PEOPLE
An artist-in-residence teaches at Moorsbridge Elementary.
Michigan Radio's Jennifer Guerra realizes it's
not the most important issue this election. The crumbling economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the health care crisis...those are the biggies.
But that hasn't stopped Los Angeles Times arts critic – Christopher Knight – from wanting to hear more about arts and arts education from the campaign trail:
"We talk about values voters," says Knight, "and I happen to think that since the arts deal with the human condition, that's a pretty important value to consider. And it therefore does have a place in the discussion. And currently it has no virtually no place at all."
To be fair, that's not entirely true. Senator Barack Obama has made a couple of speeches on arts and arts education during the long campaign season.
Senator John McCain hasn't references the arts or arts education in any of his speeches. At least none that the folks at Americans for the Arts could find. Americans for the Arts is an arts advocacy group that published a report card on the candidates' positions on arts and arts education.
Narric Rome is the director of Federal Affairs for the group. He points out that while McCain hasn't made any speeches about arts issues, he did publish a brief statement.
"The statement," says Rome, "is that he supports arts education and its role in fostering creativity and expression, but it would require local school districts to support it once they feel they've accomplished some of their support for other subjects as well. Which certainly isn't a strong leadership position in that area."
Obama, on the other hand, has proposed a couple arts education policies. He wants to create an Artists Corp to send young artists to work in low income schools. He says he'll publicly champion arts education, and he wants to develop partnerships between schools districts and local arts organizations.
Obama also wants to increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts – it's the federal agency that helps pay for classes like the one at Moorsbridge Elementary in Kalamazoo where Marcia Working teaches music. Every year a musician comes to her classroom to hang out with the students for free. Thanks to the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra's grant from the NEA.
"When someone can come in and show them why and how it works...we've even had some of the artists take their instruments apart," says Working. "And that's something I could never do for them. A lot of times the kids are interested in when they started playing and they think, oh! I can do this, too."
The NEA helps the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra pay for dozens of these of artist-in-residence classes. The NEA also makes free acting and voice lessons possible for kids at Mosaic Youth Theater in Detroit. And it helps fund the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's string lessons for minority students in under-served communities.
Right now, the NEA gets about $145 million. Historically speaking, the agency saw its biggest growth under Richard Nixon. Even the current president, George W. Bush, has included modest increases for the NEA in his budget. McCain has voted several times not only to cut funding for the NEA but to eliminate the endowment all together.
"To pick one vote and say this is indicative of someone's behavior toward this issue forever more is not a good thing to do," says Joe Schwarz. Schwarz is a former U.S Representative from Battle Creek. He's a Republican and long time friend of John McCain's.
"The idea that John McCain would not fund something like that national endowment is simply foreign to me," continues Schwarz. "I don't believe that would happen. Arts and arts education probably irrespective of who is elected president will take a hit."
So maybe the question is: who will hit the arts harder? Just one more question for you to consider as you head to the polls next week.
© Copyright 2012, MICHIGAN RADIO
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