Why the live arts matter
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0:00 - 0:02I am a cultural omnivore,
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0:02 - 0:04one whose daily commute
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0:04 - 0:07is made possible by attachment to an iPod --
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0:07 - 0:09an iPod that contains Wagner and Mozart,
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0:09 - 0:11pop diva Christina Aguilera,
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0:11 - 0:13country singer Josh Turner,
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0:13 - 0:15gangsta rap artist Kirk Franklin,
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0:15 - 0:17concerti, symphonies and more and more.
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0:17 - 0:19I'm a voracious reader,
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0:19 - 0:22a reader who deals with Ian McEwan down to Stephanie Meyer.
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0:22 - 0:25I have read the "Twilight" tetralogy.
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0:25 - 0:28And one who lives for my home theater,
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0:28 - 0:30a home theater where I devour DVDs, video-on-demand
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0:30 - 0:32and a lot of television.
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0:32 - 0:34For me, "Law and Order: SVU,"
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0:34 - 0:36Tine Fey and "30 Rock"
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0:36 - 0:39and "Judge Judy" -- "The people are real, the cases are real,
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0:39 - 0:41the rulings are final."
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0:41 - 0:43Now, I'm convinced a lot of you
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0:43 - 0:45probably share my passions,
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0:45 - 0:47especially my passion for Judge Judy,
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0:47 - 0:49and you'd fight anybody
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0:49 - 0:51who attempted to take her away from us,
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0:51 - 0:54but I'm a little less convinced that you share the central passion of my life,
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0:54 - 0:57a passion for the live professional performing arts,
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0:57 - 1:00performing arts that represent the orchestral repertoire, yes,
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1:00 - 1:03but jazz as well, modern dance, opera,
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1:03 - 1:05theater and more and more and more.
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1:05 - 1:07You know, frankly
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1:07 - 1:09it's a sector that many of us who work in the field worry
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1:09 - 1:11is being endangered and possibly dismantled
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1:11 - 1:13by technology.
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1:13 - 1:15While we initially heralded the Internet
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1:15 - 1:17as the fantastic new marketing device
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1:17 - 1:19that was going to solve all our problems,
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1:19 - 1:21we now realize that the Internet is, if anything,
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1:21 - 1:23too effective in that regard.
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1:23 - 1:26Depending on who you read, an arts organization
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1:26 - 1:28or an artist, who tries to attract the attention
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1:28 - 1:30of a potential single ticket buyer,
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1:30 - 1:32now competes with between
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1:32 - 1:34three and 5,000
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1:34 - 1:36different marketing messages
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1:36 - 1:39a typical citizen sees every single day.
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1:39 - 1:41We now know in fact
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1:41 - 1:43that technology is our biggest competitor for leisure time.
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1:43 - 1:45Five years ago,
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1:45 - 1:48Gen-X'ers spent 20.7 hours online and TV,
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1:48 - 1:50the majority on TV.
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1:50 - 1:52Gen-Y'ers spent even more --
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1:52 - 1:5423.8 hours, the majority online.
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1:54 - 1:56And now, a typical
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1:56 - 1:58university entering student
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1:58 - 2:00arrives at college
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2:00 - 2:02already having spent
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2:02 - 2:0420,000 hours online
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2:04 - 2:06and an additional 10,000 hours
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2:06 - 2:08playing video games --
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2:08 - 2:10a stark reminder that we operate
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2:10 - 2:12in a cultural context
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2:12 - 2:14where video games now outsell
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2:14 - 2:17music and movie recordings combined.
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2:18 - 2:20Moreover, we're afraid that technology
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2:20 - 2:23has altered our very assumptions of cultural consumption.
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2:23 - 2:25Thanks to the Internet,
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2:25 - 2:28we believe we can get anything we want whenever we want it,
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2:28 - 2:30delivered to our own doorstep.
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2:30 - 2:32We can shop at three in the morning or eight at night,
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2:32 - 2:35ordering jeans tailor-made for our unique body-types.
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2:35 - 2:37Expectations of personalization
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2:37 - 2:39and customization
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2:39 - 2:41that the live performing arts --
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2:41 - 2:44which have set curtain times, set venues,
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2:44 - 2:47attendant inconveniences of travel, parking and the like --
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2:47 - 2:49simply cannot meet.
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2:49 - 2:51And we're all acutely aware:
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2:51 - 2:53what's it going to mean in the future
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2:53 - 2:55when we ask someone to pay a hundred dollars
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2:55 - 2:58for a symphony, opera or ballet ticket,
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2:58 - 3:01when that cultural consumer is used to downloading on the internet
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3:01 - 3:0324 hours a day
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3:03 - 3:05for 99 cents a song or for free?
