Grand Rapids Community Foundation

Can't win for losing - the 2nd installment!

October 5^th, 2009

I for one am glad that ArtPrize is winding down - I'm tired! Yes I realize that this has been great for the city so please don't crawl down my throat thinking this is a negative comment because it is NOT. I am very proud that Grand Rapids did well in showing itself as a hub for the arts. Even that last sentence will raise a cynical eyebrow or two. I participated almost every day and many of our staff volunteered for ArtPrize itself helping to guide people and as registrars. We were very involved and engaged. Hats off to our GRCF crew - they were simply terrific! I have a few "bruises" from the past two weeks due to reactions I received to my thoughts expressed along the way but that is another story for another time as my experiences are still too fresh to really provide an objective, constructive reaction. I do know this - I am going to take a break from the local arts community and the local "experts" for a short period. After commenting about my first impressions of the art, I was resoundingly put in my place by a local artist who didn't understand that I wasn't naive and that I did know that there was some art that really wasn't all that great. I have found that my opinions are still taking shape on the democratization argument though regarding people's choice versus a juried contest. Somehow I'm caught between the boosters of GR and "isn't this great for GR" crowd and the artists whose work was not noticed as much as they could or should have been. To have an opinion on ArtPrize other than "the greatest thing to happen to GR" to "good art or just plain hype", may not sit well with anyone. It is interesting that my last blog entry prior to the official beginning of ArtPrize was titled: "Can't win for losing" detailing how a person reacted negatively to a postcard he received from GRCF noting the two artists we hosted at our building. He thought we should not have been promoting any artist over others. I realized his wife had an entry in ArtPrize which was likely the root of his dissatisfaction. My "can't win for losing" subject in this entry seems more seasoned now that we have experienced ArtPrize than the previous one posted on September 21st. In the midst of all the excitement of the past two weeks, we did manage to host 4 major donor events and one of them was specific to ArtPrize thanking the donors who helped bring artist Daan Hoekstra to Grand Rapids from northern Mexico. His stunning, permanent mural is painted on our east facing wall of our building! What I didn't realize was the level of promotion that was going to be necessary to spark excitement about the artwork and that the location of venues would play such a pivotal role. GRCF is only one block south of The BOB and that venue saw a great deal of action and was always jammed. We sent many, many volunteers - many of whom were our staff, their family members and friends including wonderful friends from a neighboring community foundation - into the crowds distributing flyers to drive traffic down our way. We served cider and cookies over the weekend of the first round of voting to entice people to stop and take a look at the entries at our building which was not too far off the beaten track. It worked up to a point. I am eager to learn of the artist(s) who will win the top prize. I would say good and productive reflection on ArtPrize may take some time as the experience seeps in! In reviewing my comments from the previous post at the beginning of this contest I am not so sure I would agree with my thoughts expressed then! "No amount of promotion - hype - or advertising is going to improve someone's chances if the artwork is not good! Even though the ongoing debate for some (not me!) is whether or not the "general public" has the ability to choose good art. But don't get me started on that one!" Hmmm - well the debate rages on!