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An art blog by Jon Coffelt on The Whole 9

Jon Coffelt, highly acclaimed artist, activist and curator, is a former gallery owner living and working in Manhattan. Coffelt decided to keep his distinctive Southern drawl.

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Why Do We Have To Compete?

July 21, 2010
45 Comments (see all)

Seems everything is a competition these days from “American Idol” to “So You Think You Can Dance.” Everyone is pitted against everyone else and competition is a given rather than an option. Voting seems to be the new way we maneuver our world these days. Sadly, art organizations and public not for profits are now having to compete one against another for funding from multinationals like Chase bank and Pepsi. When I heard on NPR, just the other day, about so many getting on the bandwagon, I knew there was some reason for it. I mean, some of these concerns got public funds just to ride out the downturn in the economy and now they are all high and mighty deeming who gets a pittance from them and who doesn’t based on popularity and nothing more. I feel there are some organizations who are very important who need the money who will not be in the running because they are not popular and are not part of the common denominator. These organizations only do this as a way for you to go in and vote to get your personal information as an advertising tool for them. This, in and of itself is a very selfish act. By pitting organizations against one another they are the only winners here and we lose once again as a society. Popularity contests are only good for some things and not for others. In this era of “us against them,” I hope we realize who is in the “win” seat here and who becomes pawns in their multinational game of chess.

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  1. joncoffelt

    When I heard one arts organization say they absolutely had to be the winner over another arts organization, my stomach churned. Is this what we have come to be?

  2. robcrowe

    Materialism survives on statistics. It is the lifeline. Art and Music confound the system. They defy logic and numbers. but as you have observed, our ruling structure will not be denied. We judge success by numbers. Turnstyles count the importance of artists, allocate support, and determine commercial success. There is a need for new venues far from the ticking of the machines and more in tune with the beats of the heart.

  3. rosendo

    There’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.

    These are the rules of the game. I knew them going in and I accepted them.

    I chose to play the game and I don’t expect any special treatment.

    I want to win just like anyone else. It’s in my blood now and forever. Without competition how else would we motivate ourselves. I don’t enjoy losing but it builds character, promotes good sportsmanship and it feeds the hunger.

    And then one day…

    when I cross the line and enter the winners’ circle, I can finally drink that bottle of milk, kiss that cup, hoist that trophy, point to the sky, beat my chest and I proudly say thank you~thank you~thank you~thank you…

    with deep gratitude for the opportunity to prove myself.

  4. joncoffelt

    Rosendo all is well when it comes to sports and competition but art should be more contemplative and not based on a set of numbers with winners and losers so therefore say that I see no brevity whatsoever in your response to my post today. That said, Thank you for expressing your opinion.

  5. joncoffelt

    Athletes are not heroes They are merely athletes

  6. falke13

    Both are ok. Athletes are heroes to those who see them as heroes and of course not heroes to those who choose to not view them as such.

    Competition drives ideas to higher and better places. Otherwise art is poverty.

  7. joncoffelt

    falke13 are you saying that for art to be more than poverty there has to be a competition situation allowing multinationals who usually know Nothing about art to vet who gets money by may of popularity? Can you elaborate for me please? I may be missing something.

  8. joncoffelt

    Athletes may be legends but they are rarely heroes. Most are not good enough role models to be heroes.

    Hero
    Characters who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice.

  9. dangerousideas

    If someone’s dispensing the rewards, whether it be money, awards, publicity or power, there will be competition among those interested in being the recipients of that largesse. In fact, our democratic system of government is based upon competition: The struggle to win our approval and our votes.

    Speaking of “American Idol”: In all seriousness, I wish that we elected presidents using the “Idol” model! Let all the major candidates present themselves to the public each week on TV and let the public whittle them down through voting. Once a week they’d present their views, answer questions and debate each other. Then we ‘d get to vote and the candidate with the lowest votes would be eliminated. When only 2 are left, a final ’showdown’ takes place and in a ‘grand finale’ the winner of the popular vote becomes president.

