I hope you had a nice weekend! I ended up participating in the Open Studios tour and scored some really great gifts for myself and my family. One of the artists said to me, “I’m so grateful when people like you will come and pay for art right away.” I know it sometimes takes time to decide on purchasing a piece of art, however, I think artists these days are seeing more lookers instead of buyers. Even the people that like art are not valuing art enough to buy from artists. Buying a print at a big box store is not going to help your local artist. This story brings me to my main objective:
ap·a·thy (from Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
noun ˈa-pə-thē
: the feeling of not having much emotion or interest : an apathetic state
Full Definition of APATHY1: lack of feeling or emotion : impassiveness
2: lack of interest or concern:indifference
Apathy is becoming a concern for a slew of social issues, not just the arts. People are not speaking up and spreading the word about what they care about. Consider the U.S. government shutdown. If the majority of Americans wanted healthcare, why have we allowed the minority to shutdown the government?
I had mentioned before how a small percentage of arts folks wrote to Congress regarding the NEA cuts that were on the table. If we want the arts to thrive, instead of merely survive, we are going to have to address this apathy.
Not having time is an excuse. With social media’s ability to share something within seconds, that is no longer a factor. Writing a letter to the editor does take time, but writing a quick email does not. Technology has made it easy to speak your mind and share information that will advocate for the arts. Why are the #arts not trending on Twitter? Why isn’t #artsadvoc? Mainly due to apathy.
I will say that apathy may not be preconceived. I don’t think people set out to be apathetic when it comes to the arts. We simply are going about our lives. For any issue that matters, it will take people to come out of this state of mind, this state of not minding.
I hear so many complaints. Not enough funding. People not understanding the value of the arts. The fact that grantors continue to ask us to prove ourselves. Well, we might have created this for ourselves due to our apathetic state. If we had continued to promote, advocate, spread the word, speak our minds about the arts, we probably would not have such a big uphill battle to deal with now.
We talk about how challenging it is, yet, I am not seeing enough action. The other “A” word, “action,” is what will get rid of apathy. It will only work if the majority decides to take action.
Again, a quick, short list of what you can do:
- Retweet arts education, arts advocacy and arts news that matters.
- Share pro-arts stories on Facebook and other social media outlets.
- Send a quick email to your favorite media outlets.
- Newspapers by State: http://www.newslink.org/statnews.html
- Radio: Use Radio-Locator: http://www.radio-locator.com/
- Television Stations by State: http://www.newslink.org/stattele.html
- Tweet at your congress representatives about the arts.
- Buy from artists you know (or local artists) instead of big box for gifts.
- Join arts advocacy organizations like Americans for the Arts and add your voice during calls for action!
- Sign up and go to local business of arts workshops.
- Become more involved with your arts council or alliance.
- Wear arts gear to start conversations with people.
- Be a verb!
We can get the arts trending again. We can put to bed this apathetic state. It will take a big wave of action. The bigger picture is worth working on. It will make the smaller day to day a great deal easier.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Audience Development Specialists
https://www.buildmyaudience.com
“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart
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