The Fine Arts Can Draw In Citizens of Indifference : Urban Lesson: No More Walls

If there’s one lesson to be learned from the civil unrest in Los Angeles, it’s that we can’t build walls high enough to escape from what’s happening in society today.

The gap between rich and poor, ethnic and racial tensions, and the enormous complexity of culturally diverse communities present a disturbing picture in which the root cause is indifference. It is in this context that we should explore the critical role that the arts can play in healing a divided city (“The Question Should Be: Can L.A. Help Heal the Arts?,” Calendar, Jan. 27).

Certainly, art can’t fix everything, nor is healing necessarily its primary purpose. But the arts are a way of communicating the anguish in our lives, and they are a way of connecting people with one another. They do help us understand ourselves and the world around us. And that is precisely what we need to do.

Indeed, if there’s one thing I’ve seen around our city, it’s that people are crying out to be heard. They do have something to say and they want an opportunity to say it. Ironically, two of the most effective vehicles through which they can do so are politics and the arts.

Think for a moment about “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992,” the Mark Taper Forum’s remarkable production by Anna Deavere Smith. It is exactly what our city needs if we ever hope to understand our differences. Not because it had a particular agenda--in fact, some criticized it for not having one--but because it was a powerfully compelling vehicle through which so many different but eloquent voices could be heard.

If I had the money, I’d bring “Twilight” to every community in Los Angeles. Just as I would make the movie “El Norte” available to every Angeleno who cares about what it’s like to be an immigrant in society today.

The arts may not give us all the answers, but they can certainly lift us to a higher level of questioning.

Indeed, artists have been speaking to the alienation in our society for generations. And their voices have made a difference.

When artist Barbara Kruger spoke so poignantly about “our bodies as a battleground,” it was as much an angry warning and call to action at the time, as it is now an encapsulation of what happened since.

For more than a decade, hip-hop has reflected the class and race relationships in a culture of underclass youth, though few of us have taken the time to listen.

Thus, in the aftermath of the riots, one of the first programs our city initiated was an Arts Recovery Fund to encourage artists to address these concerns. It’s part of our continuing effort to support a broad range of artists and arts organizations seeking to address the ethnic, racial, cultural, class and generational divisions in our city.

In fact, the Los Angeles Arts Endowment was one of the first governmental programs to embrace the burning issues of cultural equity, such as:

* Who owns our institutions?

* Who makes the decisions?

* Who comprises the staffs and boards?

* Who defines the art?

* Who is impacted by it?

* To whom is it accessible?

* Whose lives and concerns are being addressed?

As we look to heal a troubled city, it is not a new voice with which artists speak, but rather a voice with a renewed sense of urgency. And the questions of cultural equity, and their insistence upon inclusivity, are paramount to any meaningful effort at healing.

We live in a city of remarkable diversity, with tensions seething beneath the surface. Yet, it is from this diversity that we must ultimately draw our strength.

We can only do so if we learn to understand and respect each others’ differences--to see the best in each other, and accept ourselves for who we are.

Whether it’s through self-expression for Skid Row youth at Inner City Arts, or a festival celebrating African American and Middle Eastern cultures in Leimert Park; whether it’s the angry voices and personal pride of a Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, or a new Japanese American Museum in Little Tokyo; whether it’s a mural in East Los Angeles, or searching commentary in publications like High Performance and Art Issues; there is really no better way to do so than through the arts.

Perhaps the saving grace of our society is the beauty and understanding that the arts can create in the midst of turmoil and heartbreak.

We must never underestimate their potential. We must continue to give them our support.