In Ghostlier Demarcations, Keener Sounds

There’s been some discussion about this NEA study which more or less says that fewer American adults are participating in “the arts” and that among those who do participate, the average age is going up.
Here are a couple key tidbits:

“There are persistent patterns of decline in participation for most art forms. Nearly 35 percent of U.S. adults – or an estimated 78 million – attended an art museum or an arts performance in the 2008 survey period, compared with about 40 percent in 1982, 1992, and 2002…

Aging audiences are a long-term trend. Performing arts attendees are increasingly older than the average U.S. adult (45). The aging of the baby boom generation does not appear to account for the overall increase in age.”

Undoubtedly, the data (which is arriving in full in the fall, apparently) is valid, and we know that this is a real issue.

Still, something to me is a little unsettling about using a term like “the arts.” What was included in this data and what was excluded?  I’m sure it will be fully detailed in the autumn report, and obviously, judgment calls are inevitable in something like this.

But what, for example, makes photography “in” and rock music “out”?  Isn’t going to a jazz concert more like going to a rock concert than participating in photography?  Or going to a visual arts exhibit?

Sometimes it seems like this kind of bright line drawing is more about reinforcing an ‘us versus them’ worldview than being useful.  I’m not criticizing the fundamentals of the quantatative work being done here, because I’m sure it’s sound.

What I’m pointing out is that what you measure is what you see.  If the NEA puts photography on one side and Cirque Du Soleil on the other side, it will lead a lot of people (particularly those in the arts profession) to see the world just that way.

This  is an excellent time in history to be blurring distinctions like “the arts” and “everything else,” not on principle, but because they may not be especially useful.  It’s a good time for listening and trying to pick up on subtle shifts and changes, as well as quiet little signals in the environment that things are not as you suspect them to be.

Put differently, as Wallace Stevens said, we may find “in ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.”

(Ooh, do I get to count quoting a poet as participating in ‘the arts’?  Woo hoo!)