ROUERT 13RUSTEIN
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voted to identifying and rewarding American "genius" regardless of race
or ethnic background, now has a largely multicultural agenda under its
new program director, Catharine Stimpson. As a result, of the four
grants awarded to performing artists this year (three to gifted people of
color), the only white male recipient is listed as a "theater arts educa–
tor," whose main qualification for genius was to have founded "a the–
ater company for inner-city children of Manhattan's Clinton
Neighborhood and the Times Square welfare hotels." This project is no
doubt of significant value, and its director deserves support, recognition,
and funding. But the question remains: Was this award given to a
"genius" or to a deeply committed social worker?
It is difficult to criticize this kind of philanthropy without being ac–
cused of insensitivity to minority artists . So at the risk of stating the ob–
vious, Ict me once again emphasize Illy agreement that there is no short–
age of truly accomplished talented individuals of every race and ethnic
background and each sex in the United States. On the other hand, I be–
lieve I speak on behalf of qualified artists of every race, gender, and eth–
nic background when I question the
criteria
under which such grants are
being awarded. It could turn out to be a serious error to reward good
intentions rather than actual achievements, to inadvertently create
another form of plantation paternalism, even for the sake of promoting
self-esteem. Self-esteem is rarely achieved by means of abandoned stan–
dards. It may also be delusionary to assume that all the foundation dol–
lars being poured into developing inner-city audiences are successfully
democratizing American culture. What we need is some rigorous docu–
mentation regarding the impact of these grants. My own experience sug–
gests that what typically attracts minority audiences to the arts is not
mass infusions of audience development money or even special racial or
ethnic projects. Rather it is the
quality
of the art itself
Whatever its success in the minority community, the new coercive
philanthropy is having a demoralizing effect on artists and artistic institu–
tions . The entire cultural world is bending itself into contortions in or–
der to find the right shape for grants under the new criteria. Like other
institutions that poorly perform the new calisthenics, my own theater has
received no money for its customary activities from Ford, Wallace, or
Rockefeller for more than four years.
The pressure comes from many directions.
I~ecently,
a report issued
by the American Symphony Orchestra League threatened the con–
stituency of this service organization with loss of funding if orchestra
programs didn't start to "reflect more closely the cultural mix, needs,
and interests of their communities." In order to accommodate cultural
