Bruner Loeb forum


Commissioner Lois Weisberg	BIO
TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY THROUGH THE ARTS NOVEMBER 14, 2003 COMMISSIONER LOIS WEISBERG’S REMARKS
Welcome to the Chicago cultural center, and thank you for inviting me to be your luncheon speaker. I doubt if you could have selected a person who has pondered the subject of government’s role in the arts longer or as intensely as I have.
I have always spoken with compassion about the vital role arts and culture play in enhancing the quality of life in our city, and the necessity for city government to recognize the important role of the arts in providing our citizens with services that are as necessary to their lives as any other city service provided with taxpayer dollars. City government to me is a huge corporation where the stockholders are the taxpayers, and while they do not look for a return on their investment in dollars, the people of Chicago do have the same consistent need for the delivery of city services in an efficient and timely manner. They also expect us to recognize and at least try to solve their problems in a humane, non-bureaucratic way. And I have observed that they increasingly want to have a voice in the governance of their city. Our role is to equitably provide the services they pay for and are entitled to, and to include them and their ideas in our planning processes whenever possible.
Many Chicagoans, especially those from our diverse multi-cultural communities, look to arts programs provided by the government (city) as their only opportunity to participate. And indeed, the diverse cultures that exist in our neighborhoods have created the many art forms that so enrich our city.
At the same time, the financial problems that plague our cities seem insurmountable and become deterrents. We become intimidated and sometimes immobilized. A person like myself, who heads a department concerned with the arts and culture, has to come to a budget hearing quite timidly, the last in line for public money, when, in reality, the arts are most needed and perform their most vital service when city resources are sparse and the economy is down.
While we realize, of course, that we are not the police department or the fire department or the department of streets and sanitation, there is not a day that goes by that we do not see some important link between the arts and these essential services. We know that our city's exciting cultural activities like the symphony, the opera, and our theatres, museums and dance companies enhance the quality of life in our city, but, at the same time, they do not reach the lives of all Chicagoans.
The co-existence of our rich cultural life with the culture of poverty should give us pause for thought. The arts and culture appear to be thriving in the midst of an inadequate school system, increased crime, severely segregated neighborhoods and a national crisis in health care, child care and employment. This is something that must always be in the forefront of our minds as artists and arts administrators.
The arts, above all, have the power to uplift human beings, enhance and often change their lives. The arts are a special gift we have been given. We must never look at that gift horse with disdain.
I've actually had two wonderful and special jobs in city government over the last 20 years, first as the director of the mayor=s office of special events and presently as commissioner of the Chicago department of cultural affairs. These jobs have not just been places where I go to work every day. Rather, my workplace has been a laboratory of culture and the arts where I can dissect and learn through hands-on experience how and when it all works and how it doesn’t, and, sometimes, what to do about it.
Recently, a city alderman called me on the phone and told me in a rather surprised voice that only that day he had discovered, athere are no arts in my ward.
I mention this because ten years ago, no alderman would ever call me to say that. Aldermen would call the other city departments or the mayor and say, “we don’t have a library,” or, “we don’t have enough low-cost housing,” or, “the garbage isn’t being picked up.” That is the job of an alderman in Chicago - to complain about the lack of libraries, the shortage of low-cost housing and overflowing garbage cans. To complain about not having art is tantamount to insanity.
At one time, the Chicago mayor’s office of special events was funded totally from the hotel/motel tax. That brought in about three million dollars a year. It paid the staff salaries and for all the free, public events and festivals we presented. I think it was during the summer of 1986, and I was at the Chicago blues festival, an event that attracted perhaps 200,000 people. I suddenly thought about the constant whining by our convention and tourism bureau that tourists didn't attend our festivals. Why then, they complained, should we spend hotel tax dollars on a blues or a jazz festival? I saw thousands of people milling about, and I had an idea. I told my staff to go back to the office and bring back all the festival posters they could find. Then I had someone announce over the p.A. System that anyone who was visiting from out of town could get a free poster if they showed their driver's license. Here is what happened - thousands of people lined up, we ran out of posters, and, worst of all, Chicagoans started screaming and yelling that they, too, wanted posters. I wanted to say, “these tourists are paying for your free festival. Go away and be grateful!” This was a mind-boggling, hands-on experience. I learned that: (1) tourists want everything; (2) so do Chicagoans; (3) tourists do not know how we are using the tax revenue raised by their sleeping in our hotel beds; (4) Chicagoans do not know we are not using their money for festivals; (5) always have proof of how many people attend an event in writing; and (6) order enough posters.
