A scene from the opera Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly (photo: Pittsburgh Opera)

At times we treat certain art forms as a closed set. Complete. We want our reliable standards and nothing more, nothing new. Opera has this challenge. Treating the creative period of opera as if it were behind us, we put it into a museum for preservation. Yet why do we resist the new in opera, while embracing new works in other arts like film, visual arts, and music? Composer Nico Muhly gives us reason to support the creation of new work. Yes, we have to preserve the masterpieces of the past and keep presenting them on stage. Yet we should also cultivate a creative environment that encourages artists to create within these great forms.

Read on for an argument on Nico Muhly as a case study for why we need our organizations and our audiences to be a part of the creative process, in “Nico Muhly, Dark Sisters and the Case for New Opera” (click here to read full article).

Anish Kapoor, Cloud Gate. Located in Millennium Park in Chicago. (Photo: anishkapoor.com)

Many arguments for art ground themselves on extrinsic impacts, economic growth for example, but for communities like individuals, the greatest impact is intrinsic. Just as we as individuals employ art to reflect on questions of substance and explore issues of curiosity and controversy, so too do entire communities find meaning, happiness, and collective identity through art. Yet not often enough do we value art in this way, and it is time that we should. Andrew Swensen writes, “Yes, art makes communities more fulfilled. And yes, a fortunate byproduct of that sensibility is improved economic prosperity. So let’s talk about making artful communities because of the intrinsic impact, and then be pleasantly grateful for the secondary extrinsic consequences that follow.” Fortunately, thanks to the shifting discourse of the 21st century, evident in integrated thinking of TED talks and with a little help from at least one neuroscientist, we may already be heading in the direction of a more unified view of artistic thinking as part of a healthy society.

Join us for our latest reflection on arts and society, “The Intrinsic Impact of Art on Community” (click here to read full article).

Flora (detail)

Artists are creative by definition, and interesting things arise when artistic imagination meets technological innovation. Kim Chestney has spent many years cultivating those intersections, and in this article for The Muse Dialogue, she offers a very personal look at her experience as a viewer. She writes, “I longed to be moved by a work of technological art. Call it interactive, 4-D or robotic — it didnt matter. I wanted to know if it was possible to fall in love with this new media the way I fell in love with my first Vuillard or Pre-Raphaelite. I wondered whether it was even possible.”

To find out whether it was possible for her to fall in love with technological art, you are going to need to read on in “Art + Technology: A Love Story” (click here to link to full article.

Join her as she explores this ever compelling topic, as she contemplates what artists intend in their work and what they and we have to say about them in her essay “Validating the Artist’s Intent Is Not Validating the Artist’s Word” (click here to read full article).

Paul Gauguin, Where Do We Come From, What Are We, Where Are We Going (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

The Muse Dialogue began with the idea to share discoveries on the arts, take risks in writing, and express a love for what art achieves for us personally and collectively. In the article linked below, Andrew Swensen takes a moment to explain the history behind the creation of The Muse Dialogue and discuss its guiding philosophy. We write this piece with thanks to all who have visited our articles and who celebrate art in the world.

Read “The Muse Dialogue, Our Tale” (click here for full article)

Take a moment to learn about artists and children committed to music, to learning, and to their community in Annie Gordon’s “A Day in the Life of El Sistema” (click here to read the full article).

Joseph Gaines as Pontio Pilato in the 2008 Glimmerglass Opera production of Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot, with Ryan MacPherson as Luzio (Photo: Cory Weaver)

Artists pursue a calling in a special way, yearning to participate in an art form often in the face of long odds for making a career of it. What is an artist to do if their calling is opera? Opera has faced some difficult times in recent years, and it is facing an uncertain future. Yet if it is to have a future at all, it must depend on those with unwavering commitment to realizing the form — to celebrating past masters and new works, and to bringing those creative expressions to an audience. Joseph Gaines, a tenor, seeks to serve an art form that he truly loves. In telling his story, we seek to both learn something about the form itself and about the admirable motivations of the artist, motivations from which we might all learn something even if we ourselves are not artists.

