Last night I was honored to deliver the keynote speech for a wonderful organization called Cityarts at its 2024 annual gala dinner. Here is the text of that speech:
So what is a guy who’s spent 30 years producing TV news… with a two-year hiatus to be a “diplomat” … doing as the keynote speaker at an annual fundraiser for an arts program?
Between the fires and muggings I covered for years in local news, then the political battles and environmental disasters of national news, and then the ups and downs of several booms and busts in financial news… where did I or anyone like me ever get an appreciation for the arts???
No, I’m not going to say that appreciation came from those occasional CNBC stories about billionaires overpaying for Picasso’s or Rembrandt’s that they inevitably display in irresponsible places or put their fingers through and deface!
But what I will say is that my appreciation for the arts has sprouted from what everyone knows is the biggest media bias of all.
No, it’s not liberalism or conservatism. It’s not even the New York/D.C.-geographic bias.
But the bias that dominates our news industry, not just now, but maybe since the time of the cave drawings, is the bias in favor of negative, divisive, and downright scary stories.
No matter how hard I’ve tried to teach my staffers over the years how to cover positive stories more compellingly. No matter how hard I’ve worked to get the channels I worked for to reject fear-mongering… I’ve never been able to say I’ve won more battles than I’ve lost.
The good news… pun intended… is that the battle I lost in my professional life has been won outside of work. Because I keep realizing time after time that the arts, and specifically tangible ART WORK, is the antidote to not only the sad and scary stories out in the world, but the people who keep promoting them like I did for so many years.
The reason is art is the ultimate INVESTMENT. But I don’t mean that in terms of money and fame.
Oh, and by the way, for the folks here who are really looking for a life path that ISN’T about money and fame… I mean sometimes NO MONEY AND NO FAME… the ARTS could REALLY be the career choice for YOU!
But all kidding aside, art is the ultimate personal investment. The artist not only puts something very much of him or herself into every piece, but it’s something that even he or she can’t truly duplicate at a later time. Art is the ORIGINAL NFT!
And because art, whether it’s put together solo or as part of a collaborative effort, is the ultimate personal investment of the artist, it has a power to create, restore, and preserve the most important elements needed for humanity to thrive.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to the news for a second. When I got into the news business in the early 1990s, a serious debate was going on in America about what to do about funding art and music education in public schools.
Now that “debate” on a financial level is still a problem. We surely haven’t solved the challenge of making sure there is enough money and other resources for art and music classes and activities in our schools.
But I’ve looked at this carefully, as a journalist and as a parent, over the last decade and I’m happy to say that NO ONE is arguing anymore about the VALUE of music and art classes. We still have debates about what the curriculum should be and again HOW to fund it… but the folks who used to say arts and music weren’t important in schools simply don’t have a large following anymore.
That’s the good news.
But the even better news is still eluding a lot of the American and world public. Because I’m guessing that even most of the people in this room are unfamiliar with just how much artists and artistic institutions are revitalizing some of the most forgotten and forsaken corners of our country and countries all over the world.
Okay, maybe some of us older attendees remember and know what artists did to make New York City neighborhoods like SoHo and Williamsburg not only viable again, but among the most desirable addresses in the city.
Fewer of you may know that the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia was in disrepair in the late 1970s, when a humble new mom founded the Savannah College of Art & Design and began to use that city as a living classroom and studio. It is a true jewel of America today because of that school and its students and instructors.
The movie “Field of Dreams” brought us the phrase “If you build it, he will come.” What we know now is that “If the artists go first, everyone else will come!”
But there I go again, making art all about finances in a way. It goes way beyond real estate prices and gentrification.
Art also creates value in promoting the ever-more-rare commodity known as original HUMAN thought. When was the last time you really saw a public exchange of HUMAN IDEAS in society. Not protests. Not insult fests on social media. But the unveiling and exhibition of THOUGHT?
The answer may be: the last time you viewed works of art. Because what is art other than the tangible or audio/visual manifestations of the artist’s HUMAN thought?
Some of you may know EXACTLY where I’m going when I keep emphasizing the word HUMAN.
Because one of the other things the news business is focusing on lately that proves the value of art is A-I MANIA.
AI WILL bring big changes, positive and negative, to the world at increasing speed in the coming years.
But, SPOILER ALERT, those hoping to create a market for AI-generated music, humor, and artwork are going to find out the hard way that these things only stimulate us and create value when they are human-made.
To paraphrase the cartoonist and cultural commentator Scott Adams:
“Humans are not activated by art outside a human context. They are activated by the human who made it. And the reason is because artistic skill -- and any other skills -- signal natural traits that can be enhanced and evolve over time.
You will not watch robots play basketball, no matter how much better than humans they become. Because basketball is never about basketball.
Basketball is about the human players. Art is about the HUMAN artists.”
Once that value is established and respected, it has a peaceful effect on the world that can last for millennia.
Sometimes it takes violence to help us appreciate that fact. When the Taliban literally blew up the 6th century Buddhist statues in March, 2001… it SHOULD have been the clearest sign ever that the terrorists trained in that same country who attacked this city on 9/11 of that same year were bent on all the world’s destruction.
Because conversely, when art is respected, humanity is respected.
CITYarts is all about this wisdom. And it knows that the earlier we give children the chance to invest something of themselves into the world, the sooner they’ll see the world as something that includes them… where they have a stake!
I’m disturbed by another thing you can’t miss if you really do follow the news: the obvious anxiety epidemic spreading and strengthening among our young people in this country. It affects all young people from all economic levels, races, and religions. It manifests itself in many disturbing ways, from suicide to drug use to violent crime.
There are many reasons for this epidemic. But I think a big part of it is we have taken all responsibility and ownership away from our kids. Richer families especially seem to think that never asking our kids for anything more than doing well in school is some kind of gift we give them.
The reality is, this promotes the mindset that nothing our young people do matters. That they are not NEEDED.
Again, art can come to the rescue here… and Cityarts knows that all too well. This organization doesn’t just promote collaborative art projects for children to promote peace for US but for THEM. When children create something in art, they now have ownership in the world. They have now CONTRIBUTED. They have now enjoyed the RELEASE of everything from anxiety, to ADHD, and MORE!
So what can I do besides thank you for coming and for your support for Cityarts?
Well, if you’ve been listening… and listening to ME was truly NOT REQUIRED tonight… but if you HAVE been listening, I want to thank you for a little something called “SAVING THE WORLD.” No Biggie… no go home and tell your friends you’re the real heroes!
Thank you!
When I was teaching, we 'd have poets come in to work with the hs students. then I don't know what happened to that program, but it stopped. The principal at Brooklyn Tech wanted the empahsis on math and sciences and not humanities. So the course that two of us taught in our separate classes on cinema and Literature....an elective for seniors....was canned. We pleaded with him to visit our classes and see for himself the academic content.....we weren't just showing movies as an easy way for a paycheck and kill time. But the humanities for kids at this school....simply not important.