Artslandia at the Performance: Portland Playhouse Nov/Dec 2014

PHOTO BY MISTY TOMPOLES. The Performing Arts Building at Reed College, completed in 2013, cements the college’s commitment to the arts. Why are colleges investing in arts facilities? The Times article, by James S. Russell, suggests two reasons. The ﬁrst is connection to the community: Princeton is making its new performing arts center and art gallery a new gateway to its campus by paying to move the transit center serving the university to its doorstep. The arts are good ambassadors, apparently. The second reason? The Times quoted Harvard Museum director Thomas Lentz, who argued that students “expect an advanced university to have an art museum as part of what they offer, especially in a world where the visual is so foregrounded.” Reed’s new theater also opens a new gateway to the campus, and Lincoln Hall has always been a meeting place for the rest of Portland and Portland State. And both local projects are student-driven, too. Reed has always had robust interest in its arts classes, and PSU has seen a 40 percent growth in arts majors during the past several years. Student interest in the arts makes perfect sense in a lot of ways. The arts involve “doing” in addition to “studying.” They are creative, not just mimetic. They involve learning and practicing a deep form of communication. And yes, as Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber argues, “We must make it possible for the human spirit to soar.” So, I’m all for the investment in the arts on campuses. But Chicken Little that I am, I have concerns, too: I don’t want the arts to hunker down in universities for the foreseeable future. I don’t want Shakespeare to be a language that only college graduates understand. Or for any modern painting to be incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t ventured into a college gallery. Or for the music of anyone not associated with Top 10 downloads to be obscure. These should belong to everyone. The arts are already close enough to being class identiﬁers as it is: If they are only going to survive at Harvard, Stanford and Yale, then that’s only going to get worse. I think the investments in new facilities at Reed and Portland State are overdue and exciting. At the same time, I believe the City of Portland should be investing in the rest of us. The libraries of great art, music, dance and theatre should always be open to everyone. So should workshops where we make those things ourselves, for ourselves and for our children’s children. Yes, this investment may help balance the deﬁcit of “soaring spirits,” and it may even create a temporary marketing advantage for Portland. But the arts should be about bringing us together, helping us develop shared values and narratives about our lives. Elite universities need that, sure, but the culture as a whole needs it more. . ARTSLANDIA AT THE PERFORMANCE MARCH | APRIL 19

Artslandia at the Performance: Portland Playhouse Nov/Dec 2014 | Page 27