    It’s brilliant! And so much better than the way it works now. The public would get to know their views and abilities far better than they do currently. Since no additional advertising would be allowed, it would get rid of all the lobbying, fund raising and campaign contribution corruption. The candidates wouldn’t need to solicit money so they wouldn’t owe anybody favors afterward. You could get rid of the electoral college and give 100% of the voting power back to the people. Furthermore I bet you’d encourage the biggest voter turnout of all time. The process would create an immediate, fully interactive and absolutely relevant ongoing event that over the course of 4 months would engage the American public like it never has before. If it got even close to American Idol’s ratings, it would be deemed the greatest success in enlisting public participation in the election process in all of American history.

    But I digress. While I understand joncoffelt’s point, my sympathies are kind of with Rosendo. My question, when it comes to the funding of arts organizations, is who should decide? And on what basis? What should qualify an organization to be a contender for funding? And what would be a better, more equitable way to accomplish the distribution of those funds? Also, if we’re talking not just about the government spending our taxes, but about private companies, do we have a right to impose restrictions on their methods? Should they not have the right to assume some sort of quid pro quo?

    I dislike the fact that arts groups, and artists for that matter, have to compete against each other for limited funds. I deplore it even more when that competition becomes a desperate, cutthroat struggle for survival. That’s not an activity that encourages the ‘peace’ we’ve all been applauding and longing for here. But practically speaking, how should it be done? What’s the best way? If there are any fair-minded, non-ideological experts in this field out there, please let them weigh in and offer some insight into this.

  10. shawn

    Yeah, competition! Even those arts organizations funded by anonymous donors are the recipients of the rewards of a competition. Philanthropist have a competition, if only in their heads, pitting the arts organizations and artists one against the other, ultimately donating to the glorious winner!

    I don’t think any of the above posters could argue that the world operates any differently than on a competition basis. May the best man win!!

    However, am I the only reader that picked up on Jon’s concern?? The creepy thing is, and when I say creepy, I mean CREEPY, is multi-national companies are advertising their philanthropy in the form of a competition!!

    These companies are saying to the public: “Hey you people out there. Look at us. We are giving large sums of money away to an arts organization you may know and love. But in order for us to let you help us decide who gets the money, you must give us your name and email address.”

    Maybe this an attitude I developed due to my humble Southern upbringing, but I was taught that philanthropy is something done quietly, without asking for anything in return.

    So, not only are these large corporations accepting public money to stay afloat, they are also receiving money snatched from the mouths of some of the poorest segments of society – artists – who in the face of a financial crisis are the first to suffer, and the last to recover, The same creative types who get their interest rates jacked up to 30 percent because they miss one payment on a Chase credit card.

    What a CREEPY, CREEPY thing to do. Take money from the government, money from the poor, money from those down on their luck, and use that money to advertise “good” deeds, all the while gleaning information from people who might be interested in voting on a competition of this sort. And who do you think might be interested in voting in a competition to see which arts organization receives money from these companies??

    You guessed it: ARTISTS!!!

    All you Whole 9 members and readers out there who think this is a fine thing for Chase to be doing, I hope you inbox remains abundantly full for many years to come.

  11. awaken2sun

    There are so many sides to this story and I agree with each of the points above. And I absolutely love dangerousidea’s idea for electing our next president. How do we get that in front of the right committee and wouldn’t we all love to see Obama and Palin on the same stage in a battle of intelligence and knowledge? I’m not really into bloody massacres, but find Palin so reprehensible because of her hypocrisy, ethics and lack of integrity (which might be redundant) that I would love to see Obama quietly and thoroughly annihilate her.

  12. rosendo

    Jon,

    Since when is voting a “new way” in which we “maneuver our world” these days? It’s just one of the reason why so many have come to this country. A chance to be heard.

    Furthermore where did I state that athletes were heroes? (Not that there’s anything wrong with it) ;) Try saying that to any six year old who thinks (fill in the blank) is the bomb.

