Do you value the eyes that see or the art that is seen? Bill Gates makes his stance clear by arguing that donating money to preventing illnesses that can lead to blindness is much more important than donating money to building a new wing for a museum. However, this raises a question: should we cure the blind only to deprive them of ever seeing art?
I am not saying that art, recreation, and culture should be more valued than a person’s life; I am not even saying that they should be valued equally. I just want to bring attention to how quickly some people decide nonprofits focusing on the conservation of art, recreation, and culture should not be considered for donations. The problem starts when society views art and culture significantly less important than other nonprofits that focus on early education, housing, or public safety, like Bill Gates. Most people fail to realize that art preserves the roots of our culture. It is incorporated into early education curriculums because it is known to develop creative and problem-solving skills. It also holds the historical significance that can be used as a tool to teach the new generations. This is shown in the importance of upholding the Jewish Museum in Berlin: it reminds Germans of their mistakes, gives them a chance to repent for their sins, and prevents them from making the same ones.
It wasn’t until I read Bill Gates’ commentary on not donating to museums (linked below) that I realized how shallow I was. When our class was given the assignment to look over our group’s fourteen assigned organizations, it took me less than a second to decide that I wouldn’t even consider the art and cultural non-profits. Even worse, I shared that opinion to my group openly and without shame. I had forgotten everything that art had done for me. What shocked me was that I wasn’t the only one. The fact that the class had to be advised and reminded that they should consider art and cultural organizations shows that often, people too quickly decide that art, recreation, and cultural goals are not as important as others.
It saddens me to admit that I am a part of the problem. I started art at a young age and continued it at an art high school. We would always get assigned museum reports; and at the time, I hated it because it was just extra work. However, art inspires more art. Going to these museums taught me the history of the era and different methods of expressing myself in ways I could not with English. English was not my first language, so I always turned to art as an escape from the society that forced me to communicate in words. One would think that someone who was saved by art would want to donate to organizations that fight for preserving, researching, and presenting it to the public, but even I underestimated the true value art organizations hold. I hope this blog post can remind everyone that the earth without art is just “eh.”
This article Im sure is relatable for many other groups when deciding what organizations to recommend or not recommend during our presentations in class. I too felt an immediate judgement of arts, recreation, and culture based non profits as their contributions seem somewhat inconsequential in comparison to the grave issues other non profits deal with. However when seen through the dramatized lens that Bill Gates presents, it almost seems unreasonable not to fund recreational non profits when he spends millions on artistic and cultural pieces for personal enjoyment. Culture is considered one of five necessary components to all human societies. Thus considering its impacts; arts, recreation, and cultural initiatives should be held with stronger compassion than it currently is within society. Your own personal experience with art helping you find ways to communicate and express yourself is inspiring and shows the wide ranging impact that the arts have on people. I also find it a bit hypocritical of Bill Gates to discourage any philanthropic efforts at all considering he has the money to fund both the new wing in a museum, research to cure blindness, and then some.
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ReplyDeleteI found it incredibly interesting that you referred to yourself as "shallow" for being quick to dismiss some of the arts and cultures charities. Although arts and culture can be considered a backbone of society, it is not uncommon that they are overlooked. Like you, I was also quick to eliminate them in my group setting. However, I do not think that makes me or you "shallow". I think that a different way to think about this may be: Why are we so quick to dismiss the arts? Why do prominent individuals outwardly voice their opinions as such? Perhaps we as a society have it deeply engrained in us to prioritize more urgent causes. While I appreciate your use of Bill Gates as an example, I wish you would have dug into why we are so quick to do so rather than stating that we do. Additionally, I appreciate the linked article but I wish Gates' stance was discussed further to better understand how his thinking is like many of ours. Thank you for discussing this as it has been on my mind recently also!
Hello! I found your post especially intriguing! I agree wholeheartedly that arts and culture are very important and are often underrepresented in philanthropic activity. Back in high school we did internships for the last month of school, and so I decided to work at our local philharmonic. It was only then that I realized how much help the arts really need. Most of the work that I did was sending out fliers and emails to people on the email list. Although the musicians got paid, many of the people working behind the scenes were paid very little or nothing at all. The arts are dying out even though it is an integral part of the community, and so it should be seriously considered as a cause to donate to. Although it may not seem as urgent as blindness, for example, the people working in the arts are truly passionate about what they do and their goal to spread music and art throughout the community.