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3:07 - 3:09These are enormous questions
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3:09 - 3:11for those of us who work in this terrain.
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3:11 - 3:13But as particular as they feel to us,
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3:13 - 3:15we know we're not alone.
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3:15 - 3:17All of us are engaged
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3:17 - 3:19in a seismic, fundamental
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3:19 - 3:21realignment of culture and communications,
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3:21 - 3:23a realignment that is shaking and decimating
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3:23 - 3:26the newspaper industry, the magazine industry,
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3:26 - 3:29the book and publishing industry and more.
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3:30 - 3:33Saddled in the performing arts as we are, by antiquated union agreements
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3:33 - 3:36that inhibit and often prohibit
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3:36 - 3:38mechanical reproduction and streaming,
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3:38 - 3:40locked into large facilities
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3:40 - 3:42that were designed to ossify
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3:42 - 3:44the ideal relationship
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3:44 - 3:46between artist and audience
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3:46 - 3:48most appropriate to the 19th century
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3:48 - 3:51and locked into a business model dependent on high ticket revenues,
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3:51 - 3:54where we charge exorbitant prices.
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3:54 - 3:57Many of us shudder in the wake of the collapse of Tower Records
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3:57 - 4:00and ask ourselves, "Are we next?"
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4:01 - 4:03Everyone I talk to in performing arts
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4:03 - 4:06resonates to the words of Adrienne Rich,
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4:06 - 4:08who, in "Dreams of a Common Language," wrote,
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4:08 - 4:10"We are out in a country that has
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4:10 - 4:12no language, no laws.
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4:12 - 4:14Whatever we do together is pure invention.
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4:14 - 4:16The maps they gave us
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4:16 - 4:19are out of date by years."
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4:20 - 4:22And for those of you who love the arts,
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4:22 - 4:25aren't you glad you invited me here to brighten your day?
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4:25 - 4:27(Laughter)
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4:27 - 4:29(Applause)
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4:29 - 4:32Now, rather than saying that we're on the brink of our own annihilation,
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4:32 - 4:35I prefer to believe that we are engaged in a fundamental reformation,
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4:35 - 4:38a reformation like the religious Reformation
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4:38 - 4:40of the 16th century.
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4:40 - 4:43The arts reformation, like the religious Reformation,
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4:43 - 4:45is spurred in part by technology,
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4:45 - 4:47with indeed, the printing press really leading the charge
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4:47 - 4:49on the religious Reformation.
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4:49 - 4:52Both reformations were predicated on fractious discussion,
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4:52 - 4:54internal self-doubt
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4:54 - 4:57and massive realignment of antiquated business models.
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4:57 - 4:59And at heart, both reformations, I think
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4:59 - 5:01were asking the questions:
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5:01 - 5:03who's entitled to practice?
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5:03 - 5:05How are they entitled to practice?
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5:05 - 5:07And indeed, do we need anyone
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5:07 - 5:09to intermediate for us
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5:09 - 5:12in order to have an experience with a spiritual divine?
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5:14 - 5:17Chris Anderson, someone I trust you all know,
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5:17 - 5:19editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and author of "The Long Tail,"
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5:19 - 5:22really was the first -- for me -- to nail a lot of this.
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5:22 - 5:24He wrote a long time ago, you know,
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5:24 - 5:26thanks to the invention of the Internet,
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5:26 - 5:28web technology,
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5:28 - 5:30mini-cams and more,
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5:30 - 5:32the means of artistic production
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5:32 - 5:34have been democratized
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5:34 - 5:37for the first time in all of human history.
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5:37 - 5:39In the 1930s, if any of you wanted to make a movie,
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5:39 - 5:42you had to work for Warner Brothers or RKO
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5:42 - 5:44because who could afford a movie set
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5:44 - 5:46and lighting equipment and editing equipment
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5:46 - 5:48and scoring and more?
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5:48 - 5:51And now who in this room doesn't know a 14 year-old
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5:51 - 5:53hard at work on her second, third, or fourth movie?
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5:53 - 5:55(Laughter)
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5:55 - 5:58Similarly, the means of artistic distribution
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5:58 - 6:01have been democratized for the first time in human history.
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6:01 - 6:04Again, in the '30s, Warner Brothers, RKO did that for you.
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6:04 - 6:06Now, go to YouTube, Facebook;
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6:06 - 6:08you have worldwide distribution
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6:08 - 6:11without leaving the privacy of your own bedroom.
