It seems that last night’s celebration of the local “Washington arts scene” dramatically misrepresented said scene.
At first, I was thrilled to read on Washingtonian’s Capital Comment blog that local arts were getting such high-profile attention:
“The arts are back,” proclaimed the White House’s Kareem Dale to cheers at last night’s celebration of the Washington arts community. With the President’s recent boost to arts funding in the stimulus bill and the First Family bringing attention the arts in the White House, the night’s theme seemed appropriate.
Then I kept reading – and viewed the blog’s pictures from the event – and thought, this isn’t the DC arts scene I know. Where are the 20- and 30-somethings? Where are the crafts makers, the DJs, the musicians, the small theaters? Much as we Washingtonians like to trot him out, the Shakespeare Theater’s Michael Kahn is not really a representational mascot for the local arts community – which spans well beyond a few big, well-known institutions.
The organizers of the event had the right idea, it seems, but the wrong guest list – one that narrowly represented the DC arts scene. Too bad, since apparently Michelle Obama was there – what a cool opportunity it could have been to introduce her to a broader cross-section of her new city’s creative community.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
wow, yeah, somehow Samuel Alito does not mesh with the mt pleasant/adams morgan art scene in my mind, either. oh Washingtonian, will you ever get it?
Laura – just to clarify, I don’t think this is on Washingtonian…they were just covering the event, not hosting it. But yeah -very disappointing not to see the rich arts community beyond Big Institutions represented.
I was lucky enough to attend the packed event. It was wonderful. There’s no way a single performance can encompass all of the region’s performing arts companies, let alone DJs and “crafts makers”. Duh, someone had to make decisions and winnow down the list of who could perform. My favorites were the dance perofrmances, from Step Afrika to the Washington Ballet to Synetic, and the childrens gospel choir was a great way to end it.
Michael, I was interested to read your opinions until you said “Duh.” Come on, now. But you’re right, one event can’t effectively represent a city’s worth of talent. I get that. I was just disappointed that, at least based on Washingtonian’s coverage of the event, the guest list seemed predominantly older and white. I was more commenting on the GUESTS not representing the arts community than the performance lineup. Still, with regard to the evening’s program – an event that intends to “celebrate Washington’s arts scene” could certainly be designed to showcase more than the performing arts, or have more than one stage, so my mention of craft-makers wasn’t as absurd as you seem to think. For example, why not a silent auction of work by local crafts-makers, painters, sculptors and the like to raise money for local arts nonprofits, or arts programs for schools?
“the arts are back”
thats the part that i find to be a misrepresentation.
is it really a problem to say that the “older” players in the dc arts scene who worked really hard and for many years get a bit of recognition as representative of Washington?
as a 30 something struggling player in the dc art scene, i certainly don’t have issue with that.
Good point Sean re: “the arts are back” (where had they gone?!). My other point is that this was an opportunity to really represent the depth and breadth of the local arts community to some very high profile people, including the First Lady, so it’s disappointing that it wasn’t a more diverse crowd.