As a general rule we don’t refer our readers to articles on the local arts scene by folks who write for what some view as the competition, but IndyWeek scores a hit this week with two columns, one on the erosion of affordable theatre space in the Triangle – on the closing of Common Ground Theatre and the shaky ground on which Sonorous Road stands – and the other on the possible loss of Raleigh’s Community Music School.
Available and affordable performing space – and not just for the theatre community – is, with adequate and predictable funding, essential to the survival of the arts we seek to serve. This is a point some of us have made repeatedly to arts councils and commissions hereabouts.
All arts non-profits always need more money than is available solely from these councils and commissions. And most performing arts organizations are not blessed with their own facilities (or with deals guaranteeing them their choice of space when they want it, often with subsidy); they never have enough access to available and affordable space. This has rarely been better articulated than in IndyWeek, in Byron Wood’s column, available here.
And don’t forget folks: we need to support ONLY the arts groups we want to preserve, so if one means something to YOU, your obligation is to GIVE TO IT.
The other worthwhile article in IndyWeek deals with the Community Music School and the possibility that it will fold if it doesn’t raise $100K a.s.a.p.
This is sad indeed for an outfit providing music lessons (and much, much more) to disadvantaged kids. Music specifically and the arts in general have long been the escape valves for kids seeking better lives. Look at all the great fiddlers who escaped from Russia to dazzle the world. And many are the fine professionals working today on national and international stages who got their starts with loaner instruments and fifty-cent lessons. Do we care? If we do, we need to reach out.
By the way, the articles that have appeared in commercial papers hereabouts have not bothered to tell readers HOW to give. Here is the school’s “donate” page: http://www.cmsraleigh.org/howtohelp/individual-giving/. And here’s Sonorous Road’s: https://sonorousroadtheatre.com/support-us/.
And don’t forget CVNC, which is a 501c3 non-profit online arts journal,
Years ago the NY Times campaigned at year-end to “remember the neediest.” Charity starts at home. If Sonorous Road or the CMS or your performing or educational organization of choice or CVNC matter to you, make a contribution. Now.