What Now: Will the arts save us?

What if this city focused on something we do well, but that it didn't focus on steel or healthcare. Maybe it's the arts that can save us. Tell us what you think on this Will the arts save us? thread.

Comments

[mark greenwood]

Arts is a very important and defining statement for any community. Our culture is somewhat defined through our artistic endeavours. We should not put this aside.
However, we cannot forget the fact that our aging population (the boomers are about to become seniors)will quickly enter into the arena of health-care need, handicap friendly environment, and more. As us boomers age, the impact and reliance on our health care system is going to be enormous. And, as us boomers begin to retire, many will not be financially capable of maintaining single-private residences as we all too well know that our residential taxes are significantly too rich for many of us to sustain.
Therefore, I see a major collision happening where our city leaders dream of "spend-more on pet peeve projects", raise taxes to "spend-more" on social assistance, and just plain "spend-more" in an attempt to maintain and upgrade our downtown core, and infrastructure.
For the Amalgamated City of Hamilton to grow, our leadership must better understand that the heavy tax burden being placed on the citizens of this city is just not going to cut it longer term. The Provincial and Federal Governments must play a much larger role in monetary assistance to the city of Hamilton.

[Zena Hagerty]

Thank you for this Story Mahesh it is a familiar journey, up to the point of “The Patronage woke up”
I have run independent non-state funded arts centers in Hamilton for years. I have encountered out right dissension from people who call themselves artist, this group of self proclaimed artists are a group because of their affiliation with the state, though they have no consciousness of this direct affiliation.
For they actually believe that when they; cannot or will not agree on anything, are arguing about What Is Art, are opening bars and calling them galleries, are filling out the mind numbing grant applications (which waters down any real creativity) are being creative individuals and thus call themselves artists.
It has always been up to the culture itself to cultivate its creativity, and Artists have always been few and far between, for I pose to you that an Artists work may not be the work itself, but the impact it has, and this impact is to remind its audience of their own Creative Spirit. I pose that an Artist has his Ego reigned in, understands and has knowledge of his limitations, understands and has knowledge what is and is not individual, has his life in order, and most of all through the above can hear the resonance (or if you will hears their Muse) of life in their heart and mind.

So if a few Artists need take on the role of Patron so be it. For an Artist cares not what name their works and deeds may need to be effective.
Bright blessings,
Zena

[catherine north]

The first poster took the words right out of my mouth, not much more to say. Until this city gets the basics right, artistic types will perceive it as a hard rock town that will drag you down. Tear down the smokestacks on the bay and better things will start to happen for the whole city.

Danarchy

[Mahesh P. Butani]

Renaissance without the Medici’s.

A fictional narrative of unreal times:

Arts in itself cannot save the world, and nor will it be able to save Hamilton. Arts were not meant to do so. Arts were not a pill for rebirth, nor were it an antidote to trauma. Nor can it be an economic engine for salvation in our times. It is merely a ‘Mirror’ of society into which one can gaze from time to time, if one is blessed - to see and discover who we are; where we have been; where we are presently; and where we are heading to.

Gazing into this Mirror could at best lead to an enriched life-experience for some – a value in itself. For a few who can afford to collect these Mirrors it could possibly lead to wealth and fame. For the manufactures of these Mirrors and for the remaining mass of humanity, salvation mostly is achieved by the daily-grind of living.

However, there have been times in history when this was not so. Then, the Arts galvanized the minds of people and drove the economy. They left an indelible impression of tangible goods behind, which the financial, religious and political bankers could valuate and trade in. Those were the times of Patronage. Many births and re-births of original thoughts, ideas and actions occurred during these times which led to a truly dynamic and vibrant civic life. So dynamic were these times that states were driven to abolish the consultants.

Artificial efficiencies had to be concocted by the disenfranchised self-regulated consultant industry which pushed for re-organization. New convoluted models were promoted by them to justify their existence. Task-groups, project reports, and case studies followed - destroying the vitality and earning potential of the manufacturers of these Mirrors. A demand-side logic willed the production levels of these Mirrors to fall, and with it so did its quality. Until there was nothing left for society to gaze into, or discover who they had become, or where they were heading.

The befuddled Patronage turned to the more lucrative field of venture capital investments instead. In the vacuum some well meaning initiatives in supply-side logic tried to resurrect this through public initiatives. This tragically led to a state-funded revival. However this form of funding chimera was what the wise Patronage abhorred – as they new this would hand over control of an entire industry to state-officials, and no real funding would ever materialize. The process would sterilize the entire business model, by creating unmarketable goods. This would most certainly kill the demand resulting in a significant drop in the entire value chain; and instead create a viable market for consultants to play in.

They were right. The quality of goods from this state-funded initiative did result in lack of originality-- which in turn failed to captivate a market and in turn created no value for the Patronage. The goods sucked. No real-life experiences and traumas were allowed to co-exist in the state-funded models. Arts began to imitate Arts. Heroes and Savior were manufactured to be the spokespersons of the group. Market demand for Arts never grew to meet the expectations of the manufacturers of the Mirrors. Mediocrity reigned. A perfect opportunity for consultants emerged.

The state-funded model forced complacency. The resulting lack of innovation turned the Mirror manufacturers into grant-writers. Many older cultural institutions were revived and refurbished instead of being re-invented; and black-tie galas sprung up galore to please the masses. The Patronage even joined the dance to keep up the tempo. There was a lot of sex. But no relationships ever developed.

