High Culture in the Dumps
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The performing arts, such as theater, classical music, and opera, have been especially hard hit by a decline in interest among young people. The federal reports cite the ineffectiveness of arts education programs, which foundations have thrown millions of dollars at in recent years in the hopes of creating a future audience for the arts. The studies suggest that young children exposed to the arts in a classroom often come away with the feeling that culture’s like medicine, something unpleasant that’s supposed to be good for you. Perhaps most discouraging, the federal reports flatly state that there’s simply been a drop in intellectual curiosity, even going so far as to say art museums may outlast other forms of high culture because they demand less mental engagement. Museum visitors look as much as they wish, while a theatergoer has to sit in a seat and presumably pay attention.
But the Chicago Symphony Orchestra could be facing a far more uncertain future if the federal findings prove correct. The CSO is in the midst of a $100 million expansion, opening its new Symphony Center in the fall of 1997. At a press conference earlier this month, CSO executive director Henry Fogel predicted that the new facility will become a cultural magnet, pulling in Chicagoans with a variety of musical attractions. But it may require more effort if high culture is in sharp decline. “Attendance is at an all-time high now, but everybody can feel the dam is about to break,” says CSO spokesman Stephen Belft. Like arts organizations everywhere, the CSO is grappling with the key question of how to become more “relevant” to younger generations, says Belft. To that end the orchestra has joined forces this year with the Ravinia Festival, hoping to present a much wider range of music, including jazz and world music groups, at Orchestra Hall and the Symphony Center under a “CSO Presents” banner.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Nathan Mandell.
