National: The national news media let
Donald Trump off the hook so many times during the just-concluded presidential
campaign. It was extraordinarily frustrating to see interviewers fail to pin
the candidate down on his slogan to make America great again. He used that
phrase, borrowed without attribution from Ronald Reagan, repeatedly without
being required to identify even a time frame, much less any measurable
yardsticks. A general consensus seemed
to emerge, without help or direction from the candidate, that Trump most likely
was referring to the 1950s, a decade when white male egos were unchallenged.
White men controlled everything and Father Knew Best. Civil rights were openly
suppressed, in many cases with the authority of law. Gays were in the closet,
women had healthier relationships with home appliances than husbands, and the
throwaway culture was perhaps at its zenith.
That consensus appears to have been
wrong. As the nominees of the Trump administration are rolled out, it’s
becoming increasingly clear that the era Donald Trump has in mind when he talks
of making American great again is pre-modern, perhaps even Paleolithic. The
presumptive Secretary of Energy is … Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who
wanted to abolish the Energy Department.
The foxes are no longer in charge of
the hen house. Wolves are replacing them.
• • •
 |
| Tavis Smiley |
National talk show host Tavis Smiley
was in Cleveland last week for a forum, "Courting Justice," that
among other things highlighted the harmful effect the high cost of fines, fees
and bail have on the criminal justice system. The forum, which was filmed
before a live audience at WVIZ/PBS ideastream, will be shown in two 30-minute
segments, tonight and tomorrow at 11:30 p.m. on public television. Readers
outside the Cleveland viewing area should check PBS.org their local viewing
times.
The show’s panel included Ohio
Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, Cleveland Municipal Court
Administrative Judge Ronald Adrine, Lakewood Municipal Court Judge Pat Carroll
and former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Yvette McGee Brown.
Nothing against the chief justice or
the Lakewood judge, but we can vouch from personal experience that Judge Adrine
and former Justice McGee Brown are exceptionally thoughtful and knowledgeable.
The forum was
part of a nationwide series. Previously aired segments were in Los Angeles [June] & Little Rock [Sept.] and are
likely available online through Tavis Smiley show archives at PBS.org. Local
sponsors included the City Club of Cleveland and the Cleveland Foundation.
• • •
Speaking of ideastream, we attended a
spirited public meeting there yesterday afternoon that addressed the way
Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the agency that determines which arts organizations
get funded from the county’s dedicated 30-cents-a-pack cigarette tax, may
change a core program.
 |
| Meeting of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Board of Trustees at Playhouse Square, December 12, 2016 |
At CAC’s November 14 meeting, held at
the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood, where more than $14.5 million
in grants was announced, public comments from two outspoken members of the
local arts community, helped focus concerns on CAC’s proposed shift in how
individual artists are funded. The comments, by CAC board member Gwendolyn
Garth and Donald Black Jr., addressed perceived inequities in the
administration of the
 |
| Joseph Gibbons chairs the Board of Trustees, Cuyahoga Arts and Culture; Karen Gahl-Mills is CAC executive director. |
Tension and concern over proposed
changes being considered by CAC as to how individual artists awards may be
handled in the future led to yesterday’s meeting being attended by an SRO crowd
of nearly 200. The normal 15 minutes reserved for public comment at each board
meeting had to be extended to nearly 90 minutes
as a series of speakers, almost all of whom were disciplined enough to stay
within their allotted three minutes, voiced support for the current system,
decried proposed changes that would replace the current Creative Workforce
Partnerships [aka individual artists awards] and replace it with new awards
that would be managed by an entity based outside the state.
 |
| CAC trustee, Steve Minter |
Of equal concern, judging from how
the audience regularly responded with applause to the public comments, were
sentiments expressing concern over how artists of color seemed not to find
favor in the awards process, and how some neighborhoods, including Glenville,
Hough, and Mt. Pleasant, were left out in the cold when public projects were
considered.
It seemed clear that the trustees
wanted to hear from the artist’s community, and that this was a dialogue that
should have been routinely occurring during the decade CAC has existed. Board
members announced even before the public comment that no decision on changing
the Creative Workshop Partnership program would be taken at yesterday’s
meeting. Following the public comment period, each board member addressed the
crowd, and the prevailing sense was that the board would be doing its homework
over the holidays before the next meeting.
While several artists of color spoke
about their frustrations or questions regarding the distribution of funds, it
was illuminating to see a significant number of nonminority artists also speak
to inequities and process issues that disproportionately hinder black and brown
artists. This first time visitor to a CAC session left with an appreciation for
the robustness of Cleveland’s artistic community, its energy and sense of fair
play, and the under appreciated role that public support of the arts must play
in any genuine civic renaissance.
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This last point was underscored by
the attendance of both former Gund Foundation president David Bergholz and
former County Commissioner
Peter Lawson Jones. Bergholz, who arrived more than
an hour early and led off the public comment period, set the tone when he spoke
strongly in favor of maintaining and strengthening the CWP awards and
challenged the trustees to find more money to support artists. Jones, who is
now perhaps the area’s busiest actor, did not speak; during his tenure as a
public official he was a vocal and committed champion of the arts and a prominent
spokesman for the tax that created what is now a strong contributor to the
Cleveland arts scene.
 |
| Dave Bergholz, former Gund Foundation President |
The next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees is scheduled for February 13, 2017 at the Idea Center, 1375 Euclid Ave.
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