AMERICA IS A GREAT ARTS PLACE

But what would it be in

A WORLD WITHOUT ART?
by
E. D. Dillihay

Imagine if you will a world where there are blank pages between
book covers, sheet music absent any signs of the bass or treble
clefs, musical instruments that lay dormant and people young and
old, their minds as blank as the pages upon which they stare with
dazed looks upon their faces for lack of any direction, education,
illumination or thought as there is no there, there. The breath of life
could not be blown into the brass or wind instruments. The fingers
could not tickle keys nor strum strings of heartfelt harps, tars,
violins, nor beat out rhythms to keep times pulse measuring the
suns rising and setting motion on the earth, the moon and other
planetary bodies within us all. Imagine a mother without a lullaby,
1

because no one has written or given her a song or melody to hum

and sing. Imagine again, if you will, the number of people walking
down the street and but for the lack of the instrument, note,
musical sound or high stepping drum major, dreamer or, imagineer
to guide them, there would be no glide to their stride nor dip to
their hip. There would be no extension to our walking because
there would be no such thing as dance. Imagine that if we wanted
to weave all of these things together between the covers of a book
or a play and there were no such things as letters to give us words
or the pen, ink or paper with which to transmit the ideas and
thoughts given us at the knees of our father, where would we be?
Finally, but not completely, imagine that we turn on the radio
expecting to hear the top forty; there is no music, because no one
has advanced such an idea. There would be, god forbid, no jingle
to sell hamburgers and no ditties to repeat as we drive down the
highways of life and no fairy tales nor campfire stories to recite,
because there are none. In the world of creativity, imagination and
art making, we all take these things for granted, because there are
2

the dreamers and imagineers to manifest such impulses no matter

how elevating or bizarre, so as to provoke and propel us to imagine
again and again. What would the world be without art?

We may forget nature and origin of the thought or idea that has
given rise to the thing we generally call the arts, but we do not yet
fully grasp the undervalued concept that binds us as we journey
through time and space. If we did not label what we do as the
arts, would the arts exist? For example, if I were a wood carver
and carved something a person and then people in my community
considered a product worthy of owning, what have I, as an
individual, spawned? Consider that first, I, the creator of the
carved piece of wood invested the power of creative thought, time
and energy into the wood. This mode of self expression is
something I was taught or inspired to do. Someone, who is not a
wood carver, felt compelled to want, own, and/or buy the carving.
They gave me something of value for the object. We participated in
the worlds oldest profession, trading. We interacted and created
3

commerce on a micro economic level. Others then began to

purchase my carvings and soon they were sold in other towns.
There was so much demand for my carvings that more apprentices
were hired and trained; more wood, tools and machinery were
purchased; and more people were retained to transport the carvings
to other communities. My carvings became famous and the people
in the town who made them gained a level of notoriety. Songs and
stories were written about my little town, while minstrel shows
toured the countryside extolling the mythic quality of my wares.
Soon people began to travel to my town to see where these
carvings were produced. The inns were filled. People needed to be
entertained, so the local musicians , dancers, singers and the like
created a festival to enjoin the visitors in ambience and merriment ,
while the chefs tastefully prepared food for the tourists to eat while
they shopped not only for my carvings, but for other delights they
now discovered in my town. In short people found value in a
product that spawned an industry. This may have happened
somewhere, but there is some truth to even this story when we look
4

at what we now call the arts as an industry, or the backbone,

catalyst, or stimulus for community and economic development,
trade, commerce and tourism.

Over the last several years, from So Ho to Las Vegas, the arts,
entertainment and tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of
the economy. Notice, if you will the order of the words, arts and
entertainment. Sometimes the word cultural is combined with
the word tourism to create, shall we say synergy, i.e. cultural
tourism. Does this tell you something? We should be informed by
this juxtaposition of not only words but of a growing reality.
Someone has placed not only a value on the arts and entertainment
sectors of a spawning tourism economy, they have discovered that
culture in various segments of our communities also have a value.
This has an effect on economic and community development.
Someone has picked up on my wood carving scenario after all.
Usually, in the popular Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon series of the
60s, the scholarly bespectacled dog Mr. Peabody as he is apt to
5

repeat a phrase coined by such a tale about wood carving to his

son, the boy, Sherman at the end of a tale, you have heard the
term; can we can carve something out of this? Dont worry; it was
just as dry then.

