Federal Funding of the Arts

I just wanted to note on a couple of things going on locally and federally with regards to funding for the arts.

Here in Calgary, there has been a big push by the mayor to get increased provincial funding for law enforcement. A recent letter to the editor in the Calgary Herald ("Get Tough" September 19 2008) states one view on the issue (HT to Sean Perrin):

Overhaul the justice system so it no longer hugs a thug and starts treating criminals like criminals. They gave up their "rights" when they broke the law, so treat them the way they have treated the good people of our country. Build more jails and get the criminals in them faster and for much longer periods of time. How to pay for that? No fancy bridges, no high-dollar art in government buildings. Funnel all the money that is spent on art, culture and other non-necessary things. In some Caribbean countries, there is no leeway -- you break the law, you go to jail and you serve hard time for a long time. The penalties are too harsh to even consider breaking the law. We need a federal leader who will grow the backbone to seriously shake up the justice system. Come up with a budgeted, realistic and believable promise to do this, and you'll get my vote.

The view espoused here (to put it somewhat mildly) is that the arts should come second to other public goods. Some of this debate (and I believe the piece the author is referring to) has developed with the arrival of "A Device to Root Out Evil" in Calgary.

One of the questions raised by this debate is "What is the benefit of public funding of the arts?" Many have argued that funding of the arts is essential for preserving and developing a group or nation's idea of identity. In this sense, support for the arts supports Calgarians' sense of identity or pride in their city. (As a note, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research research group on Social Interactions, Identity, and Well-Being thinks that discussions of identity are often missing form policy debates and economic analysis. Issues of identity have been important in the Council of Europe's research on social exclusion.) Evidence from psychology and economics is that a shared sense of identity can increase cooperation, well-being, and more generally, social capital. In terms of public policy, increases in feelings of shared identity or community could reduce some criminal activity (through increasing the concern individuals have for others or reducing individuals' desire to eschew the law) and increase the productivity of public goods (by reducing the extent of free-riding problems).

Below is a video which takes aim the cuts to arts funding that have occurred under Stephen Harper's government. The message in this video is, I think, one of the importance of arts in preserving (here) Quebecois culture. A couple of notes on the video:

1. Michel Rivard is a a Quebecois singer-songwriter. He is one of the founding members of Beau Domage.
2. The French word for "seal" (the animal) is "phoque". It is pronounced f*ck.

An Introduction to Atonality

I was trying to explain atonality to someone. After failing, I found this:

Tradegy of riches

Right now, there are five double basses in my house. One is up for sale, one will be in a couple of weeks.

Writing a Fugue

Its been a while since I've written anything for this blog. Partly, its because I've been so busy with work and gigs. In any event, I have a couple of posts coming up soon on Stampede gigging (i.e., the Calgary Stampede, also known as harvest time for the musician, especially if you play an upright bass) and some biographies I've been reading on jazz players. Until then though, here are a couple of videos I came across while writing a couple of fugues based on songs by the Dead Boys. The first is by Glenn Gould, the latter by Daniel Pi.

What I'm Not Reading (to save my knees)

I'm currently sacrificing a book to save my knees. In a previous post I wrote about how I lock my knees while I'm playing (a result of nerves and habit I think). Well, this, combined with hiking, wrestling with my son, and yoga, have resulted in my right knee being in a lot of pain. I was told that the pain was, in part, due to locking my knees as it puts greater pressure on the knee. Now that I'm in a bit of pain, I lock my knee all the more when playing and then have to hobble away in even greater pain.

A solution: In trying to break this habit, I've been carrying Three Nights in Havana Pierre Trudeau, Fidel Castro and the Cold War World by Robert Wright to gigs and rehearsals. I put the book under my right foot. This forces me not to lock my knee, but rather have a small bend in my knee. (The book is about 300 pages.) As a result I'm taking notice of my knee-locking habit and, so I'm told, keeping a small bend in my knee will strengthen the muscles around my knee.

"The World's Greatest Bass Player"

I just finished reading Bill Milkowski's biography of Jaco Pastorius, The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius. I was a little skeptical aobut the book when I started reading it, expecting it to be a tribute of sorts, glossing over the sadder parts of Jaco's life. That said, I really liked the book. Milwowski does a great job detailing the life of Jaco and demonstrating how bad his mental illness really was. The book isn't at all hagiographic, but rather portrays Jaco as he was, a gifted musician with a severe and troubling problems. Part of the problem he faced was the way his behavior alienated everyone around him and the extent of his denial that he needed help. I found myself emotionally moved at times, experiencing anger, sadness, and frustration. Its a good read for any Jaco fns or jazz fans in general.



It got me thinking. I've always been a big Jaco fan. Following him, my electric basses are Fender jazz basses. I have one (a '78) that's been with me for years. I used to have a '69 fretless. I sold it when we moved to Canada and it became a significant portion of the down payment on our house. One of the first pieces I learned was Teen Town and in high school I was always chided for playing the opening of Birdland as false harmonics rather than following the bass line as written.

I remember when I first learned of Jaco's death. I was in college at rehearsal for the jazz ensemble. The piano player told me about it and we talked a bit about him. The band had a few (well, more than a few) purists in it who either weren't impressed by him or (in one case) didn't know who he was.

It makes me wonder what he could have accomplished had he gotten (and accepted) his the help he needed.

Levitt in the Blogosphere

I follow, very loosely, several blogs regarding economics and economic research. Given my past run-in with Steve Levitt (editor of the Journal of Political Economy and co-author of Freakonomics) I found this article interesting (originally referenced here).

There is a common question about the abuse of editorial powers in the economics profession, with a lot of gossip and stories circulating right now. On my recent trip to Europe, I was taken aback by how many people had stories about editors at various journals abusing their power or holding grudges against certain groups of authors. These stories have always been out there, but on this trip I heard a lot of very recent (within the last year) stories of editors behaving badly. It seems like we might be hitting a critical mass. Maybe some checks and balances will finally get implemented.