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6:12 - 6:14This double impact is occasioning
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6:14 - 6:17a massive redefinition of the cultural market,
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6:17 - 6:20a time when anyone is a potential author.
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6:21 - 6:23Frankly, what we're seeing now in this environment
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6:23 - 6:25is a massive time,
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6:25 - 6:27when the entire world is changing
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6:27 - 6:30as we move from a time when audience numbers are plummeting.
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6:30 - 6:32But the number of arts participants,
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6:32 - 6:35people who write poetry, who sing songs,
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6:35 - 6:37who perform in church choirs,
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6:37 - 6:40is exploding beyond our wildest imaginations.
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6:40 - 6:43This group, others have called the "pro ams,"
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6:43 - 6:45amateur artists doing work at a professional level.
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6:45 - 6:47You see them on YouTube, in dance competitions,
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6:47 - 6:49film festivals and more.
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6:49 - 6:51They are radically expanding
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6:51 - 6:54our notions of the potential of an aesthetic vocabulary,
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6:54 - 6:57while they are challenging and undermining
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6:57 - 7:00the cultural autonomy of our traditional institutions.
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7:00 - 7:02Ultimately, we now live in a world
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7:02 - 7:04defined not by consumption,
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7:04 - 7:06but by participation.
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7:07 - 7:09But I want to be clear,
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7:09 - 7:11just as the religious Reformation did not spell the end
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7:11 - 7:14to the formal Church or to the priesthood;
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7:14 - 7:16I believe that our artistic institutions
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7:16 - 7:18will continue to have importance.
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7:18 - 7:20They currently are the best opportunities
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7:20 - 7:22for artists to have lives of economic dignity --
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7:22 - 7:25not opulence -- of dignity.
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7:25 - 7:27And they are the places where artists
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7:27 - 7:29who deserve and want to work at a certain scale of resources
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7:29 - 7:31will find a home.
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7:31 - 7:33But to view them as synonymous
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7:33 - 7:35with the entirety of the arts community
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7:35 - 7:38is, by far, too short-sighted.
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7:38 - 7:40And indeed, while we've tended to polarize
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7:40 - 7:42the amateur from the professional,
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7:42 - 7:44the single most exciting development
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7:44 - 7:46in the last five to 10 years
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7:46 - 7:48has been the rise
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7:48 - 7:50of the professional hybrid artist,
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7:50 - 7:52the professional artist
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7:52 - 7:54who works, not primarily in the concert hall or on the stage;
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7:54 - 7:56but most frequently around
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7:56 - 7:58women's rights, or human rights,
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7:58 - 8:01or on global warming issues or AIDS relief for more --
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8:01 - 8:03not out of economic necessity,
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8:03 - 8:05but out of a deep, organic conviction
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8:05 - 8:08that the work that she or he, is called to do
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8:08 - 8:10cannot be accomplished in the traditional
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8:10 - 8:12hermetic arts environment.
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8:12 - 8:15Today's dance world is not defined solely
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8:15 - 8:18by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet or the National Ballet of Canada,
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8:18 - 8:21but by Liz Lerman's Dance Exchange --
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8:21 - 8:24a multi-generational, professional dance company,
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8:24 - 8:27whose dancers range in age from 18 to 82,
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8:27 - 8:29and who work with genomic scientists
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8:29 - 8:31to embody the DNA strand
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8:31 - 8:34and with nuclear physicists at CERN.
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8:34 - 8:36Today's professional theater community
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8:36 - 8:39is defined, not only the Shaw and Stratford Festivals,
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8:39 - 8:42but by the Cornerstone Theater of Los Angeles --
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8:42 - 8:45a collective of artists that after 9/11,
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8:45 - 8:48brought together 10 different religious communities --
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8:48 - 8:50the Bahia, the Catholic,
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8:50 - 8:52the Muslim, the Jewish,
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8:52 - 8:54even the Native American
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8:54 - 8:56and the gay and lesbian communities of faith,
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8:56 - 8:59helping them create their own individual plays
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8:59 - 9:01and one massive play,
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9:01 - 9:03where they explored the differences in their faith
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9:03 - 9:05and found commonality
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9:05 - 9:07as an important first step
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9:07 - 9:09toward cross-community healing.
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9:10 - 9:12Today's performers, like Rhodessa Jones,
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9:12 - 9:14work in women's prisons,
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9:14 - 9:17helping women prisoners articulate the pain of incarceration,
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9:17 - 9:19while today's playwrights and directors work with youth gangs
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9:19 - 9:22to find alternate channels to violence
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9:22 - 9:25and more and more and more.
