June Issue 2002
Commentary
by Tom Starland
The Spoleto Scoop!
There isn't much of one - yet. The annual schedule
of the Festival and our deadline for publication doesn't exactly
offer an opportunity to comment much about something that has
barely started by the time I'm writing this. But, I've seen some
early exhibitions.
I hope the big hit of the combined Festivals will be the Larger
Than Life: A Second Story Show, featuring large-scale paintings
hanging from some of Charleston's major buildings - historic and
new. I've seen a few and they look fantastic. A lot of cities
have had public art exhibitions with cows, pigs, wolves, palmetto
trees, chairs - you name it. Charleston, the city famous for old
building should have a larger expanded exhibition with its buildings
dressed up as art. But, don't ask Linda Fantuzzo to organize it
- not just yet. She's probably had her fill of organizing artists
and dealing with a city that doesn't cotton to such new fangled
ideas like hanging big paintings from its buildings. Fantuzzo
and the participating artists deserve a big hand for sticking
with it and perhaps giving Charleston a start on its own public
art program. I'm not talking about lip service and meetings. I'm
talking about artworks throughout the city - year round - in the
parks, in the alleys, on the buildings - everywhere. Charleston
is a historic city crying for a chance to show its contemporary
side.
The other big show - Spoleto's The Memory of Water - looks
better on paper than in reality. Of course it relies heavily on
conceptual art. That's only my opinion. It might not be an educated
opinion, but then you can read what a learned fellow had to say
about it. On Page 1, we offer the opinions of Paul C. Figueroa,
former director of the Gibbes Museum of Art. But above all, go
see it for yourselves.
I saw the Piccolo Spoleto 18th Annual Juried Art Exhibition,
housed at the Visitor Center. I can't say much for the venue,
but there was a lot of good art there, being shown in very bad
conditions, but I'll give the City of Charleston credit for one
thing - something you won't hear much from me. There were nudes
in the exhibit and although they were placed where only people
looking at the exhibition would see them - they were there. At
least I hope they stay there. If they do, I can only figure that
the City has finally come to the conclusion that art is art -
nudes or not. They shouldn't be excluded from public exhibitions
in public places.
Well, that's about all I got to see in one quick run through Charleston
before deadline. So, hold your horses until July - then we'll
let it fly on the rest of the visual arts scene.
Some Differences Between the Visual Arts & Performing Arts
Have you ever noticed that when a performing
arts group gets into financial trouble they do one or two things,
and even both at times. (1) The board decides to operate with
a deficit - which means they just end up owing money to people
who have provided them services or they take out a bank loan to
pay their debt and then owe the bank money, which is paid back
over time - sometimes over a long time and sometimes if they can
get one of the bank's officers on their board - they don't pay
it back at all. Operating with a deficit means nothing to performing
arts groups.
(2) Or, they get members of their board and other supporters to
write letters to the local newspapers begging the community for
more funding. Sometimes it's to match funding offered by an "anonymous"
source - that reminds me of tactics used by public broadcasting
fundraisers. At other times they are just fishing for further
funding from cities, counties, and state agencies - for more taxpayer
dollars. Sometimes they get loans from these kinds of public sources
and sometimes those loans are forgotten or forgiven.
But, when it comes to visual arts organizations - it's a whole
different thing - heads roll.
Two of SC's major art museums - the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston,
SC, and the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, have had troubles
with shortfalls in their budgets. Both boards of these museums
have looked for solutions to their problems with staff cuts. Sometimes
it's by resignations (forced and unforced), outright firings,
and in both cases - resignations which are the results of the
first two methods.
The Gibbes is operating without a qualified director. An interim
director has been brought in from the business community, a former
banker. It's not so unusual - the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte,
NC, has been operating with an interim director from the business
community for almost a year. I hope that's not going to be the
case in Charleston.
The Gibbes also lost their communications person, membership person
and an accountant.
And, recently the Columbia Museum of Art has announced that due
to their severe budget shortfall, the Museum was cutting the entire
staff of (3) of its Marketing & Communications Department
and replacing it by hiring the services of an outside marketing
and communications firm - owned by a SC State legislator. Now
there's someone I want in charge of my image. The Museum must
be looking for some of that 6 o'clock national evening news audience.
SC legislators have brought us headlines like: Votes Sold for
Price of New Suits, NAACP Boycotts State Over Confederate Flag
Waving, and let us not forget all the good press we get for being
at the bottom of all national rankings on education, health, poverty,
incomes, etc., etc. Yes, these are the kind of folks I want creating
my image in the media. Woops! That may have cost me some advertising
revenue. Darn!
The Columbia Museum of Art has also lost its chief curator and
their development person.
Who's next?
The South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC, is having financial
problems too - but that would take an entire issue to cover their
problems - including EdVenture which, if built, will become Columbia's
"blackhole" of funding like Charleston's aquarium.
Slashing jobs is easy for the boards of these organizations, but
it puts more stress on remaining personnel. Perhaps the board
members of these two groups need to take a lesson from their counterparts
at performing arts organizations. Or better yet, put some of their
own money into the kitty. And, in both situations, consult their
membership more about problems and solutions.
Then again, perhaps some of these staff losses are not really
due to funding shortfalls. Perhaps some of these institution's
problems lie directly on the shoulders of the board members of
the organizations.
I remember when the board members of the Lowcountry Area Arts
Council just decided to throw the towel in and bring that organization
to an end without asking its membership. Now Charleston has no
independent arts council.
Board members should be at least one or more of the following:
knowledgeable, proven community leaders, financially generous,
actively involved, and representative of the membership and staff
of the organization. Otherwise they could be made up of people
who just get off on being on a board - any board.
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