I realized then that our city officials had no intention of using Chicago taxpayer dollars for arts and cultural programs, but, I believe Chicago’s taxpayers should see part of their tax money used to pay for arts programs, just as it is used for schools and libraries. I want cultural services to be recognized by the government as a vital city service, not unlike keeping our streets clean and well lit, our garbage collected, and our citizens protected from crime and fire. When a policeman or a fireman saves a child's life, we are filled with joy. An artist can save a child's life too. Contact with one artist or arts program can deter a child from the lure of drugs and crime and even television. The arts motivate and inspire people of all ages and from every walk of life. Free cultural opportunities provided by the government are as important as public libraries which give out free books. Many people make a questionable judgment when they view cultural programs as frosting on the cake, or a “piece of cake,” or even the cake itself. Cultural experiences can educate, motivate, unite and inspire human beings. Cultural programs are not cake. They are the flour and grain that make the bread.
Providing money is not the only way government can be a creative force in providing arts and cultural opportunities that revitalize communities. My experience has only been with local government, and when I refer to government, I am speaking only of city government. In my opinion, state and federal entities are too far removed from the people and the daily life of their constituents to be effective as a creative force. Their best bet is to just give money and leave the planning to the local communities.
Government can, however, be very creative in addition to, or sometimes in lieu of, giving actual dollars. In Chicago, we: Give grants to both cultural institutions and individual artists; Grant free rental space in the Chicago cultural center for any other cultural institutions wishing to hold meetings, programs and fundraisers; Offer training programs in finance, fundraising, marketing and working with city departments; Operate a cultural network that meets monthly and invites all the city’s cultural institutions to attend and share ideas; Work closely with other departments such as the mayor's office of special events, planning and development, housing, the Chicago transit authority, the Chicago park district, the Chicago public schools and the Chicago public libraries; Utilize the services of close to 1,000 volunteers; Collaborate with other cultural institutions and individuals; Visit our neighborhood communities and include them in all major citywide projects; and Encourage city employees to become involved by helping to create our programs together.
Gallery 37, the city’s award-winning jobs training in the arts program for youth ages 14-21, is an excellent example of city departments coming together to create a program. More than ten years ago, this project was of such a large scope that it would have been impossible to get it off the ground without nearly every city department pulling together. The Chicago park district filled an empty downtown block and transformed it with plants, shrubs and flowers, creating a park-like atmosphere for our students to come together to work. The department of planning helped to raise money for the site preparations. The Chicago public schools and the mayor's office of workforce development provided funding for the young people who would become our aapprentice artists, and the professional artists who would serve as their teachers. The Chicago transit authority provided the students with bus and train tokens to enable them to come downtown. Nearly every city department from aviation to buildings, general services to sewers, transportation to water had a role in the creation of Gallery 37, and our partnerships continue to this day.
In 1975, I was one of those people who wanted to work hand in hand with local government. I organized a citizens group, friends of the parks, to advocate for upgrading Chicago's park system. With great dreams for citizen participation at every level of government, I hoped to start another citizens watchdog group for the Chicago transit authority. It even had a name - T.R.A. - Transit Riders Authority. I had read about such a group in new york city. Fortunately, it never materialized, because I quickly realized I could hardly handle one citizens organization!
By 1983, I had worked diligently for citizens actions groups - business and professional people for the public interest, the Chicago council of lawyers, friends of the parks - and so many independent political campaigns I cannot remember them all. I got tired of being on the outside, and so I became a government employee, mostly out of curiosity to learn what was really going on in there and how I might help government to be more accountable to the people it serves.
Since that time, getting government to recognize and value the importance of the arts to all citizens has been my passionate undertaking.
Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt, Jr. Stated in his book,"Public Money And The Muse -- Essays On Government Funding For The Arts":
As I travel throughout America talking to hundreds of business people and visiting the best and worst of those communities that either spawn or spurn growth, creativity and improved living standards, I recognize an important economic issue that has not been sufficiently explored. It is that the arts and economic vitality are linked in powerful ways. Almost without exception, I have found that the best places for locating business, for job growth, for commercial viability, are those communities that support their cultural institutions.
Likewise, the poorest choices for economic growth potential are invariably those places that cannot or do not nurture the development of the arts.
Business and culture are two integral, interdependent systems that are part and parcel of a thriving community. Without one, the other does not function optimally. Without both in place and working, the community is incomplete, in a sense handicapped.
In 1983, when mayor Harold Washington hired me as the director of special events, I had no previous experience in city government. The mayor had to spend most of his time fighting with the city council -- he didn't pay much attention to people like me. But, I did have to escort him to all the city's big events, like the christmas tree lighting and all the festivals. What I remember most is that the security around him was intense. His guards never trusted me -- and for good reason!
