN
Registered: Aug 15, 2003

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 21, 2003 12:15 AM

Are they reflective of a culture or do they intend to construct a culture?

Ray Rolfe

Posts: 3,263
From: Northeast Minneapolis
Registered: Sep 5, 2001

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 21, 2003 5:47 PM

It's the cost of the "cultural programmers" which stifle everything.
I with you thou. If the whole freaking government collapsed, I'd still be in the same situation in front of my work. Free. As for being influenced, I'll write my own programs and curriculum

Bob Schulz

Posts: 416
From: Brooklyn Park, MN
Registered: Aug 15, 2003

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 22, 2003 10:48 PM

Yes, Ray, that's what I was thinking a couple of months ago when I mused that previous to 1965, artists were busting their hump. And I always wondered how we, the US, could have developed a culture previous to the explosion of non-profits, and to a lesser extent, government funding. A culture with grit and determination. Where we got up early, kicked booty and worked late. If you got sick, sometimes you died. If you wanted to find gold, you got in a wagon and headed west at dawn. Looking West today is now forbidden, in the arts, without the prerequisite self-flagellation. And I know that I will be accused of dyspepsia, but what the hell. It take a dyspeptic to recognize one.

Although Lenin's quip, "Quantity has a certain quality," in the case of numbers of artists today, I'm not sure what that quality is. And certainly, since 1965, the support of arts has resulted in quantity.

Ray Rolfe

Posts: 3,263
From: Northeast Minneapolis
Registered: Sep 5, 2001

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 24, 2003 4:16 AM

ironic then that culture is free.
Who gets paid to do what? And who just does it? Where is the true passion? What is the true culture?

Bob Schulz

Posts: 416
From: Brooklyn Park, MN
Registered: Aug 15, 2003

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 27, 2003 12:11 AM

And you can add any number of constructions

Ray Rolfe

Posts: 3,263
From: Northeast Minneapolis
Registered: Sep 5, 2001

Re: The Cost of Culture on mnartists.org - Brief Introduction
Posted: Oct 27, 2003 12:42 AM

heh, thanks for the good hearted complements Bob. I wasn't sure about the performance... Thanks! It was fun.

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