Michael and Oprah are part of a marketing machine that has nearly taken over
every aspect of our lives. If "market dynamics" are now the same thing as
"societal dynamics", then we have truly surrendered our humanity and become
"consumers" first and people second. What was it called that we all studied
in college?.....Human..ities?  Maybe I am naive...or maybe it is just more
convenient and less painful to rationalize the status quo.  It is heroic to
exert where and when you can...that's about all anyone can do.  Thanks for
listening.
Frank
www.frankgregory.com


At 03:57 PM 02/25/2001 -0600, Jay Heuman wrote:
>Frank:
>
>        You are playing naive, I hope?
>
>> American society is, what we as Americans, make it.  To say
>> that things are "sadly, valid and necessary" is to give up any control
>> over our own destinys as Americans and human beings.  Our society is
>> ill and we all are responsible....
>
>        This is a gross oversimplification of societal dynamics -- and, I
>presume, you understand it is a gross oversimplification.
>        If Michael Jordan made visiting museums a regular part of his life,
>more children would be thrilled to "be like Mike."
>        Take Oprah's whole "beef incident."  She said she doesn't eat beef.
>Thousands -- nay, millions -- of Americans heard her say that and it
>affected the beef industry.  They initiated a civil suit, settled out of
>court (right?), so that Oprah would apologize and promise to never say
>anything like it again.  So, if Oprah said "Go to museums" people would
>listen -- including government officials who might consider increasing
>funding.
>        But me . . . ?  I can try to exert influence on my family and friends,
>but I -- as Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator -- have limited
>influence.  Perhaps you have more influence on society than I?
>
>> but back to my original question: What happened between then and
>> now?  What has happened, specifically, that justifies a jump from
>> donation to $12.00?  These museums survived since their inception
>> until only fairly recently...what happened?
>
>        What happened to justify a jump in admissions from pay-what-you-can to
>$12.00 for an adult?  What happened is that times changed.  Everything
>is more expensive than it was.  Everyone pays more in tax, everyone pays
>more for milk & bread, everyone pays more for all forms of education and
>entertainment (and "edutainment").
>        I will also point out that, sadly, the art world only recently became a
>publicly accessible forum.  Until one hundred years ago, give or take a
>few decades, most art collections were privately held, behind closed
>doors of palaces and chateau. I think it's a great development that
>anyone other than the rich can see such art collections.  That is why
>most museums have free periods . . . but museums cannot afford to be
>free all the time.
>        Let's face the fact, Frank, that the "Robber Barons" -- who helped
>found many of the grand museums -- were far more generous than our
>contemporary politicians who have voted time and again to reduce funding
>to public (and private) museums.
>        And, Frank, you seem not to have considered that not all museums are
>public?  Where I work, Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, NE), is a private
>museum.  We receive hardly any public funding -- limited to minor (I
>suspect, considerably less than 1% of the annual exhibitions budget)
>financial assistance for the occasional special exhibition.  The rest of
>the year, Joslyn scrambles to attract funding by selling memberships,
>soliciting donations, conducting various music series, etc.
>
>I think I've contributed my two cents . . . maybe a nickel?  LOL!
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
>Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
>342-3300 (telephone)     342-2376 (fax)
>http://www.joslyn.org
>
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