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9:25 - 9:28And indeed, I think, rather than being annihilated,
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9:28 - 9:30the performing arts are posed on the brink of a time
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9:30 - 9:32when we will be more important
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9:32 - 9:34than we have ever been.
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9:34 - 9:36You know, we've said for a long time,
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9:36 - 9:39we are critical to the health of the economic communities in your town.
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9:39 - 9:41And absolutely --
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9:41 - 9:44I hope you know that every dollar spent on a performing arts ticket in a community
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9:44 - 9:47generates five to seven additional dollars for the local economy,
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9:47 - 9:49dollars spent in restaurants or on parking,
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9:49 - 9:52at the fabric stores where we buy fabric for costumes,
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9:52 - 9:55the piano tuner who tunes the instruments and more.
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9:55 - 9:57But the arts are going to be more important to economies
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9:57 - 9:59as we go forward,
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9:59 - 10:02especially in industries we can't even imagine yet,
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10:02 - 10:04just as they have been central to the iPod
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10:04 - 10:06and the computer game industries,
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10:06 - 10:08which few, if any of us
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10:08 - 10:10come have foreseen 10 to 15 years ago.
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10:11 - 10:13Business leadership will depend more and more
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10:13 - 10:15on emotional intelligence,
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10:15 - 10:17the ability to listen deeply,
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10:17 - 10:19to have empathy,
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10:19 - 10:21to articulate change, to motivate others --
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10:21 - 10:23the very capacities
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10:23 - 10:26that the arts cultivate with every encounter.
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10:26 - 10:28Especially now,
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10:28 - 10:30as we all must confront
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10:30 - 10:33the fallacy of a market-only orientation,
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10:33 - 10:35uninformed by social conscience;
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10:35 - 10:38we must seize and celebrate the power of the arts
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10:38 - 10:41to shape our individual and national characters,
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10:41 - 10:44and especially characters of the young people,
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10:44 - 10:47who all too often, are subjected to bombardment of sensation,
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10:47 - 10:49rather than digested experience.
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10:50 - 10:53Ultimately, especially now in this world,
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10:53 - 10:55where we live in a context
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10:55 - 10:58of regressive and onerous immigration laws,
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10:58 - 11:01in reality TV that thrives on humiliation,
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11:01 - 11:03and in a context of analysis,
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11:03 - 11:05where the thing we hear most repeatedly,
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11:05 - 11:08day-in, day-out in the United States,
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11:08 - 11:10in every train station, every bus station, every plane station is,
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11:10 - 11:12"Ladies and gentlemen,
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11:12 - 11:14please report any suspicious behavior
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11:14 - 11:16or suspicious individuals
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11:16 - 11:18to the authorities nearest you,"
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11:18 - 11:20when all of these ways we are encouraged
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11:20 - 11:22to view our fellow human being with hostility
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11:22 - 11:25and fear and contempt and suspicion.
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11:26 - 11:29The arts, whatever they do, whenever they call us together,
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11:29 - 11:31invite us to look at our fellow human being
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11:31 - 11:34with generosity and curiosity.
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11:35 - 11:37God knows, if we ever needed
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11:37 - 11:39that capacity in human history,
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11:39 - 11:42we need it now.
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11:45 - 11:47You know, we're bound together,
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11:47 - 11:50not, I think by technology, entertainment and design,
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11:50 - 11:52but by common cause.
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11:52 - 11:55We work to promote healthy vibrant societies,
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11:55 - 11:58to ameliorate human suffering,
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11:58 - 12:00to promote a more thoughtful,
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12:00 - 12:03substantive, empathic world order.
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12:04 - 12:07I salute all of you as activists in that quest
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12:07 - 12:10and urge you to embrace and hold dear the arts in your work,
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12:10 - 12:13whatever your purpose may be.
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12:13 - 12:16I promise you the hand of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
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12:16 - 12:19is stretched out in friendship for now and years to come.
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12:19 - 12:21And I thank you for your kindness and your patience in listening to me this afternoon.
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12:21 - 12:23Thank you, and godspeed.
- Title:
- Why the live arts matter
- Speaker:
- Ben Cameron
- Description:
-
Arts administrator and live-theater fan Ben Cameron looks at the state of the live arts -- asking: How can the magic of live theater, live music, live dance compete with the always-on Internet? At TEDxYYC, he offers a bold look forward.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:24
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Why the live arts matter | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why the live arts matter | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why the live arts matter | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why the live arts matter | ||
TED edited English subtitles for Why the live arts matter | ||
TED added a translation |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 12/5/2016.