Once, when I first came to city hall and was anxious to do something special on the mayor's birthday, I thought it would be nice to surprise him in front of about 5,000 people at McCormick place, Chicago's convention center. I arranged for a huge birthday cake made out of fortune cookies. A bakery in chinatown had worked for months to create this monstrosity. As the cake was wheeled out, I realized the mayor would never be able to cut into it and I asked someone to bring me a hammer. Someone did, and as I went toward the mayor smiling with the hammer in my hand, I was immediately arrested and removed bodily from the stage because no one knew who I was.
Another time, I had arranged for yet another gigantic birthday cake with fireworks as candles on daley plaza for the 25th birthday of the picasso sculpture. Unhappily, it blew up just as the mayor was lighting it (and this was after his security detail had done a complete sweep for bombs) and the mayor disappeared momentarily in a huge cloud of smoke. It was a very tense moment.
Seriously, I was honored to be a part of the Harold Washington administration for 5 years. It was a very special time in the history of our city and in my own life.
Looking back over what has influenced my thinking about the role of the arts in the development of our own city, I think it is my experience with big public events and festivals that motivates me and provides a direction for the department of cultural affairs today.
Culture is an all-encompassing and, so far, undefined subject of growing importance to our citizens and to local government. Our mayor, Richard M. Daley, for example, has insatiable curiosity and enormous creativity. These two qualities drive him to provide the leadership that defines the culture of our city. People who may not think like the mayor are drawn in by his enthusiasm and find themselves eagerly participating as volunteers in many vital aspects of city life.
Almost 20 years later, I believe that free arts and cultural programs have attained a high degree of recognition and budgetary support, not only from our local government, but from the private sector as well. This successful partnership is largely due to the consistent support of the mayor and maggie daley. Today, the city of Chicago supports more free events and cultural opportunities than any other city, and I think this investment has been returned to the city through tourist dollars and, more importantly, through recognition by Chicagoans.
You may recall that in 1999, we had a very remarkable and well-publicized event in Chicago called Cows on Parade. Artists painted fiberglass, life-sized cows and they were strategically placed on the streets, plazas and other public spaces throughout our city. Thousands of visitors came to Chicago to see the cows and spent millions of dollars here. Later, a public auction of the cows raised over $3.5 million and the proceeds were donated to charity. Many other cities admired what happened in Chicago (especially the economic development part) and emulated our cow parade with buffaloes, horses, birds, pigs, frogs, ponies, flamingoes, ad finitum. One city, Beaufort, South Carolina, wrote a letter to Chicago inquiring if we could send them some of our cows for a winter vacation. They said our cows would help the citizens of Beaufort to understand how important it is to decorate the streets with art. So, we scraped up 30 or so cows from the people who had purchased them and sent them off to Beaufort. Everything that occurred after that is amazing and the Chicago/Beaufort cow adventure developed into a full-fledged relationship between our two cities. A letter I received from the executive director (and one of only two employees) of the arts council of Beaufort county will explain:
I'm writing to follow up on a fun little project: an art-o-mat gift from Beaufort to Chicago. The art-o-mats are former cigarette vending machines, now outlawed and obsolete, that have been creatively transformed into coin-operating art dispensers by Clark Whittington of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We began working with him last fall, and recently decided to commission two art-o-mats - one for Beaufort and one for Chicago.
I hope you know that our unique partnership has allowed Beaufort to think in bold, exciting, creative and grand ways- about itself and the world. It's also allowed me to think in bold ways, and to reach for what others might consider impossible. I credit our emerging lowcountry renaissance, a remarkable outpouring of creative ideas and fresh approach to community involvement, to our partnership with Chicago.
I believe that in this new century of globalization, it is necessary to forge relationships with cities in our own country (like Beaufort) as well as with cities around the world.
In Chicago, we must create the image of an exciting city, especially including our neighborhoods (because Chicago is above all a city of neighborhoods), engaged in a continuous celebration of itself. It is a vigorous celebration that brings our citizenry into the streets, into the parks, and to our downtown in a variety of ways that showcase our very diverse communities.
I have seen an overwhelming response to public events in our city. People come so happily and in such great numbers, people of all ages and all economic levels, that one does not have to do a study to know that an invitation to get away from the isolation of the television set, to be among other people in a community gathering place of the arts, like this building, and to sing, dance and eat in the streets, if you will, is much to be desired and could be, and one day will be, recognized as a valuable city service.
The purpose of all the diverse and far reaching activities that emanate from the department of cultural affairs is not to generate tourist dollars, but to provide the citizens of Chicago with every opportunity to grow in spirit and in knowledge. All cities, whatever their size or location, can use the arts to educate and change communities. Great cities value and respect the ideas and opinions of their citizens. Great cities encourage citizen participation. Last but not least, great cities must constantly reach beyond their own borders for knowledge and experience that will educate all of their citizens to become contributing members of society.