ReplyDeleteThe "Unknown comment" above is by Sara Baldwin.
ReplyDeleteI think Bill Gates is forgetting that progress and art go hand in hand. Art is the lens through which we understand the world. Dorothea Lange's photographs revealed to the world just how devastating the Great Depression was to Americans. Andy Warhol's soup cans made us admire the beauty we are exposed to in everyday life. Pablo Picasso's mural "Guernica" showed us the devastation of cities plagued by violence and fascism. Even the Berlin Wall, with its graffiti covered concrete, demonstrated the desire to have freedom from censorship and a wish for peace.
ReplyDeleteWe are able to see our history and our achievements through the art we create. It is through this medium that we learn about the issues and problems of the times, and the creative ways people fought against them. Bill Gates is right in the idea that eradicating disease is an important cause to support, but as Mayumi said, what happens once the blind person can see? What is the point of life if we do not enjoy it, but only survive it? Culture and art helps to better ourselves. It also helps us expand our worldview and learn about a past that may have been forgotten or ignored. For example, this summer I visited the National Portrait Gallery and saw paintings by artist Titus Kaphar. I attached a link to his online gallery below. The power of these pieces convey America’s history of whitewashing in a creative, clear and powerful way. A piece of art may be better at explaining a story than an actual oral telling. Galleries and museums give us a space to discover, reflect, have a dialogue, and discuss how to move forward, while simultaneously acknowledging the past.
To not support art is to not support creativity, which is dangerous, as creativity drives our society forward. Creativity is responsible for medical breakthroughs, space explorations, and architectural feats. But creativity is also just responsible for the “little things”, like helping us be okay and understanding our own thoughts and feelings. It helps us make sense of the world. Stifling it at a professional level through the evaporation of art-related charities and grants means the eventual evaporation of it from our schools and communities. Without this support, we can see a serious decline in not just the creative fields, but in all sectors of the economy, as creativity is a necessary component of every new idea.
I hope Bill Gates, as well as others, eventually sees the importance of funding the arts, as it is the best way to show us change and continuity over time. After all, the original Windows logo reveals to us where we started, and with each update to it, we can see just how far we have evolved.
-Hannah Walter
http://www.jackshainman.com/artists/artists-2/titus-kaphar/
I don't think you need to be so hard on yourself for overlooking the arts. I too, along with most of the class I’m assuming, saw the list of organizations that we had to choose from as our finalists and immediately disregarded those that support arts, recreation, and culture. I agree with Lillie in that I do not think that ignoring the arts makes you shallow. At least in my case, it was the opposite. My initial thought when sitting down yesterday to vote on my five finalists was to ask myself “Where can I help the most people?” Broome County is facing a wide range of problems as we saw in the needs assessment, so the answer to my question was an organization like Meals on Wheels. I voted for this organization because of the services it provides, but also because of the anecdotes from Francesca and Jenna. Both shared their personal experiences with the program and explained that it is the only way many of the people receiving the meals will get food. We are all incredibly lucky to always have food, but knowing that someone living very close to us inspires me to want to help. I agree that arts and culture are an essential part of society, but about your original question: should we donate to the arts only to have them never be seen?
ReplyDeleteGiveDirectly and its work in East Africa and Texas can provide another example of why we are so quick to write off the arts. The author of the article, Dylan Matthews, states that he has been donating to GiveDirectly since 2012. The organization initially focused on sending money to impoverished villages in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, but after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on Texas, they decided to extend their aid to the people affected by the storm. Matthews says that he believes donations should go to where our “marginal dollar can do the most good.” I understand that he means $10 in Africa will go much farther than $10 in Texas, but I also have my interpretation. We should give donations where they will do the most good. Now I am not saying that preserving the arts and culture is not good or worthwhile, but some people and organizations are in much more significant and pressing need.
