commence the dialogue!
Last night I attended the "Political Party" at the Shimberg Playhouse (at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center) in an attempt to surprise my good friend who had to cancel our plans for the evening since he was informed that morning at work that he must attend the event. Well, dumbass ended up falling asleep when he had to come home to let his dog out in between events, but I'm still very glad that I attended the meeting and feel like I came away with something.
The question was "What can we do to keep the young artists in Tampa Bay from leaving?" The answers were very vague, they weren't directly asking the few 20-somethings in the audience anything and the panel wasn't particularly diverse. I'm still thrilled that they even made the attempt to address the problem, but I feel as though it could have been done better. I attempted to convey that to David Warner (editor of the Weekly Planet) in person, but between the horrible headache, me being a little pissy, and my shit attempt at being a bit demure in his presence, I ended up stumbling over my words and sounding like an idiot, so I promptly wrote a letter as eloquently as possible once I got home in order to counteract the horrible impression that I had made while at the event.
Here is the email that I had written to the editor (who was running the panel) and the emails that have followed:
Mr. Warner -
I was at the symposium this evening at the Shimberg Playhouse and I have to be completely honest, I was a bit disappointed. I felt like a good deal of the time was spent by people simply spouting off about their accomplishments and not enough time was spent asking how to get the community involved to create a warmer climate for young artists of all forms. While I recognize the fact that the target group is twenty-five to thirty-four years of age, I feel that if we were also targeting people even younger than that, it would be less of a problem to keep them from wandering to other large cities in hopes of bigger, better things.
The only way to do this is to make them feel as though they are more involved in the process itself, as well as providing them with better outlets and more spaces to work in. Affordable studio spaces would be a start, an attainable goal with a modicum of city subsidies. We need people lobbying the government on both city and state levels for more arts funding. When that comes up short, which is to be expected, we need to search for private contributors within our own community. If this particular age group has the funding and the space, they will not need to go anywhere else other than traveling a bit in order to tame their wanderlust. Half of my friends who have left the Tampa area have returned home because of two things: they ran out of money, but they also felt that their hometown has a lot of artistic potential. One thing that this area has going for it is the low cost of living, especially St. Petersburg, and that definitely brings people back here, as well as nostalgia for the place that they call home.
One thing that I feel The Planet should be doing is taking the step to diversify the responsibilities of the Street Team a bit more. If you could use them as an artistic and political vehicle to rally young people and get them involved in a more grassroots movement and not just an advertising campaign, I think that could really help encourage young people to be directly involved in things. It just seems like these people are there, and I know a few of the Street Teamers pretty well, and have a feeling that they would be thrilled to be utililized in such ways.
Jerry had a point when it came to mobilizing the different cultural groups in Tampa, particularly the large Latin population. It is fantastic that the Performing Arts Center ran the play, but what else can the city be doing? What kind of festivals can we put on to encourage the art and public recognition of the progressive thoughts from within all of these diverse groups in the Bay area?
If there is anything that you feel like I could be doing in particular, please share. I am very eager to hear your suggestions and I want to be as much a part of things over in Tampa as I am attempting to be part of in St. Petersburg. I'd love to see the gap between the two cities bridged. Perhaps you can alternate meetings between the two cities in order to encourage involvement from both sides of the Bay.
I truly look forward to your reply.
Laurel Dickman
And his reply:
Thanks for your comments, Laurel. I think we did lack a bit in younger voices, both on the panel and in the audience, but this was intended as the beginning of a conversation, questions in search of solutions, so your questions in this email are an important next step.
For us at the Planet, the event has already triggered conversations about future coverage, and one of the subjects we want to explore is the role of education in creating a better climate for art and artists. We want to look further into what elementary and secondary schools are doing or not doing on both sides of the bay to develop future artists and future audiences, and we want to explore more thoroughly the resources represented by USF.
As for the panelists trumpeting their own accomplishments, I'll concede your point part way, but on the other hand, I think it
The question was "What can we do to keep the young artists in Tampa Bay from leaving?" The answers were very vague, they weren't directly asking the few 20-somethings in the audience anything and the panel wasn't particularly diverse. I'm still thrilled that they even made the attempt to address the problem, but I feel as though it could have been done better. I attempted to convey that to David Warner (editor of the Weekly Planet) in person, but between the horrible headache, me being a little pissy, and my shit attempt at being a bit demure in his presence, I ended up stumbling over my words and sounding like an idiot, so I promptly wrote a letter as eloquently as possible once I got home in order to counteract the horrible impression that I had made while at the event.
Here is the email that I had written to the editor (who was running the panel) and the emails that have followed:
Mr. Warner -
I was at the symposium this evening at the Shimberg Playhouse and I have to be completely honest, I was a bit disappointed. I felt like a good deal of the time was spent by people simply spouting off about their accomplishments and not enough time was spent asking how to get the community involved to create a warmer climate for young artists of all forms. While I recognize the fact that the target group is twenty-five to thirty-four years of age, I feel that if we were also targeting people even younger than that, it would be less of a problem to keep them from wandering to other large cities in hopes of bigger, better things.
The only way to do this is to make them feel as though they are more involved in the process itself, as well as providing them with better outlets and more spaces to work in. Affordable studio spaces would be a start, an attainable goal with a modicum of city subsidies. We need people lobbying the government on both city and state levels for more arts funding. When that comes up short, which is to be expected, we need to search for private contributors within our own community. If this particular age group has the funding and the space, they will not need to go anywhere else other than traveling a bit in order to tame their wanderlust. Half of my friends who have left the Tampa area have returned home because of two things: they ran out of money, but they also felt that their hometown has a lot of artistic potential. One thing that this area has going for it is the low cost of living, especially St. Petersburg, and that definitely brings people back here, as well as nostalgia for the place that they call home.
One thing that I feel The Planet should be doing is taking the step to diversify the responsibilities of the Street Team a bit more. If you could use them as an artistic and political vehicle to rally young people and get them involved in a more grassroots movement and not just an advertising campaign, I think that could really help encourage young people to be directly involved in things. It just seems like these people are there, and I know a few of the Street Teamers pretty well, and have a feeling that they would be thrilled to be utililized in such ways.
Jerry had a point when it came to mobilizing the different cultural groups in Tampa, particularly the large Latin population. It is fantastic that the Performing Arts Center ran the play, but what else can the city be doing? What kind of festivals can we put on to encourage the art and public recognition of the progressive thoughts from within all of these diverse groups in the Bay area?
If there is anything that you feel like I could be doing in particular, please share. I am very eager to hear your suggestions and I want to be as much a part of things over in Tampa as I am attempting to be part of in St. Petersburg. I'd love to see the gap between the two cities bridged. Perhaps you can alternate meetings between the two cities in order to encourage involvement from both sides of the Bay.
I truly look forward to your reply.
Laurel Dickman
And his reply:
Thanks for your comments, Laurel. I think we did lack a bit in younger voices, both on the panel and in the audience, but this was intended as the beginning of a conversation, questions in search of solutions, so your questions in this email are an important next step.
For us at the Planet, the event has already triggered conversations about future coverage, and one of the subjects we want to explore is the role of education in creating a better climate for art and artists. We want to look further into what elementary and secondary schools are doing or not doing on both sides of the bay to develop future artists and future audiences, and we want to explore more thoroughly the resources represented by USF.
As for the panelists trumpeting their own accomplishments, I'll concede your point part way, but on the other hand, I think it