ArtsJournal Blog: A NAMAC Intern’s Perspective
creative commons image by myuibe
From July 19-23 there was a blog conversation held on ArtsJournal that brought together 22 established arts professionals to explore the subject of creative rights and artists. This conversation covered a lot of ground in the arts world and dealt heavily with arts policy, a subject that was not given a tremendous amount of weight during my first year as an Arts Administration graduate student at the University of Oregon, and honestly it was a little over my head. While I was able to follow along with the conversation, I found it most helpful and meaningful to connect the conversation on the blog to my coursework over the past year and the projects I am currently working on here at NAMAC.
My work at NAMAC most recently has been focused on researching a NAMAC planning document published ten years ago called “Digital Directions: Conversion Planning for the Media Arts.” The project brought together seven working groups made up of media arts professionals across the United States to predict and prepare the media arts field for the impact of digital conversion (more info about “Digital Directions” can be found here). It has been amazing to see how much of what the working groups envisioned actually materialized in the arts world due to digital conversion. Their predictions ranged from increased audience participation (although they didn’t specifically anticipate the current obsession with social media, they did point to it) to changes in content production (like films made specifically for the internet, or even by users themselves; see my last post about crowdsourcing).
“Digital Directions” brought with it a call to action both organizationally and field-wide and helped ready the media arts field for digital conversion. In the ArtsJournal blog there is a similar call to action, but in reference to creative rights and artists. Justin Karr’s post about net neutrality and Bill Ivey’s take on copyright are both good examples of posts that take a tone of immediacy, that action needs to be taken now or there could be dire circumstances in the arts world.
Bits and pieces of this blog conversation tied directly to my coursework over the past year in the Arts Administration program at the University or Oregon, but admittedly I was lost in relation to some of the policy issues that were mentioned (although in the fall I am taking a class about cultural policy which “examines the impact of cultural policies and institutions on opportunities of the artistic community, on what art forms are made accessible, and on the general aesthetic welfare of the public”). The point that art students and arts administrators are ill-prepared in terms of policy issues was echoed in one of Bill Ivey's posts on the blog (and many others) who wrote:
“Not only do things like intellectual property, media policy, unions, performance rights, and so on not show up in art schools or music conservatories, they have precious little traction in arts management programs.”
Now while I didn’t study cultural policy through an academic lens in my first year, I did take courses on art's role in society and media management, which are subjects touched upon in this blog conversation. I particularly like Alex Shapiro's blog entry about, as she refers to them, “amateurs” and how embracing those that love art and art-making helps the whole art world in general. From what I have studied and as an “amateur” myself -- as a vinyl only DJ -- I see this echoed through our highly connected and incredibly creative art world that is made up of both professionals and “amateurs.”
Overall this ArtsJournal blog conversation helped me contextualize the ways we -- as both arts administrators, artists and policy makers -- can take action and shape the future of the arts. In the same way NAMAC’s “Digital Directions” provides insight into how digital conversion would effect the media arts field and inspired media arts professionals to prepare for digital conversion, I feel that this ArtsJournal blog helps frame the issues involved with creative rights and artists in a way that should inspire artists and arts administrators alike to be more involved in the overall process of policy. I highly encourage you to take the time to read through this blog, and if you are not familiar with cultural policy, this blog conversation will definitely teach your something -- and hopefully you will want to do something about it!
--
Daniel Linver was born in Toledo, OH but grew up in Albuquerque, NM, earning his Bachleor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of New Mexico. Currently he is an Arts Management Master’s Degree Candidate at the University of Oregon. Some fun facts: Daniel DJs (strictly vinyl records) as a hobby and was at one point the head brewer at the 2nd largest brewery in New Mexico.