When choosing my finalists, I made sure that one of them was part of the arts, recreation, and culture group. We should not just forget about the arts entirely, but if you do it doesn’t make you shallow, it might just make you a good person.
Here is the link to the specific article if you want a refresher:
https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/11/8/16480166/givedirectly-houston-cash-relief-hurricane
I found this post particularly intriguing considering the importance of the matter in our current task of narrowing a long list of organizations to just five. I agree with your statement that it is easy to fall into the mindset that arts and culture may not be as pressing an issue as other categories of non-profit.
ReplyDeleteI propose that our first intinct to dismiss the arts goes hand in hand with another relevant debate: when choosing where to place our money, do we rely on "head" or "heart"?
If purely following "heart", it is easy to feel strongly about organizations that fix societal problems that are visible on the surface. While these organizations are also productive and important, I believe that a stronger reliance on "head" allows us to attack societal problems from the source. Keeping the idea that the arts are a foundation in mind, I am able to view arts and culture with much greater value.
Honestly, I can relate to this a lot as well. I never thought of thinking about the arts as a place that would need donations or funding. I always think when I think of philanthropy as donating to people, homeless people, cancer, home building, etc. I never really consider art. But I myself love art so much. I always look at art as something that is not affordable to everyone to understand because it is not given to everyone, it is moreso a privilege. I don’t pay attention to non profit organizations that focus on art, which is so weird because my mom works for an arts non profit. Her organization goes into schools and provides theatre, art, dance, etc. to underprivileged students in the NYC area like you said “it is known to develop creative and problem-solving skills”. Art is something that does make such a great difference in many people's lives, and organizations not getting funding for supporting this says something about us as well.
ReplyDeleteI too overlooked many of the cultural and arts organizations during our group project, because I thought they would not be actually making a difference to anyone. However, that is not true. Art does more than just be a pretty painting. Art can help others in many different ways and shouldn't be something that we just naturally over look when considering organizations. Like a few others has said, considering the importance of art and its relation to history can be very powerful as well. Art does things for people with disabilities, it provides contextual history to things that happened in our past, and it is an outlet for people. So maybe to some it may not be as important as a cancer foundation, but it still is an avenue that can help people. My mother’s non profit works to do this goal everyday. Provide art to students so that they have an outlet to escape from their other socio economic issues. So art is more than just a pretty painting in a high end museum, it is something that can genuinely make a difference. This post made me consider how I too even go about looking at different organizations and the way I characterize my philanthropy.
Hi Mayumi!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post, especially since, when picking finalist organizations, we had to be reminded of the benefit of arts and culture charities. I agree that the arts are often overlooked, and that's why I strongly support the shift in schools to "STEAM" education. Like the popular STEM, STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, *art*, and mathematics. The choice to add art was a controversial one, as some believe it is not the purpose of STEM, but others argued that a strong education was incomplete without it. While both sides make a good argument, I think the fact that we're having this conversation is a win for arts education, as it is now at the forefront of our discussions on education. Still, I find myself siding with the STEAM side, as I feel the research supports well-rounded educations as setting students up for the most success. Besides, it makes things interesting and challenges different parts of the brain. This article published by American University explains really well why an arts education is important for success, even in science based fields: https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/stem-vs-steam
However you look at it, the arts stimulate the brain in ways that hard science doesn't necessarily do. Art truly is important to our understanding of society. What I feel many people miss is that STEM activities and learning naturally involve art. Whether it be language arts, social studies and history, or creative presentations, our technological advancements are made important through the art they influence.
I think we all have a story on how the arts have influenced us and helped build who we are as people. I know that some of my proudest achievements have to do with how my art has touched the lives of others. Art is so often a practice of empathy, and in my view, so is philanthropy. Since I was young, I've loved theater. I was also an avid reader, and being able to see myself in characters and put myself in the shoes of other people has certainly influenced who I am. These experiences have helped build me, whether it be as a friend or as a philanthropist. We can all be guilty of overlooking things, but by acknowledging it, we can really expand ourselves. If we can stand up and speak out about our flaws or regrets, that really is how we grow. Thank you so much for sharing, as it's clear others feel the same way.
(I thought I was signed in, but if not, that was Becca Marcus talking about STEAM^)
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