So Long Arts Support - 2

The Board of Directors of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival recently pulled the plug on its upcoming 2011 season and fired the Festival's founder Jessica Felix. Located in the Sonoma County wine country about 1.5 hours north of San Francisco, the 12-year old Festival had been a very popular series of concerts, featuring a range of popular artists like Charlie Musselwhite, Charlie Haden, Oscar Castro-Neves, Bobby Hutcherson and many others.

The decision has touched off a firestorm of controversy in the normally quiet town of Healdsburg (where I happen to live), raising questions about the Festival's financial management and artistic mission. On one hand, the Board cites a recent budget shortfall of $30,000 that had to be covered from their own pockets as the main reason for the restructuring. The Festival's programming, which featured mainstream, progressive jazz and many Brazilian artists, simply didn't generate sufficient ticket sales to cover its expenses. Even though Jessica Felix had nurtured the Festival into a respected and much anticipated annual event -- by musicians and fans alike-- the numbers simply didn't add up and the Board decided it was time for a change of direction.

On the other hand, many of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival's prominent musicians, donors and other friends have rallied behind Felix and proclaimed support for her to be reinstated. They note her vision in first establishing the Festival and her many contacts in the jazz world that have kept it alive over the years.

The Board sees signs of changing audience tastes and is considering adding blues acts and less adventurous jazz artists to make the Festival both attractive and financially viable once again. Jessica Felix and her supporters want to keep the artistic profile of the Festival intact and offer the public -- and artists -- more of what's made the event popular in the past. Stand by for news on what may be the end (or a new beginning) of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.

So Long Arts Support - 1

The French system of government arts support can be an extraordinary lifeline for festivals and centers for production and presentation…that is until the funding stops. Such was the case for IMEM (the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique / Bourge) in Bourges, France, about 2.5 hours south of Paris. Founded in 1970 by French experimental music composers Françoise Barrière and Christian Clozier, IMEM was originally known as GMEB (Groupe de Musique Expérimentale de Bourge). IMEM was one of the well-known Centers of Musical Creation in France. The organization encompassed music research, education, publishing, archiving and dissemination of electronic and electro-acoustic music. One of its major projects was the annual Bourges International Festival of Experimental Music, which attracted composers, musicians and listeners from around the world. The “Bourges Prize” was a highly competitive and desirable recognition for composers of contemporary experimental music: there was considerable financial reward as well as exposure at the prestigious Bourges Festival.

In 2009, signals were coming from the French Ministry of Culture indicating that IMEM, along with the Bourges Festival, would lose their annual funding and be closed down. A committee was formed and reached out to many of us in the international community who knew of the people and projects associated IMEB. They requested letters of support that would be directed to the Ministry of Culture, conveying the necessity of continuing IMEB and its projects for the good of electronic/electro-acoustic composers, performers and fans around the world. Over 2500 letters were received from 63 countries, but the Ministry did not change its mind. The support committee requested and received a second round of letters from the community, but the effort was not fruitful and the Bourges Festival was canceled as of 2010.

The long-term implications are not clear at the moment, but many people believe that this withdrawal of long-term government funding for established arts organizations and festivals is s sign of the future. Many of the remaining Centers of Musical Creation are working hard to solidify their presence in their local communities to avoid the next round of reductions, should they be announced by the government.

Americans in Paris

People don’t typically associate American culture with widespread acceptance by the French public. Most assume that French artists and consumers are not very interested in American art forms. However, there are some notable exceptions to this stereotype, especially in the case of American jazz. The French were first introduced to this new American art form in the early part of the 20th century, and jazz has gone on to become one of the most poplar musical genres in France.

In 1917, America was deeply involved in the First World War with many troops stationed in France. The U.S. Army asked a prominent African-American bandleader from the East Coast, named James Reese Europe, to form a jazz orchestra to travel overseas and help build morale. Mr. Europe assembled a group, including musicians from Harlem and Puerto Rico, and they arrived on French soil on New Year's Day, 1918.

