Like many Oles, the Zoom room is not where I thought I’d be in January of 2022. Dreams of off-campus Interim study opportunities were crushed by a deadly virus variant whose name sounds like a Transformer action figure. So this month, we traded Washington DC and all of its in-person glory for virtual meetings and discussion forum notifications filling our inboxes to the brink. Louis’s enthusiastic parody of “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2, called “Interim Online”, is a testament to how wild this learning journey has been over the past two years. Imperfect, yes. But certainly not boring!
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a virtual “Democracy and the Arts” course. These pandemic times have made me doubt my plans for a career in the performing arts, and I needed this class to provide a little clarity or even some hope. It was one of our earlier meetings with guests from the NEH and NEA that revived my excitement for the class. When we asked each representative about their career paths, each shared that they did quite a bit of “zig-zagging” to get where they are today. And in every subsequent meeting this month, we heard the same from many guests. This notion of zig-zagging brought comfort to my situation, and I’d like to think that other students felt the same.
If there is one thing I learned during COVID, it has been to be adaptable. The Arts have had to adapt significantly; whether canceling events, going virtual or suffering great financial losses, governmental, non-profit, private and community organizations have all been impacted by this arts crisis. When Randy Cohen, VP of Research at Americans for the Arts, visited our class, he explained that the numbers tell a story; we as a nation deeply value the arts. For government officials with the power to intervene, research shows that funding and supporting the arts will spark our nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery. Throughout this month, we’ve explored how democracy influences the arts, and vice versa, at the local, state, and national levels. This has instilled in me that the arts are essential to who we are and our communities.
At the beginning of this course, Louis asked us to write in our journals about the consultation we were most looking forward to this month. My answer was the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, also known as our “nation’s cultural center”. I believed this institution would best represent Washington DC and its performing arts community. In our second week of class, I gave an introduction video presentation and blog post about the Center. Though it proved to have many social impact initiatives, my preconceived notions that this was the best representation of DC’s arts community was wrong. It was actually in our meetings with the Anacostia Community Museum and Attucks Adams Tours that I discovered “Washington” and “DC” and how the local arts communities interacted with the federal and vice versa.
In the case of the Anacostia Community Museum, a Smithsonian located off of the National Mall, the chief curator Dr. Samir Meghelli explained how he tries to balance his “politically neutral” role as a civil servant with the inherently political message of the museum’s mission. The Anacostia’s efforts are to preserve African American history and culture by documenting their historically underrepresented narrative in a museum. The museum’s dedication to community issues and local history show through their current initiatives to capture experiences through oral history interviews, collections of local DC art and documentation of the culture of activism. In the rapidly gentrifying DC, Tim Wright from Attucks Adams Tours, provided insight into Black Broadway and the minimal federal efforts to save its legacy. The most notable initiatives are the federally funded renovations of the historic Howard Theatre and the Department of Public Works’ MuralsDC project. The visits by Dr. Meghelli and Tim Wright made me realize how important it is for the federal government to work with a community to build up its culture and history, rather than work against it.
As a Music major, I sing in Chapel Choir, and I am on the Music Department Student Committee. Outside of the Music Dept., I am a member of the Music Entertainment Committee, and I am the Assistant Station Manager of KSTO Radio Station. Because of this, I can recognize the diverse communities of music appreciation on our campus and how exclusive the music department can be from the rest of the music culture at St. Olaf College. When the opportunity came to interview students in the “engaged department” assignment, I was excited to listen to my peers’ ideas on how the fine arts departments could attend to the world in more intentional ways. Throughout the project, I learned from my peers that COVID had been a huge barrier in connecting with the local arts and community members. Also, I heard ideas for more cross-department collaboration efforts and more co-creating spaces for non-majors and majors. Ultimately, each individual agreed that we are all responsible for making the fine arts accessible on-campus and in our community. As we come out of this pandemic, students have many thoughtful ideas of how the fine arts departments can better create and rebuild relationships with the Northfield community in an ethical and mutually beneficial way.
These interviews gave me a new understanding of civic engagement, my role at St. Olaf, and my part in the wider community. I am encouraged to work within my current student arts organizations to participate in more civic engagement opportunities and initiatives towards accessibility. This Spring, I look forward to pursuing a deeper relationship between KSTO, KRLX (Carleton’s radio station), and KYMN (the local Northfield radio station). I’d also like to collaborate with the Music Department Student Committee to create more policy proposals geared towards student musician needs. As I choose to continue my zig-zagging path in the arts, I will never forget the inspiration this class and the people we met have given me.