Back to Basics: It's About People
Arts are essential to our communities and the world. There is no question. It has been proven time and time again in many ways. The arts build resilience, strengthen civic life and advance dialogue. International arts partnerships connect us to our global communities and cultures creating a vibrant ecosystem that reminds us of our collective humanity.
Hop Executive Director Mary Lou Aleskie, second from right, is joined by heads of the four conservatories, including Anna Carli, president of the Rinaldo Franci Conservatory of Siena, and Eugenio Giani, the president of Tuscany, at a news conference. Photo by Sofia Pavan Macias
Arts are essential to our communities and the world. There is no question. It has been proven time and time again in many ways. The arts build resilience, strengthen civic life and advance dialogue. International arts partnerships connect us to our global communities and cultures creating a vibrant ecosystem that reminds us of our collective humanity. Cultural diplomacy and the arts are intrinsic to communication across differences. These skills are more essential than ever, given the divisiveness we are living with today. Now is the time to act to ensure basic freedoms of creative expression, preservation of heritage and ability to advance global connections through arts and culture. This sounds like a daunting effort but we have historic and current models to look to for inspiration and direction.
The founding of UNESCO post-WWII remains the most successful ongoing model for sustaining the international arts community. UNESCO and its projects have triggered a proliferation of global public, private and governmental agencies focused on the overall UN mission of security and peace with specific attention to education, sciences and cultural preservation. In short, for more than 80 years this UN agency has been addressing the advancement of the human condition by amplifying the importance of cultural diplomacy and the arts.
As an agency with its own constitution, it has prioritized through a series of declarations the protection, freedom and mobility of artists as fundamental human rights. It recognizes artistic expression as an act of courage that must be defended. The work of its members is grounded in the agreement that protecting artistic freedom and supporting culture are essential for building a more just and sustainable world.
Representatives of country members to UNESCO are typically Ministers of Culture. The US was a founding member, but without a Minister of Culture in our governmental structure and with shifting political views across administrations. The US has struggled to translate UNESCO's policies and achievements into commitment and action.
To fill in the gaps, the US has relied on globally engaged private foundations like Ford and Mellon; partnerships with NGOs like the British Council and other international agencies; and representatives across US commissions and agencies all coordinate through a presidentially appointed Ambassador and the US State Department. This distributive model worked well in the mid to late 20th century, promoting international artistic exchange, expanding US cultural diplomacy and amplifying American culture around the world.
At the same time, multi-national networks of arts leaders, such as the International Society for the Performing Arts, connect professionals to foster global artistic collaboration and expand access to artists worldwide.
Yet as our investments and support from US governmental agencies, private sector and large foundations are redirected towards issues of global turmoil, the US sustainability of our artistic commitment worldwide has been deprioritized and weakened.
The UN's founding nations emerging from war in 1945 recognized arts, sciences, education and culture as necessary to rebuilding and advancing a broken world. While domestic networks today may be shattering, what remains are the people—the people we serve; the people we partner with; and the people we support as we look to the future.
Dartmouth is a place where innovation, creative thinking, dialogue and empathy intersect to give us hope and opportunity for a better tomorrow. Universities are global institutions where knowledge moves freely across borders. What new strategies can be considered now in support of global sustainability and the arts?
The Hopkins Center has begun building pathways to international arts partnerships that are sustainable and collaborative. A few examples to consider…
The Mexican Repertoire Initiative supports musical exchange, commissions new compositions and creates platforms for sharing dynamic new works by Mexican composers. In just three years, the initiative has commissioned over 20 new works and grown to include a network of over 90 US and Mexican institutions where they have been performed. In collaboration with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), this initiative had a meaningful impact for renowned as well as emerging composers, and for students and faculty alike in both institutions.
Through an ongoing partnership with Tuscan conservatories, Dartmouth ensembles perform and co-create abroad in collaborative projects that began with the Conservatorio di Siena and have since expanded regionally, with growing connections across Italy. This collaboration fosters exchange and performance among Italian conservatory students alongside Dartmouth liberal arts students.
'We Are Water', created with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Indigenous artists and Icelandic author and poet Andri Snær Magnason, explores urgent questions: what is our relationship to water, and can art contribute to the sustainability of our planet? Understanding our connection to the natural world through the various backgrounds and traditions is part of the answer.
The result is not just a series of performances but a united force of scholars, artists, students and community members committed to ongoing action around Native perspectives on the environment, climate change and water.