The band, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, created a huge sensation among both American and French audiences. These concerts were among the very first instances of American jazz being performed in France. According to legend, Mr. Europe and his group played a concert in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris in October 1918. After the concert, the leader of a French military band asked to borrow the sheet music. He returned the next day, saying that he couldn't seem to get the same musical effects (slurring, bending notes, etc.). Europe attended a rehearsal of the French band and noted that, although the musicians executed the score superbly, the jazz effects were indeed missing. It turns out that the French musicians thought that the Americans had been using special, trick instruments to achieve their sound.

Today, jazz is very much alive in France. Both international and French jazz musicians reach their enthusiastic fans across the country via festivals, nightclub appearances, broadcasts and recordings.

French pop quiz

French pop culture from the 1960s has found a new home in the San Francisco Bay Area nightclub scene in recent years. The clothing, films and, of course, music of the era have attracted many local fans, including radio DJs at college stations like KALX and KUSF. Bardot-a-Go-Go is an occasionally scheduled event that features groovy French fashion, videos and pop music. Organized by local DJs and event promoters, Bardot-a-Go-Go is a swinging evening of fun and dancing that brings back figures like Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Jacques Dutronc, and Jane Birkin. Club-goers dress up in period outfits (or interpretations of 1960s pop fashion) and pack the venue of choice for a night of “joie de vivre” with friends and like-minded strangers. The film and video projections include scenes from classic and obscure French films of the era, with the iconic Brigitte Bardot prominently featured. Also shown are cult movies and early music videos, featuring French pop stars lip-syncing along with their latest hits. Throw in an old-fashioned psychedelic light show and the crowd is ready to twist the night away.

What is l'exception culturelle?

Examining the idea of French exceptionalism is important when studying arts administration, especially in regards to what is known as l'exception culturelle. Some historians, such as William Kidd and Sian Reynolds, editors of the book Contemporary French Cultural Studies, point out that France views its culture as an inheritance to be protected, nourished and promoted both within the country and around the world. There are two components of this view: on one hand, aspects of French cultural heritage - philosophy, literature, painting, sculpture, music, cuisine, fashion - are highly developed expressions of French identity. The refined, universally respected French cultural products within each field are emblematic of authenticity and influence. They are part of the French cultural legacy and should be studied, discussed and replicated within France and offered to all of humanity.
On the other hand, there is a defensive reaction to foreign cultural products: they are seen as invading, influencing or contaminating the French cultural landscape. Examples include domination of U.S. films, television and music in the international commercial sector. Add to this the ongoing discussions concerning what constitutes French cultural identity. There is an increasing openness to influence from other francophone countries, especially in African music and cinema, along with a willingness to reconsider what it means to be French. We can observe a confluence of these driving forces - promoting French culture at home and abroad, defending French culture from invaders like the U.S. commercial products, and evolving notions of French identity - in the formulation of l'exception culturelle.
The international negotiations in 1993 involving the World Trade Association (WTO) and the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) included European Union countries and the United States. France argued that cultural products and services were not the same as other commodities such as wheat or oil, and that there should be an exception for culture (initially cinema and television products) concerning tariffs and trade restrictions. Within the context of a number of powerful, economically engaged countries laying out agreements for free trade, France was arguing for an exception: they wanted trade restrictions for cultural products. The goal initially was to protect France's film and television industries from being overwhelmed by foreign (e.g. American) products. The French cinema industry was - and is - highly subsidized by the government, and the amount of French programming in theatres and television has been highly regulated via quotas to provide production opportunities for French media workers and adequate distribution of French products.
Ultimately France was successful in persuading other EU countries and the cultural exception was adopted-- it was left out of the GATT agreement, but EU countries were allowed to impose tariffs on foreign cultural products. Over time, the interpretation of l'exception culturelle has been transformed into one that stresses cultural diversity. By protecting any country's cultural production via quotas and trade restrictions, a greater variety of cultures will be protected and allowed to thrive in their home environment. By resisting the domination of one country's cultural products (for example the U.S. film industry) over all others, more and different forms of culture will be able to flourish.
Yet another interpretation of l'exception culturelle says that, unlike other products, cultural products should not be taxed and should be publicly supported via subsidies. The justification is that cultural products are part of a public exchange that contributes to the collective wealth, benefiting all citizens.
There are a number of criticisms directed at the idea of the l'exception culturelle: that French culture doesn't live (and won't survive) in a vacuum; that exposure to foreign cultural products can't damage or reduce French culture; or that globalization poses no threat to countries whose culture is not in decline.

