Political Art

Recent events in the political and arts spheres have made me want to briefly contemplate the connection between the two – how the state of our political and social climate is clearly reflected in the arts world, and why the answer to making the arts better lies in political participation. 

Before we start, I realize that getting involved in a political process that can feel broken beyond repair seems like a waste of time. In fact, I’ve often found that there is an inherent pressure for artists to “stay out of politics”. For some reason the two have been made out to be incompatible. If musicians get politically active they are sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, and alienating a portion of their audience by “picking a side”. However, this separation of arts and politics doesn’t reflect the truth. I believe what artists do, creating and reflecting snap shots of the human experience, is inherently political. The yucky word of “politics” is simply a description of how we as human beings govern ourselves and make decisions. It’s actually a really great thing! In a world where it seems like every news headline is screaming to not bother voting, I ask that you stick with me. It’s intentionally made to look daunting and wasteful. I promise that voting and participating is worth a try, even if it seems pointless.

The Problem

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are all artists. A massive part of being human is to want to create and consume art. However, only a very lucky few are given permission to do this as our main form of livelihood. The main determining factor in whether or not we are able to do this, is wealth. “Someone whose family has an income of $100,000 is twice as likely to become an artist, actor, musician or author than a would-be creative with a family income of $50,000. Raise annual income to $1 million and $100,000, respectively, and the stakes become even higher, with members of the first household nearly 10 times more likely to choose a creative profession than those from the second.” (smithsonianmag.com)

With current economic trends of wealth being increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small minority of the current population, the effect is an increasingly inaccessible arts world.

Source for financial info: stlouisfed.org

​The ability for us to do what we do is being gradually stripped away. It’s getting to the point where if I was born a few years later, I’m not sure I would be making music. That’s terrifying to me.
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Parallels in the Arts

In the arts themselves, we see this playing out in real time at the very institutions which gatekeep access to successful careers in classical music. All across the country, program cuts and layoffs haunt hard working faculty members while CEOs and Presidents take massive pay raises. One of the most emblematic schools of this problem might come as no surprise to you if you’ve been reading my posts. CIM (Cleveland Institute of Music) is a school filled with wonderful teachers and students, who are currently facing immense precarity in a deluge of firings and cuts under the leadership of Paul Hogle. The faculty senate at CIM stated it perfectly in their vote of no confidence, “President Hogle accepted a raise of $111,282 (26.3%) between the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years while simultaneously guiding CIM into its first deficit in 30 years and advising faculty that merit-based or cost-of-living raises would not be expected for several years.” (ideastream.org) Sound familiar? Actively siphoning off wealth, subverting worker’s agency, denying education whenever possible…

​To further underline this leadership’s disregard for its faculty, CIM advertised an opening for a new piano faculty position in 2023:

Source: slippedisc.com

Considering the kind of education they require, this was a blatant announcement of how out of touch leadership really is at that school. Although, with a salary of over $400,000, being out of touch doesn’t surprise me.

When I saw recent news coming out from Slipped Disc that Hogle and his executive vice president, Scott Harrison, had taken yet another raise in 2023, I wasn’t surprised. All I can say, if it’s not already glaringly obvious to you, is that this is an incredibly dangerous path to continue going down.

Source: slippedisc.com

​The situation at CIM is just a specific example. Look across all industries, you’ll see the same exact pattern. There is a clear parallel here between the accumulation of wealth inside and outside of the arts. The solution is political. If we don’t do something, our ability to do this as a living may be completely extinguished.

What can we do?

We need to remove the mental barrier that the arts are supposed to be apolitical. They are political. That’s a good thing! Artists should be politically active. If we’re not, we’re abandoning the fight to ensure that our craft continues and expands to include all people. 

As I’ve touched on before, in addition to shouting out organizations actively participating in making the arts better, I will be creating new resources for voting artists and folks who want to get more involved. Time scarcity is a wonderful way to keep us all complacent, and I want to donate a little bit of my time for those who don’t have it. Leading up to November, I’ll be doing a breakdown of Project 2025 – demonstrating exactly what the stakes are in this election, creating a how-to for registering to vote, and a guide on getting a mail-in ballot. If you have questions about these things, or just want to follow along with someone else through the process, stick around! It looks a little bleak at the moment, but we can turn this around together. Thank you for reading, and happy jamming!