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If We Don't, Who Will?
by Robert Morrison in Winter 2005: The Advocacy Issue
Advocate, noun, from Latin advocatus, advocare - to summon or to call.
(1) one that pleads the cause of another especially before a court.
(2) one that argues for, recommends, or supports a cause or policy
You're busy with your career, pursuing your creative goals and dreams. It takes time, energy, focus, and dedication to hone your skills and artistic endeavors. With everything that it takes to make a living in the arts…why should you be concerned about arts advocacy?
Simple: If we don't, who will?
If those of us who are engaged in broadly defined artistic endeavors in this country do not care enough to engage in advocacy for the arts and to become advocates for our cause, why on earth would anyone else?
Just because we are already engaged in the arts doesn't mean that arts advocacy should be left to others - as if it is somehow beneath us, or not a part of what we should be doing. After all, every other group is out there advocating for it’s cause. As members of the arts community we must come together to advocate our point of view.
Let's look at one example. Who is arguably the most effective advocacy organization in the United States? The National Rifle Association (NRA). Why are they successful? Because they have guns? No! Because the NRA is an interest group that speaks with one voice for their issue. (Guns.) They may not always agree with one another. But, once they choose a position, the NRA community rallies around it.
If the NRA can be so effective with an issue that is not necessarily among the most popular in this country, what would happen if the arts community wereto come together and truly speak with one voice? The arts community can be justas potent a force as the NRA, with an issue that resonates with more peoplein this country.
Another example: just two and a half years ago the sitting Governor of New Jersey proposed eliminating the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA). Like most arts communities New Jersey's artists and arts organizations were collegial but rarely worked together on common issues. The threat to kill NJSCA, however, served as a rallying point. Under the auspices of ArtprideNJ, artists, educators, arts organizations, arts board members, parents, and citizens came forward to save NJSCA. Speeches were made from stages across the state. Well-heeled board members (who also are major contributors to political campaigns) called members of the state legislature to voice their displeasure. It became clear that an awesome force in the arts community had been galvanized. The arts community felt a sense of strength, and New Jersey's political leaders began to feel something they had never expected from the arts community: Fear.
The elected leaders of New Jersey realized there was a political price to be paid for taking on the arts community. As this sank in, the discussion suddenly no longer centered on eliminating NJSCA - it centered on establishing a permanent source of revenue so this issue would not come up again. Today, NJSCA is funded at the highest level in its history with a dedicated funding source. This is but one example of the powerful force and potential that lives within our arts community.
The lesson here is: A Political Problem Demands a Political Response. Anything that involves, power, policy or the allocation of resources will involve politics. And this includes the arts. We may not like it… but it is a fact we cannot ignore.
Advocacy is not something that you do. It is something that you are. Advocacy is not someone else's responsibility. It is all of OUR responsibility.
Advocacy is not an effort that is isolated. Advocacy must be embedded in EVERYTHING YOU DO! Every interaction with the public is an opportunity to advocate for and educate about the arts: every performance (through stage comments, playbill inserts and tickets); every installation (through flyers, handbills and displays); every lecture and concert (via talk backs); every mailing, and every board meeting (by understanding the connection between board members and political power). It is up to you to take advantage of these opportunities in subtle, clever and engaging ways.
The bottom line is this: What we want to have happen, we as an arts community must make happen.
In a quote often attributed to Robert Kennedy: "If not me, who? If not now, when?"
It is up to us.
Robert Morrison, CEO of the Music for All Foundation, is a nationally renowned music and arts advocate and philanthropic executive.
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