And then, the wine and cheese started to dwindle. Some said it was the incestuous relationships between the state and the manufacturers of Mirrors that led to the downfall of creativity. Some pointed out to the animus complex of the heroes, saviors and consultants of Arts that led to the downfall of creativity. In the end there was no marketability left for the Mirrors industry. Consultants and Cultural i-Savants defined the Arts.

Renaissance never had a chance in hell.

Value Shift in the Arts ~ A Post-Traumatic Order:

Giving the marketing guys a unique USP to successfully re-brand, re-package and re-sell Renaissance was the only avenue left to salvage this situation. A solo attempt to create a new market with a new model was stopped in its tracks by the gluttony of the uninitiated.

The Patronage woke up. The Mirrors industry was a critical cog in the next phase of their business plan. They called a meeting. This led to a firm resolve to recapture the market from the state-funded revivalist. They got the Public Arts project cancelled mid-stream - and with same funding instead put in an International call for Ideas for the re-definition of the very concept of Arts itself.

It was high time, they said – “We need to realign the definition of Arts to ‘our’ society” and find out what it could mean to our children’s society.

If a silicon chip could be made to process a mind-boggling 1 trillion calculations a second from a mere 60 million in our lifetime, they said, then Arts which had the latent power to reflect society itself and redefine its existence could also learn from this; and re-invent itself into something that has the processing power to impact society profoundly. And thus offer better value to society and in turn earn better value for its manufacturers.

The wheels of enterprise were set in motion swiftly. The new value proposition was of tactical importance for a society that was desperately seeking salvation.

The corporate office of the Patronage was flooded with innovative ideas from all across the world. The hype generated through the call was so high-pitched that the city itself caught the imagination of the entire world. From a city that was trapped in time, it turned within a few months into being the leading international Center for Creativity.

Here was a community that finally arrived on the leading edge of innovation. The mood and tone of the city changed. People from all walks of life began to flock events, and entirely new and real transactional markets started to emerge. Even Starbucks started to pop up where state-funded make-work enterprises once existed. For the first time there were real possibilities of creating new wealth, real jobs, and real industries. One could even hear the unborn generation of tomorrow heave a sigh of relief.

The real push came when a donation for a Liberal Arts College was quickly turned into an endowment for the establishment of a “Centre for Research and Advancement in Quantum Transformation”. Its goal was to develop the “Uomo Universale”. The older models of liberal Arts, humanities, and social sciences were just not capable of achieving the quantum transformation required for producing an understand of the new universal human and its resulting universal humanity.

The waves of innovation and enterprise unleashed were potent. To achieve a decisive break from the hedonistic past, it was decided that the word “Center” was finally to be transformed into the more universally accepted word “Centre”.

Thousands of creative individuals from all over the world converged to the city to discover and partake in the buzz. And for the first time in the cities history these foreigners were not asked for local-experience. There was no longer any need for such facile pretenses. True realization had dawned. Real money could be smelled.

The self-regulated consultants did not have a chance in hell.

Hundreds stayed back to collaborate with the many enterprising local manufacturers of Mirrors – who finally opened up to the true potential of collaboration and co-existence with people bearing strange names with strange colors. Together they began to create designs that were no longer driven by the Olde Codes.
Breakthrough innovations resulted every day on the sidewalks, in cafes, in parks and in open-institutions of new learning. Arts were re-made in the eyes of the present times.

The new Mirrors enthralled people from all walks of life and all economic strata. They began to buy them in droves, driving up a natural demand - making the manufacturers of these Mirrors wealthy, who in turn paid huge dividends to the Patronage, ate better and plowed the surpluses back into even more refined Mirrors.

The Patronage lived up to their end of the bargain too, and continued to reinvest their dividends with the numerous manufactures of the Mirrors. They helped the manufacturers to form consortiums and partnerships, and started buying derelict properties in the city - without state-funding, and re-tooled the industrial base of the city to meet tomorrows demand. The olde definitions of the Arts slowly vanished from its vocabulary.

Arts became a metaphor for ingenuity, invention, wit, humor, innovation, leadership, work, play and life itself. It reconnected with its original meaning and evolved into something that was deeply connected to every inhabitant’s life.

Smoke continued to bellow from the old industries, but it did not matter anymore, as it too was co-opted into the new paradigm of co-existence.

Every new Mirror was a unique artifact through which its people began to see more then they could ever see of themselves and the world.

Cities across the world began to emulate this leap of faith. It spawned a ‘Nevus Bilbao’ effect. Cities no longer required silos of Arts to define their destinies.

Hamilton after a long struggle finally regained its industrial strength in the context of the new millennium through its re-definition of Arts.

The 'Mirrors' were never the saviors. It was the people who gazed into them and saw their future, who were. It was impossible not to evolve after the first gaze.

-Mahesh P. Butani

[Roland]

The arts will not save the city. The "Arts" will be a result of prosperity. The city has to attract lifestyle supporting jobs/careers that will in turn create a demand for the Arts at which point they will begin to thrive.

[Ilpo Lehto]

The Arts will not save you, but it will assist in saving. The Arts will improve a lifestyle. It is the necessary distraction from the everyday issues of work and home. Being open to alternatives in land use but still maintaining land use to general principles. Land use should benefit residents without alienating the current or future; this should be a general guiding principle. The current concept of work has evolved tremendously and is currently evolving very fast. Do not get caught up in any one concept and consider it a saviour. Be ready to change but keep the guiding principle at the forefront.