Arts program for TV and Radio

Name of program;  The..... ??,  Arts for the 99% ( We need to brainstorm a name for the program) I am proposing a ½ hour  a week with the audio version used for radio

The visual and performing arts, poetry, novels, stories & movies, give us new perspectives on who we are and who we might become. The arts reveal our humanity in surprising, sometimes delightful, sometimes violent and dismaying ways; they show us what we have in common as well as teach us to understand and value our differences. But the arts do more than this. As Howard Zinn has written in his essay Artists in Times of War, “…it is the job of the artist …to think outside the boundaries of permissible thought and dare to say things that no one else will say.” 

The world of the arts, like many aspects of our life today, has been infiltrated and corrupted by big money and corporations, and much of its direction, who wins and who loses, who has access and who is left out, is determined by the 1%.  Much of what passes for “The arts” in our current environment is really the product of or supported by big money; it features racist, sexist, heterosexist, and classist images and narratives that perpetuate our current systems of oppression. The 1% wants us to believe that we, as arts consumers, desire these images and stories and are willing to pay big money for them. Often what appears to be “art” that is supposedly what the audience wants, is really a product constructed by big money, to make big money, in response to mass desires that have been created by mainstream media.

Zinn, Howard. “Artists in Times of War.” Artists in Times of War, New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003. 14. Print.

Ideas for segments for comment or to add to:

1) Graffiti; is it art or vandalism? 

a) Film of graffiti around the Boston area

b) Interview with graffiti artist

c) Piece about this....Keep The Faith Magazine -  Paris man faces 10 years for graffiti in Boston and New York

d) Round table discussion on the question - Is Graffiti art or vandalism?

2) Go to Boston Center for the Arts and interview the director at Company One. This company does a lot of political theater. Perhaps show a segment of one of the shows.

3) Arts curriculum in public education 

a) Interview teachers and students

b) Film teacher who works with high school girls on poetry and talk with them about how it changed their lives.

c) Round table discussion

4) How are women depicted in the movies and in television

5) Slam poetry          What is poetry slam? | NPS 2011

6) Who owns the Arts?

a) A look at corporate sponsorship in the arts and how it affects what we get to experience.

b) What is free around Boston -  Visit, List Visual Arts Center as an example. Free days at other museums and the Minute man library service giving free passes to museums. 

c) What does the Boston symphony do to allow accessibility to those who cannot afford to attend? 

7) Book and movie reviews on relevant topics. Eg. Howard Zinn's, ARTISTS IN TIMES OF WAR. Numerous movies and documentaries, like INSIDE JOB and MARGIN CALL. 

8) Panel discussion on plays about labor stuggles and minorities. followed by a request for the audience to vote for which one they would like to see a live staged reading of.

Possible plays for discussion;

Can't Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones   OBIE winner Kaiulani Lee brings her solo show about Mother Jones to the Atlas — DC Theatre Scene

From The Fire - In the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, 146 immigrant girls, mostly Jewish and Italian, died trying to escape flames that roared through the upper floors of a garment factory near Washington Square. Trapped behind locked doors, many never had a chance to escape       FROM THE FIRE | Home

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Linda Carmichael,  Radio and TV work group