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Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Artsy Adams to Arts Community: “You Are The Worst-Organized Constituency Group in This City.”
Posted by on Wed, Jun 13 at 9:50 AM
City Arts and Culture Commissioner Sam Adams showed what he’s calling “tough love” to Portland’s 400 most influential arts managers last night.
ADAMS INTRODUCES THE EVENING IN STYLE…
Adams let rip his humdinger comments at the Armory Theater after letting the arts managers bitch for close to an hour about “problems” and “opportunities” for Portland to capitalize on its cultural capital. “You’re the worst-organized constituency group in this city,” he said. In response, the audience let out a collective gasp.
Adams says he wanted to show the audience “tough love.” It included people like Eloise Damrosch, the director of the Regional Arts and Community Council (RACC), and managers from the Portland Development Commission, among others.
Let’s see how his speech goes down…personally I’m expecting the collective release of a bunch of deflective statements about “process” and “community involvement” any minute. But it would be nice if those in the audience actually heard the criticism and made sincere efforts to respond to it.
Comments
Is there a transcript/video anywhere?
You betcha. Now, getting hold of it could present us with an issue. Anybody?
It's news@portlandmercury.com.
If you're anonymously trying to stick it on Youtube, we can probably give you some tips!
I'd just like to clarify, because some readers could be confused, that "the director of the Regional Arts and Community Council (RACC), and managers from the Portland Development Commission" weren't part of the audience but rather part of the team that worked with Sam to put this tough love event together. www.creativecapacity.org is owned by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and our goal is to bring the arts community together for better results. You'll get no "deflective statements about 'process' and 'community involvement'" from us! Let's DO this!
We'll get the video up today, I think.
Link? Send an email if you wish.
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Well, he said the arts are ONE of the worst-organized advocacy groups in the city. I imagine there's a careful list of all the others carved on his chambers desk.
But it's a damn big tent to live within, measured by the statistics presented; 111 organizations, over $2 billion in annual revenue, etc. There's no clear leadership, and its unclear how to define a leader, or a manifesto, or even a mission statement if we wanted one.
What we can huzzah is a politician who understands the business of art - and is willing and effective in advocating for arts funding. This is a rare treat.