Foreign Studies

When considering the educational pathways available for students wanting to be professional artists, arts administrators or other kinds of culture workers, it's useful to compare the differences between academic systems. The French education system is designed along different lines than the U.S., especially when it comes to preparing oneself for a career in the arts. For an artist or culture worker to survive in France, one must be prepared: gain acceptance to the best educational institution (a conservatory for artists or a university in the case of arts administrators), succeed academically and demonstrate one's skills publicly via exhibitions and internships, then use one's knowledge, skills and personal connections to garner support or outright employment from the public sector. The competition in France is strongest during the academic exam process (the outcome determines one's ability to enter into higher education and which system, conservatory or university, will become one's future academic environment) and in submissions for awards, publication and other forms of recognition. The “prize” if one successfully navigates the terrain, is either a government-sponsored job (with benefits) in a cultural organization, ongoing recognition as an artist via government commissions, inclusion in local or regional festivals, or a teaching position in the conservatory or university system. Note that in France these two academic systems are separate from one another: a student follows either the conservatory “arts training” program or university “research” track, and the choice very much influences which opportunities you may qualify for later in life. There are some rare instances of highly motivated students who attempt to pursue academic careers concurrently in both the conservatory and university systems - there are also some recent instances of conservatory/university partnerships - but these are the exception to the rule.

U.S. Art Abroad

When it comes to exporting our cultural products and values overseas, the U.S. has a mixed history of successes and failures. An example is the American Center in Paris, a privately funded and managed organization launched in 1931 that promoted American theater, music, dance and other art forms. Unlike the French government's international cultural mission, the U.S. has never supported a large-scale effort to make American culture available to people living elsewhere. Why? One reason is that America expects the private sector to support art making and distribution. Our film studios, record labels, etc. are corporate owners of commercial art - it is their responsibility to export U.S. cultural products and reap the profits that come with them.

The American Center was a popular and trendy spot in the '60s, '70s and '80s. The organization survived for some time using donations, but in the 1990s they made the mistake of relocating to a dramatic, Frank Gehry-designed building in Paris' seldom-visited Bercy district. At a cost of 41 million dollars, the new building depleted all of the American Center's reserves, leaving nothing for programming art events. The hoped for increases in private support never materialized, and the American Center shut down its operation in 1996 and sold the property.

Road Show

San Francisco's de Young Museum is currently presenting a major collection of Impressionist works on loan from a French museum. The exhibition, Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay, lists the Bank of America as a Presenting Partner. Of course, the Musée d'Orsay itself is also thanked for their loan of the works in this show. The Musée d'Orsay is a national museum under the authority of the French Ministry of Culture. Employees of the museum work for the government, and their operating budget is part of the overall national support system for the arts. The idea of an exhibition of major works from France coming to the U.S. is not necessarily new (the Mona Lisa visited Washington D.C. in the 1960s), but the presence of this exhibition actually operates on several levels. First, the French Ministry of Culture has recently demonstrated an enhanced commitment to bringing collections of French art to other countries. Part of the goal is to offer people a chance to appreciate works they might not otherwise have the opportunity see in person. The project also promotes “soft diplomacy,” the export of French tradition and values to other nations. There are opportunities around exhibitions such as this to celebrate French culture in general, with special lectures, dining events, and so forth. Like the U.S. State Department, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs is always looking for ways to promote its values and influence. Traveling art shows are sometimes more than they might seem at first glance: they present masterpieces from the history of French art while furthering the goals of the French government's mission to broaden the reach and impact of French culture.