University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 15, 2005

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
Contributing Editor

Faculty members from UB departments that focus on the visual, performing and literary arts met Tuesday in the UB Art Gallery for the second retreat devoted to discussion of artistic expression and the performing arts, a strategic strength identified by the UB 2020 strategic-planning process.

David Felder, a member of the nine-member planning committee for the Artistic Expression and Performing Arts strategic strength at UB, said committee members have worked since early spring, collecting information from many sources, formulating ideas and developing a draft "white paper," a precursor to the one to be presented to the deans and UB 2020 Academic Planning Committee in October.

Faculty members attending the first retreat on May 5 identified strategic strengths in the arts and discussed funding possibilities and foci for the committee to consider and made recommendations on how it should proceed.

Department representatives attending Tuesday's retreat reviewed a draft of the white paper, offered criticism and suggestions relevant to its goals, considered the viability of funding proposals and discussed the way individual artists and departments might benefit from the implementation of the paper's recommendations.

The committee, which has worked steadily since early spring, includes Felder, professor and Birge-Cary Chair in Composition, Department of Music; Frank Fantauzzi, associate professor, Department of Architecture; Carole Ann Fabian, director, Education Technology Center; and Elliot Caplan, professor and director, Center for the Moving Image, Department of Media Study.

Also, Michael Basinski, curator, UB Poetry Collection; Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of English; Austin Booth, associate librarian and director of collections for the Arts & Sciences Libraries; Steve McCaffery, David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters, Department of English; and Stephen Manes, professor and chair, Department of Music.

After a discussion of the exceptional attention paid to a variety of scientific and medical endeavors at UB and the level of outside funding the sciences bring to the university, department representatives and committee members Tuesday discussed strategic opportunities for supporting artistic expression, nurturing cultural citizenship and planning for cohesion and continuity among a wide range of practicing artists and programs as cited in the draft white paper.

The paper itself offers analysis of the current state of the arts at UB, beginning with an assessment of its historic strengths, among them a legacy of avant-garde forms and vital progressive works by brilliant artists like the late composer Morton Feldman and the late cultural critic Leslie Fiedler—both once rebuffed, then lionized by the international community.

It also considers weaknesses in the arts at UB, in particular a need to restore strength to disciplines that, Felder says, "have been savaged over the past 10-15 years," and details methods by which this situation can be reversed.

Although the draft of the white paper indicated that the restoration of the disciplines must be the precursor to effective trans-disciplinary collaboration, committee members made it clear that the degree of such collaboration alone should not be the gauge by which artistic research and performance are assessed and funded.

It was noted that many artists work in isolation—former UB faculty member J.M. Coetzee, 2003 Nobel Laureate in literature, was cited as an example by Christian—and that without strong, individual work whose development is supported by deliberate administrative action, interdisciplinary productions may be no more than dilettantism.

The white paper elaborated on other prominent UB scholars in several artistic fields from the mid-20th century on; outstanding current programs, online and off, and the university's archival collections, which represent a rich trove of contemporary artistic presentation and performance.

The committee noted that traditionally, much public attention has been paid to exemplary work in contemporary music composition and performance and the literary arts. However, emerging faculty research and creative activity, particularly among recently hired junior faculty, focus on new areas of endeavor that suggest emerging artistic strengths at UB that should be broadly and deeply supported.

Among them is the field of "moving-image collaboration," art study, film studies, film and performance production, research at the intersection of arts and technology, text-sound performance, and theater and dance.

To capitalize on these strengths, the paper proposes a number of ventures, including a summer arts institute, a new national film festival and a new national initiative for the preservation of dance in America.

Funding for such initiatives, as well as for development of current programs, was discussed at length. Those commenting noted that some insist that art—particularly experimental art—is a "product" to be bought, sold and spun off into new businesses. They agreed that by its very nature, however, a pioneering work of art cannot be evaluated simply by the money it brings in or the size of its audiences.

Christian, in her foreword to the white paper discusses what art "is," and why it is different, creatively and critically, from other disciplines.

"It may be assumed," she writes, "that the raison d'etre for (research) institutions is the creation, application and dissemination of new knowledge derived form the application of the conventional metaphor of problem solving, compelling in scientific methodology.

"Yet art, by its very nature, is often resistant to that model and presents perspectives that may be more fully representative of the human condition as a totality."

This exploration of life and culture, Christian said, "addresses the deepest human realities, the most complex human emotions, and the radical human concerns of body and spirit."

The paper recommends funding arts endeavors at UB through an investment plan, including a central subsidy fund based on a 3-5 percent tithe on faculty and administrative costs across the university. This, say the authors, could be used to help leverage additional money from other sources. The university currently reports $33 million in such faculty and administrative costs. A 3 percent tithe would yield $990,000 for the central fund, according to the committee.

The total, it said, is roughly comparable to the cost of one or two start-up labs for new faculty in the scientific disciplines, and could fund large numbers of creative artists and their activities. The paper also proposed a strategic development plan for the arts at UB, and a more functional and productive partnership with the Center for the Arts.

Cort Lippe, associate professor, Department of Music, noted that the critical connection with cultural studies and the sciences needs to be fleshed out in the final draft of the white paper. That and other issues raised about evaluative processes, inclusion and other topics, as well as suggestions and comments from others present, will be incorporated into the final paper, committee members said.

The committee said it welcomes additional input from faculty members as it prepares the final draft of its white paper.

It was suggested that those who have not attended any of the retreats or planning sessions read the draft paper before commenting. Online access to the paper is available by contacting Fabian at 645-7700, ext. 2, or cafabian@buffalo.edu. Comments and suggestions should be forwarded to Fabian, or to Felder at 645-2765 or felder@buffalo.edu.