Maine Artists Only

[rolanni]

A note from someone (apparently) from the Maine Arts Commission, posted down in
this thread reminds Maine artists that there is a "constituent survey" now in progress here.

Only Maine artists may play, but any Maine artist may play. Though the Maine Arts Commission leans heavily toward visual artists (let's face it -- it's easier and more exciting to point at a sculpture or a painting or a play and say, "Look! Art!" to Cultural Tourists -- than it is to hold up a book and say, "Look! Art!"), they do allow writers to speak as artists.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Filled it in, but as you say, not in their target zone.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Also, the MAC idea of "writer" seems to lean toward "poet" rather heavily . . .

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

This is true. I think it's because poetry has sorta morphed into a kind of performance art, and can thus be pointed at and Observed.

Face it, nobody wants to watch either of us sit in the window of a department store, staring at the screen until the drops of blood break out on our foreheads...

writing as performance art?

[(Anonymous)]

Ages ago, I was at a con where Harlan Ellison did exactly that. He set up a clear plastic tent in the lobby, and wrote a story in front of everyone, banging away at a typewriter and taping pages to the tent as he finished them. I heard that he sold the story, too.

Incidentally, while it was supposedly written "on the spot," I noticed that he had a big lab notebook that he pulled out and leafed through at times. I always wondered what was in that notebook.

Maybe that was a forerunner of the Storyteller's Bowl? We didn't have any web then...

Re: writing as performance art?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was me. Somehow got logged out...
Mike

Maine Artists Only

[(Anonymous)]

I have to say that it is great to see this feedback. The survey was not meant for artists only, or indeed Maine artists only, but really as an opportunity for anyone who has an interest in Maine's cultural scene to have a say on how we progress as an agency.

As a staff member at the Maine Arts Commission I can honestly state that we have no intention of promoting one genre of arts above any other but it can seem that way and feedback like what you are providing does get shared and taken fully into account.

The survey is a chance for views to be shared in a safe environment and I can assure you that all will be read, discussed and used to construct a plan to move the arts forward in Maine. We hope that we hear from many literary artists through the survey. To date, 56 literary artists have responded.

Darrell Bulmer, Maine Arts Commission. Darrell.Bulmer@maine.gov