Hooray for Donna!

I don't want to be critical of a person finding her feet in one of the most important arts positions in Maine, but the language that Mr. Keyes has used to represent Donna McNeil is surprisingly oriented to individuals. It might have sounded very different to hear the words as a person sitting in a crowd gathered to hear Ms. McNeil: one can picture her standing at a podium trying to engage as directly as possible with the individuals sitting in the crowd. But when we talk about the arts in Maine and the role of the Arts Commission, how can we not be more engaged with larger groups of people: not only communities of artists, art audiences, and the people of the communities where specific art projects will alight, but the broadest notion of culture. The arts figure greatly in how people around the world picture Maine.

I understand Ms. McNeil's role to be a conduit that flows in many directions: advocating for the public audience as well as for the arts industry and the artists of Maine. Historically, our state has been one of the most eloquent voices in American art: we have produced far more than our fair share of major artists and we still do. We feature several very important museums and dozens of excellent galleries. Between MECA, Haystack, Watershed, Skowhegan - to name just a few of our institutions of arts education - Maine is extraordinarily fertile ground for arts education. We produce great artists.

I would like to see an Arts Commissioner who can reach across broad communities and help advocate not only within Maine, but for Maine Arts within the national spectrum and beyond.

I absolutely respect that Ms. McNeil wants to engage as many directly as possible, but I hope she targets expansive means by which to advocate for Maine arts. For example, we know that advertising dollars spent on portraying Maine as a cultural destination pay for themselves in spades. Let's hope Ms. McNeil can lead the way. She wants to take responsibility for being paid by our tax dollars: that's awesome. But that argument is a clear statement about turning those dollars into a wise investment. Listening to the individual needs of members of the arts community is a great start, but few Mainers are in the position to function with the voice of our state behind them.

We know the "creative economy" is a major driving force in Maine. The arts in Maine are not a vague set of hobbies: the arts in Maine are a major industry. It is a business that needs our backing and care.

I would like to see Ms. McNeil work for Maine arts on the broadest public level possible. That's what we need from her.

I guess I just love to debate Mr. Kany...

As an individual artist, I am thrilled to see someone at the helm who says to me, [I will] "come and see your efforts in the field." Who will speak to me as an artist, and not merely to the head of an organization where I've been fortunate enough to get some work shown for a brief period, for whom I'm a minor and replaceable cog in the "arts" machine. Who will engage with me in critical discussion, and not just in strategic "arts" partnerships with city councils. I don't think you understand how that feels. Time and time again, Donna shows up. She participates.

A great deal of state and national art programs are structured to the advantage of established groups and organizations. State marketing focuses on towns and regions and their little creative pockets. We've seen the growth of curators and arts administrators and non-profit organizations. But the bulk of individual artists, if not connected to an organization, are superfluous to the machinations of the art world. We simply, and usually invisibly, serve to provide product.

When you start speaking of Maine as a "cultural destination," I see busloads of looky-loos. If busloads of tourists want to blow through town, catch a show, pop into a few galleries and buy a t-shirt and a lobster roll and by doing so propel the "creative economy," more power to them.

But that's business, not art.

What I want is more participation, more discourse among the artists themselves. (The PechaKucha Night is terrific!) What I want in an arts leader is someone who recognizes the value of individual artists, and doesn't simply position "Maine Arts" as a marketing strategem. Sure, maybe I'm selfish. But I've invested a lot in this, and it's not always about the money.

Read Dave Hickey's "Romancing the Looky-Loos." S'what I'm talking about.

Hooray for Donna!

I agree with Kitkit. My point about Donna McNeil's representation by Bob Keyes is just that it's completely on a level of individual artists. By focusing only on that level (which she's not in reality), McNeil would be leaving out the concerns of the vast majority of Mainers interested in the arts.

I agree with Kitkat that we do need to see more community-building within the artist communities of Maine. For the incredibly high quality of the art produced here, Portland, for example, surprisingly doesn't have a robust intellectual arts community. www.Pechakuchaportland.org is doing a great thing and Space has in general really delivered. The Bakery Photography Collective has also done phenomenally well for its community and admiring public.

But the only recipient of state money to promote the arts has been the Convention & Vistors Bureau and they have gotten a pittance. When you start to realize they get over 12,000,000 hits on their web site every year, Kitkat, it might make you think that more resources and more of a focus on art could very easily start to reap real benefits for people like you as well as like me.

I admit I didn't make my point very clearly in the previous post, but it comes down to something like this: McNeil has challenged herself in view of the public to live up to the tax money she is getting paid. While the artists might like more personal services, Mainers in general are probably going to want economic results. I think promoting Maine as a cultural destination is a great and financially worthy investment for Maine (we get a huge return on every dollar spent) - I want McNeil to advocate for that. I think that will be the best way to deliver for all of us.

I want to be clear as well that I am responding somewhat in a rhetorical manner to the very limited phrases that Keyes presented from Donna McNeil. In some ways, I am trying to spark a discussion (who could argue with an Arts Commissioner who wants to listen to as many of Maine's artists as possible?) Of course I think it's great that she's going out to the public and starting a new listening campaign.

The more any of us can do to bring all levels of the arts together in Maine, the better: from writers to artists, philanthropists, galleries, collectors, museum professionals, teachers, professors, amateurs, art fans and those who want to get interested - and everyone else.