A Commitment to the Arts

It is with grim irony that I reflect on Rick VanderKnyff’s article “Depth of Commitment to Be Measured” (Dec. 20, Calendar).

The fact is that no environment could be more hostile to art than Orange County’s. The poorest peasant in Eastern Europe has a better understanding and a finer appreciation of the creative process than does the average fatuous Orange Countian.

What you have here masquerading as people who care about the arts and artists are:

1. Office-bred administrators more comfortable with computer spreadsheets than with any work of art.

2. Newly rich and ready-to-spend developers who don’t know the first thing about culture and couldn’t be bothered with taking the time to learn.

3. A large middle class befuddled by years of television, noisy cars with boom boxes and ever-increasing amounts of filthy air to breathe.

And the list continues to grow.

While the money of Orange County may continue to pay for talent nurtured anywhere but here, the stampeding herd/hoard of Philistines will continue to ruthlessly crush anything and anyone aspiring to manifest artistic creativity in its midst.

FRANK FRENCH, El Toro