Locally Grown and Produced – Art?
Dunkirk NY – During this morning’s reading I was struck by this article in the NY Times. As I read it, I couldn’t help continually substituting the word “theatre” or “art” for “food.” See if you do the same.
I think what strikes me the most about this article is that there are so many theatre artists out there, no doubt of liberal persuasion, who would agree with much, if not all, of the ideas contained in the article. They would be more than willing to stamp out big agri-business in favor of locally grown and organically produced food. Yet if you tried to make the the analogy that “big theatre” has more or less the same mentality behind it as “agribusiness,” you might find them more hesitant to agree or believe that change is needed along the same lines as the arguments presented in favor of locally grown food; i.e. locally grown actors and other theatre artists, locally grown theatre companies and arts organizations, etc.
DIet for a Small Planet
From Diet for a Small Planet to Fast Food Nation, agricultural activists have been at this idea that the politics and business practices of food production in this country have been detrimental to America’s health and to America’s economy. Yet only 3% of America’s food supply is provided at the local level. The same is true in the arts – the concentration of the arts into large cities at the expense of the rest of America’s artistic life has meant that only a very few can have a “healthy arts lifestyle” while millions get artistically obese on the sugar-laden and overprocessed products sold to them by television and large-musical touring companies. Continue Reading »
