San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
‘ART NOURISHES US ... WHEN WE ACHE’
JENNIFER DE POYEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SPACE 4 ART
In Albert Camus’ novel “The Plague,” the contagion that will soon devastate the community is met with denial, even by authorities tasked with safeguarding their citizens’ safety.
“These rats, now?” the magistrate began. (Doctor) Rieux made a brief movement in the direction of the train, then turned back toward the exit. “The rats?” he said. “It’s nothing.” The only impression of that moment which, afterwards, he could recall was the passing of a railroadman with a box full of dead rats under his arm.
Artists like Camus help us pierce through the all-too-human habit of denial, which in ordinary times may impoverish — and in extraordinary times imperil —our lives.
All across San Diego, arts events have shut down in response to state and local directives. These are essential measures.
Yet during a crisis, the collective yearning for art is immense. Witness recent reports of quarantined Italians gathering on balconies in communal song. Art nourishes us, and never more than when we ache and fear.
Artists also yearn to participate in cultural events — for their stomachs and souls alike. Most artists live perilously close to the edge, working multiple jobs that are now disappearing. Artists are also teachers, gearing up on their own (unpaid) time for remote learning. Like other low-wage workers, artists can expect an immediate, harsh economic impact from the shutdown.
Beyond the economic pain for artists, the cultural shutdown will have a marked negative impact on the local economy. A 2017 study by Americans for the Arts showed that the nonprofit arts sector locally generates $1.1 billion in total economic activity. This spending produces $894.4 million in household income and delivers $116 million in tax revenue.
Over the coming weeks, this income loss will have a detrimental impact on our already imperiled economy. In response, governments, private donors and lenders should consider stepping in to support arts groups, said Louie Nguyen of the San Diegobased impact investment firm Mission Driven Finance.
If that support emerges, arts groups should use those emergency funds to pay artists even when they can’t do the contracted work — and to find ways to connect with virtual, socially isolated audiences eager, and even desperate, for consolation and community.
Artists will keep making art, whether they get paid or not. The Black Death inspired the Florentine humanist Giovanni Boccaccio to pen his masterpiece, “The Decameron.” Playwright Tony Kushner illuminated the HIVAIDS crisis with “Angels in America.” Camus’ “Plague” uses contagion to comment on that other human catastrophe, war; the novel is an allegory of French resistance to Nazi occupation.
Telling unwelcome truths is the highest form of resistance.
Arts-starved San Diegans may do well to consume works like these as they cloister at home. But let’s not forget to feed today’s artists, too — by buying artworks, giving tickets back to theaters, donating to arts groups, or sending gift cards to artists who teach our children to draw or dance.
There’s little doubt that COVID-19 will compromise San Diego’s communal well-being. In this time of need, supporting artists will give us all a much-needed economic and emotional boost.