The Chicago nonprofit arts and culture sector is a $2.2 billion industry. You’d be hard-pressed to go more than a couple of blocks without seeing a theater, dance company, museum, art gallery, or some other nonprofit arts organization, small or large.
And yet I still hear about new ones popping up quite frequently. Given that, the community of artists and arts administrators is extensive, and diverse—it’s a bona fide place of convergence for the creative types and transplants from across the country.
So why then, with such a vibrant arts community, is Illinois the 29th ranked state in per capita spending on the arts?
The answer is a problem that plagues not just Illinois, but permeates through the entire creative sector on a national level.
When I first moved to Chicago after graduating from college, I wanted to pursue an acting career. Even equipped with my political science degree, I had very little understanding about the relationship of public funding for the arts, and the importance of advocacy.
It took a graduate course at Goucher College, Principles of Arts Administration, for me to fully comprehend the power and necessity of arts advocacy. Therein lies the problem: an information gap for artists on the importance of advocacy. A possible solution? Giving artists a more easily accessible entry point to advocacy.
Ra Joy, executive director for Arts Alliance Illinois, is one of the best leaders of advocacy out there. I sat in on a small group at the University of Chicago when he gave a lecture entitled, “Give Voice to a Creative State: The Future of Arts Advocacy in Illinois.”
There were number of takeaways—arts are part of the solution to many societal problems, can strengthen communities, and are a necessity, not a luxury—but let’s focus on what he called people power.
Advocacy is democracy in action; it is showing up, and raising your voice for something you believe in. The power of one is incredible, but the power of several individuals in solidarity can accomplish anything. The capability of a unified people should never be underestimated. Julie Hamos once imparted wisdom to Joy that he explained as “The Cockroach Theory of Advocacy.”
If you wake up one morning and see one cockroach, you will smash it and not think much of it. If you wake up the next morning and see two cockroaches, you’ll maybe smash them both, have a slight concern but forget about it. If you wake up again the next morning and see three cockroaches, then you’re probably going to do something about it, because you know there are more than just those three—it’s about all the little bugs you can’t see! If we get to our legislators by numbers, they will respond.
Let me also say that this is no easy feat. We’re all busy. The general withdrawal from the political process is a well-documented phenomenon, touched on by scholars from Alexis de Tocqueville to Robert Putnam.
If we create more events of awareness, and utilize social media better, perhaps we can find a way for more people to get involved. I wouldn’t characterize it as a lack of will, but just a lack of comprehension. Can you or I answer succinctly, what exactly, the entry points are to participation in advocacy?
As advocates we have to be resilient and persistent, but above all else, we need to stand together. We need to continue to raise our voice, while the seasoned advocates help guide those new to the world of advocacy.
We know we have the people power to make an extraordinary difference, but how can we harness the immense power of artists into one consolidated force of advocacy? How do we broaden the participation of artists in advocacy?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