To learn of a good narrative about a career artist and to reflect on the nature of opera, we invite you to read our third installment in the opera series from The Muse Dialogue, “Joseph Gaines, the Story of Opera and of an Artist” (click here to read full article).

Johannes Vermeer, A Lady Writing a Letter (Photo: National Gallery of Art)

We are taking a moment to write on behalf of an important issue: proposed cuts to NEA funding.

In January I wrote an essay “On Politics and Art” in which I said: “When we want to enshrine our heroes, our fallen from wars and our leaders of the good and the right; when we want to inspire a people to action, to rise to our higher angels; when we want to commemorate all the best that this or any nation has been or can be, then we turn to that which can capture our emotions, our ideals, our aspirations. We turn to the art of the word, the brush, the chisel, the camera, the song.” It seems especially important to reiterate this sentiment now, because funding is at risk.

At The Muse Dialogue we have celebrated the rich varieties of artistic experience and expression, and in the process I have learned much about how important the arts are to communities and individuals — and ultimately to the nation as a whole. We have discussed classical music programs that serve children in communities of need. We have reflected on the beneficial relationship between the arts and businesses. We have looked at opera, poetry, and contemporary visual art; and through it all, the message of has been the value of art to all.

NEA funding has been so modest over the years. It reached a peak of $176 million in 1992, and now we look at $176 million as a distant memory and an unattainable dream. The 2013 funding level is $146 million. $146 million for a nation of 316 million and rising (US Census Bureau). Less than 50 cents per person, .004% of a total federal budget of $3.8 trillion. Despite the modesty of that amount, the House Appropriations Committee has just recommended cutting the NEA budget almost in half, to $75 million. The Americans for the Arts are supporting an NEA allocation of $155 million. I would like to see it even higher, but let’s start where we can — and act together.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (http://www.alvinailey.org/)

The arts add so much to life and the return on investment is so great that proposals to reduce funding utterly mystify me. The NEA has supported many things that have inspired for children, the future citizens of our country. It has supported artists who have given richness to our communities. It has told our stories. It has memorialized our heroes. It has prompted our dreams.

I ask you to write your legislator and support the preservation of NEA funding. The Americans for the Arts have provided a link for you to contact your representative and two senators easily and quickly, and you can click here to visit their advocacy page. Use their proposed language, or compose your own. The important thing is to let your voice be heard.

Thank you for your support of the arts.

-Andrew Swensen

Relevant Links:
Americans for the Arts

Americans for the Arts Fact Sheet on NEA Funding

Mary Cassatt, Woman in Black at the Opera, 1879

The future of opera has many considerations. It must respond to changes in financial markets, in audience tastes, and in the aesthetic direction of an art that has a 400-year history but that also remains productive with new works. Beyond that, it is simply one of the most complex and expensive forms to produce. Consequently, contemporary opera companies are dealing with a number of intersecting issues. How to present new work and find audiences for it, how to mount expensive productions of the historically celebrated repertoire, how to balance the budget in tough financial times, and how to honor the artists who pour their soul into their beloved work. The Muse Dialogue offers some thoughts on the situation, and shares the thoughts of Pittsburgh Opera’s General Director, Christopher Hahn.

Join us for  reflections on opera, its history and future, and even on the wonders of nonprofit finance in “The Future of Opera, a Conversation with Christopher Hahn” (click here to read full article).

A scene from the Pittsburgh Opera production of La Cenerentola (Photo: Pittsburgh Opera)

The Muse Dialogue turns attention now to opera and opens a series with consideration of the barrier of our own presumptions and misconceptions. Opera is among the longstanding art forms now in a state of transition, evolving as it faces the current era of the arts. One of opera’s challenges is surely our own notion of what it is, an often misinformed bias. Andrew Swensen writes, “Opera might well stand at the top of the list of art forms deserving your good-faith effort to dispel preconceptions. You might find yourself having what is perhaps the most frequent response of first-timers: “That was not what I was expecting.”” Along the way, we have the thoughts of Christopher Hahn, the General Director of the Pittsburgh Opera, and a reflection on Richard Wagner’s responsibility for one of opera’s great cliches.

Join us for the first in a series on opera: “That Was Not What I Was Expecting”: To Get to Opera We Must First Get Past Ourselves” (click here to read full article).