This Week In Art

January 08, 2009 - January 14, 2009

Monday night I joined a group of amazing women, UCLA students and a smattering of L.A.’s art world (including the beloved SMMOA's Elsa Longhauser) at Peter Sellars' UCLA class, Art as Moral Action: Creating a New WPA. Haines Hall was packed. I was inspired to join the class when I read in the syllabus: “As we continue to collectively reach a series of social, political and environmental impasses, it is increasingly the artist who is in a position to initiate the first steps on the road to a breakthrough.” It was the first day back to work after the long holiday (Happy New Year to all) and uncertainty about the economy was still dominating the conversation.

Sellars opened the class with the question “How do you do more without money?” He pointed out that the current systems for arts and culture (and seemingly everything) are unsustainable and we need to invent a new system for a new century. The reading for the course, which is about the inherent tension between “the powers of this world and the powers of art,” includes Gandhi and the Upanishads.

Looking around the room, most of the UCLA students seemed to be on their cell phones and cruising the Internet, (I had heard from a friend and UCLA alum that the class was known as an “easy A”) but as Sellars got going, the energy shifted. He told us that education is about discovering who you are, how to be courageous and how to build your own sense of movement and meaningful work. I kept comparing this to my college experience and found myself hoping that the students were listening.

With Sellars argument for a new paradigm in mind, I thought of how LAUSD, due to its budget crisis, has been forced to suspend its Arts Community Partnership Network and how Arts for LA is leading an advocacy campaign to help LAUSD identify programs with the greatest impact. Show your support by signing their petition.

And right before the Christmas holiday, MOCA announced that they had accepted Eli Broad’s offer of $30 million. While the board came under a considerable amount of scrutiny throughout the drama, they are stepping up to the plate. The museum has engaged the same firm that handled Obama’s online fundraising campaign for MOCA Now, which launched on December 23.

Finally arts leaders, the Mayor, politicos and Cheech Marin came on Tuesday for a press conference to announce that January is Arts Month in L.A. Throughout this month, organizations are giving away free tickets to performances, museum exhibitions and events to highlight all the cultural activities that L.A. has to offer. We will all miss sculptor Robert Graham who passed over the holidays. The Los Angeles Times called Graham “the city’s premier public artist.”

Filed Under: See Events Greater L.A.

Posted by: Bettina Korek on January 09, 2009

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