[Edit: Okay maybe I'm taking things a little too far... Though my arguments seem valid to me, this is hardly an unbiased opinion.]
A smal note about SUNSCAD. This has nothing to do with the project. Some idiot VP cultural has decided that it would be good to rename the Persons of Color Representative position. This is a good idea, but her suggestion is that we call it the Black Persons Representative. To which I scoff. For many reasons, which may or may not have something to do with my "Elitist" background. I will elaborate, but first I think that having a representative for all minorities being downscaled to blacks simply because there are more blacks than there are other races at NSCAD is rather dumb. What about the others? Further questioning revealed the rationale behind her idea; to attract more aspiring artists from black communities in the Halifax area. This is what she meant by "connecting the school with the community". It is felt that minorities will be unwilling to enter a school if they feel it has no services with which to support them, against which more arguments have been made. "It isn't NSCAD's resoponsibility to recruit students for the school" "The same argument applies for Non-Blacks, if you will. Regardless, it is also likely that the members of these communities, which are - everybody seems to agree on this point, so I will not mince words - poorer, and have less opportunities, or are simply unaware of NSCAD's existance.*I* think that those that do not know about art schools in their own towns do not know because they do not really care, and that if they wanted to do art, then they would do art. That said, art is not an easy calling, providing no stable income and no promise of a career. Only the most insane or creatively deprived persons would even consider attending art school, let alone pay the university 6000$ per year in order to do so. This is where my "elitist" background comes in. I have been well raised, am rather independant, fund my education from my own pocket and am rather proud of this, and try to be as racially blind as possible. This may be because in the past, I was given opportunities others could not afford to take, and learned things differently, and developed a loathing for dependency. Regardless, I don't mean to say "no pity for the blacks" I say "no more pity for the blacks than for the blues."
Obviously I am not allowed to talk in this manner in public, given the unique and awkward position that my race and culture leave me in. The blog is nice, at times. The real issue here is the fact that this post may be seen badly by others, who may wonder if I have some small and lingering amount of racism. Possible, though it is more likely that I am simply bitter at the alleged helplessness of minorities raised in Canada. I would rather see an example of a person who has gotten somewhere regardless of race or wealth, because they wanted to get there, than hear people's concerns about minorities "who are not receiving proper support". I think the koreans at NSCAD are not receiving proper support. Some of them can't even speak english! Then again, this prevents them from asking for help, I suppose...
That said, I don't think of myself as much of an elitist. My mother is a small business owner. But I always wonder at what other people think of this. I don't want them to look down on my successes by saying that I was almost already there.
Again, lots to say, and how would there ever be enough time...? Space?
ReplyDeleteAgreed, it doesn't work for the Persons of Colour Rep to be reconfigured as Black Person's Rep. No matter how important reaching out to black people who reside nearby is. (I think it is.) Where are all the other [not white people]'s reps? (I don't say minority because really, in the world, white people aren't such big numbers. What's at issue is something stranger and larger than major/minor.) More kids from Uniacke Square or Cherry Hill aren't going to be enrolling in NSCAD BECAUSE we've now got a Black Person's Rep. NSCAD needs to do more community outreach. Actually, the school does recruit in more affluent spaces & has historically recruited--there have been paid positions for recruiters to go to college fairs, to visit various schools, to pick up applications for NSCAD. We've had, in the past, greater advertising budgets. I sit on a committee that discussed, recently, how to raise funds to recruit candidates for the MFA. The idea wasn't to head out onto the street, but to be able to pursue mid-career artists.
Next point. Any of us who get anywhere ARE standing on others' shoulders. Parents struggle to give their kids a leg up because in our system, a leg up opens opportunities. If you say, well I have a degree from Yale University, immediately all sorts of credit are afforded you. Sometimes the doors FLY open. But if you say, I have a degree from the Tri-County Compu College, well, sometimes that helps, but nobody falls off their chair or stands up and offers you a job in a field you know nothing about. Would Obama be President of the US without a Harvard Law Degree? I'm not sure. Because what comes with that degree is a kind of contact, fraternity, shoulder-brushing, access....And for those who aren't white men of privilege, such a degree functions as a stamp of approval, an imprimatur: he might not look like it at first, but he's one of us. Count on it.
And how do you get to the place where you can take such a degree? Or pay your way through school? Or even think you could do ART? I mean somebody has to say, yeah, right, you can! Be free. Work hard! Do it! If you never have crayons, will you know you could be an artist? Some people will, but many won't is what I think. I mean, I've taught kids who at the age of four could not yet speak because no one had ever really spoken to them. They aren't happy self-directed playful little people able to become artists. They're already smashed. There might be hope, but...
No, that's right. I hadn't considered this. This is a dark issue, no puns. You're only an affluent person of colour if you have the creds. Like women and younger men in politics. They have to fight twice as hard to prove they're worth it. There was the 2nd in command on a ship I signed on, she was hard boiled while the men around her sort of floated together. She was ostracized so she fought them with supreme competence. She gave me the most worthwhile lesssons.I was a little proud and narrow minded back then, and it shames me a bit. No human will amount to anything without support. Growing through childhood may often require near-superhuman involvment on from someone, never mind becoming a fully functional adult.
ReplyDeleteHonsetly I'm quite shocked that I used to think like this. I was interesting, but arrogant. Also insecure, as evidenced by my obvious insistence on the concept of being an "elite" Haha! Yea right.