Have you attended an etiquette class? Do you remember that immutable lesson about salt and pepper — how the two are married and should travel together when being passed? Not only must they travel together, but they must also be called for in the same breath, “Please pass the salt and pepper.” You can’t have one without the other. The terms arts and culture seem to bear the same strict rule in this contemporary world. When we think arts, we inevitably think culture. Culture can mean a body of traditions from an ethnic group or it can mean what we consider to be the activities of fine dining or traversing museums and galleries.
There aren’t many words whose meanings are more elusive than “arts” and “culture,” yet they are spoken with an air of aptness, sprinkled like seasoning over economically tinged conversations, the effervescent bait to draw out the appeal, intended or lacking, of an area. This constant linkage creates a misnomer of sorts, leaving some confusion in its wake. What do we really mean by arts? What do we really mean by culture? And to have a discussion of the two in relation to issues of diversity, inclusion and economy, what is the intention? Arts and culture are not mutually exclusive, and it’s important to understand that art can have cultural relevance and there can be cultures that influence artistic expression beyond their inherent and surface textures, language, colors, etc.
After attending a public panel discussion on arts and culture in Indianapolis, I left amazed and baffled at the placation delivered by the “expert” panel, which failed to uncover the value of such a conversation to a room full of intelligent people of varying ethnic backgrounds, creeds and classes. Far too frequently we embark on these critical conversations like an old habit, without thought or intention. In a room full of young educated persons of color, the subject of arts and culture was broached lacking clarity or direction.
Thoughtful questions posed by the audience as they grasped for some context were met with gaucheness from the panel leaving one to question if the debate on the cultural or artistic value of a thing is ever to go beyond a barren rhetoric that encircles itself. Members of the audience inquired to the financial stimulus that arts bring to a neighborhood, and others asked about how cultures are being uplifted or displaced from communities. The panelist commentary was equivocally void with remarks such as “Indianapolis doesn’t have the capacity for distinct ethnic districts,” and “There isn’t data to support the equitable assignment or lack thereof of artists of color.”
For the sake of this read, let’s define art as creative visual representations of one’s imagination, and culture as human beliefs and practices. To merely brush over the value that the arts and culture have within a city beyond that of aesthetics is a terrible dismissive convention. Culturally rooted economies the likes of China Towns and Little Haiti are undeniable mores of rapid growth and retention behind many a metropolis. These discussions should showcase more than just artistic institutions that are “presenting arts groups,” like arts councils and museums, which are seeking diversity for quotas’ sake but also aid groups whose sole mission is ethnic inclusion and equality. Missing voices at the table seem to be those who advocate for growing ethnic groups. They, too, have a stake in the game in shaping the presence of cultural display in a city’s creative industry.
Indianapolis is host to 120 different nationalities, all with beautifully divergent backdrops, yet most are vastly underrepresented by way of public art or cultural vignettes. Often, Indianapolis is compared to other cities with completely different social landscapes, demographics and economies. People wonder how Indianapolis fairs in relation to Chicago, Cincinnati, Nashville and the like, but Indianapolis is Indianapolis — a conservative landlocked Midwestern city overflowing with talent against fleeting will for change. Indianapolis is vanilla, but the awesome thing about vanilla is that you can add just about any flavor to it and it will be amazing.