As we convene here today, we look at the arts, festivals and the

like, not as an art form unto itself and its creators, but as an
industry with all of its support elements. The arts, dance, theatre,
music, exhibitions, festivals, filmmaking and so on, if you will, are
collaborative endeavors like auto, computer, electronic, or farm
equipment manufacturing. The aforementioned art forms require
support elements and as such form the foundation for the arts,
culture and entertainment sectors of our community and act or
perform just like any other industry in this city, state, nation and
world. We trade all over the world in the area of what I term
culture economics. Culture is what is bought and sold on a daily
basis. Fashion, films, food, music, touring musicians, actors,
dancers, art exhibitions, cuisine and the like trade on each others
6

thirsts or need for expressive, creative contact with people. Look at

the environments being created in malls and the immense influence
of popular American culture all over the world. I am prone to say
that Los Angeles, for example, has the worlds largest creative and
culturally diverse community. One may even say that the world
lives in Los Angeles and thus is a veritable cultural goldmine with
a value far beyond the imagination of many. However, imagine we
must, not only in Los Angeles, but in Seattle and other cities in
America. Americas A Great Arts Place ! For, if we do not place a
value on what we do as an industry, others will and it is they that
will dictate the future direction of what we value in our culture.
Artists will create with or without the macro world of economic
analysis, customs or trade laws. It is the nature of the creative
individual. However, what also must be explored is the need for
the creative person to gain control over the products of their
individual self expression while the community continues to
sustain and support an environment conducive to creativity.

I once heard Dr. Allegra Synder Fuller, Professor Emeritus of the

UCLA Dance Department and progenitor of the Ethnic Arts
Program now known as the World Arts and Cultures Program at
UCLA state, and I paraphrase her, what we have in common as
a species is walking and walking is movement and beyond
movement is dance, which is the creative expression of an
individual and a community that communicates the story, history
and culture of a people. When I look upon the richness of people
at work and at play, they emit the essence of culture and creativity.
We are intrinsically creative beings, molded and shaped by our
environment as well as we mold and shape it. The continuous
molding and shaping of things does not come without a price,
commitment and hard work, perseverance and in some cases
controversy, but it must come nonetheless. It is the natural
progression of our culture. In short, we may not always agree with
what a creative person presents to us in the marketplace, but at
least there are a variety of creative expressions from which to
choose. Therefore in choosing to attend and participate in any form
8

of art, culture or entertainment collaboration such as a festival, we

are at the beginning of the exploration in a world with and not
without art. I for one know and believe that art is real and exists in
the mind and hearts of its creator, for if this were not so, those
who appreciate the completion of the art in the physical world of
economics, would not place such a value on its ownership.

Finally, imagine, if you will, sitting in the dark of a movie theater,

having just purchased a box of hot buttered popcorn, (and the
largest, most grossly overpriced candy bar ever) a hot dog perhaps
and a drink. There you sit awaiting the inevitable sounds of music
at curtains rise with an exhilarating and anticipatory excitement in
the air. However, this would not be the hoped for reward. You are
staring at a blank screen. Why, because no one could write and
actors could not speak the words trippingly off the tongue, sound
scores could not be composed nor performed, for no musical notes,
bass or treble clef led the way. Thus, there were no box office
receipts reaching the billions, because there were no audiences to
9

buy tickets to view an artless empty screen. No exhibition of the

arts meant artists were unemployed and therefore no industry,
community nor economic development simply because there were
no people to populate the festive atmosphere in the streets and the
establishments. This scenario informs me that I know art exists
because people participate with art daily. I am not one who makes
believe, I know that leaves are green. You may not notice it, but
when it is not there, would it then be a world without art?
ed dillihay 2003

This version presented at the Thornhill Summit, Seattle,

Washington Sunday, January 12, 2003 in the Langston Hughes
Cultural Center.

10