    By the by, not only is sports a great analogy for life but I used the the image of Larry Bird with Magic Earvin Johnson for a reason. Nevermind that both players had the utmost respect for one another on and off the court but Magic has used his experience in the NBA as a way to recreate himself as one of the most successful businessmen in this country. He made it by investing in the inner cities when no one else would. Poor people. That’s right. A poor boy turned rich basketball player used his fame and popularity to build an empire (Magic Johnson Enterprises) and he did it in the inner cities where poor people live. But guess what? They, like all the others who have made America their home had a choice. Just as a young man with a basketball in his hands made the decision to leave college in his sophmore year to enter the NBA draft where there are no certainties. He had a choice.

    I know the big bad banks are having their way with the taxpayer’s dollars these days but as I initially stated ealier in the post you remarked as having “no brevity” I knew the rules going in. The game of life is played on different levels from where I stand and we all use what we have to in order to stay afloat. I don’t appreciate what Pepsi and Chase bank are doing but they are still in business so they must be doing something right/wrong.

    As long as there’s competition, we still have a choice.

    peace~

  13. dangerousideas

    Lisa- Right on! Not that it’ll ever happen, but just sayin…
    Shawn- It may be creepy, but no one’s forcing you or any of us to participate in these contests. And you can always use your spam filter for annoying email, though it is a bother. I although I totally agree that the public shouldn’t be subsidizing big corporations (although they have us hostage when there’s an economic breakdown cause if you let them go bankrupt, millions of people will lose their jobs). But you can’t force them, nor realistically expect them, to do this stuff for free. At a minimum they’re gonna want to generate some publicity advertising and public goodwill as recompense. Collecting your name and info in more or less detail is the way many, maybe even most, ‘free’ internet operations work (that includes facebook, google, youtube, amazon, ebay, the museums, news providers, blogsites and yes, the arts groups and organizations themselves). It’s the price for access to the tools, the information, the entertainment, the resources and the ability to network and engage.

  14. celestevoce

    Double Whammy: http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/work_of_art/?story=/ent/tv/2010/07/06/work_of_art_glen_helfand (Though, does driving a major trustee out because of commercialism prove that there is hope?)

  15. jonathanc

    Businesses use their philanthropy for free advertising and I have done the same. I agree businesses should contribute to the best charity, yet in a time when more people are at least pseudo concerned with how their dollars are used it makes good advertising sense to contribute to the most liked charities. Such is life and the bottom dollar. Maybe we the consumer need to educate ourselves better so that we can demand more worthy art organizations and public not for profits but then again who are we to say who is more worthy when it is all perception.

  16. joncoffelt

    I guess my point is that I hate that these dirty handed multinationals getting to call the shots for us on yet another level now. Were you aware that corporations can now spend as much money as they like in our elections? Even we as individuals cant do that. Corporations are given more rights than us the individuals. There is something very sad about people who dont mind giving away yet another right to these malicious companies.

  17. jonathanc

    Yes, I agree with you on the political aspect and also in theory on the philanthropic.

  18. grool

    In a sense, I think being competitive helps drive new ideas and change more quickly than if there is no competition. Having a competitor keeps you motivated to out do or outshine what that competitor can do. In that sense, then competition can turn ugly because it isn’t about the process that gets you to the goal it is only the goal that drives you. So, it becomes important to remember the path, the experience, and the lessons learned in times where you do not win and remembering that it isn’t always about winning. Though, having a little humility and taking things in stride is something that a majority of people often lack. That is the real problem.

  19. jillbird7

    Yes, Jon, I agree. There is too much competition in the art world and in the world in general, and it’s exhausting. I wish the focus for our lives could be more about on compassion, tolerance, creative solutions, and helping others instead of this constant dod-eat-dog rat race in order to simply survive. But they say we’re here to learn lessons. Maybe competition is somehow part of the process.

  20. joncoffelt

    There is nothing wrong with competition. Its the people who are vetting the process that I find inappropriate. Why do we have to be yet again beholden to these multinationals. Its pathetic. They have not one bit of empathy for any of us. They just do this to get your information to further their own means. Its just part of the corporate MO and yes voting has always been around but why do we have to incorporate it within the arts community especially when it comes to which worthwhile organization get the pittance from these insensitive ill advised corporations and which do not based on popularity alone. There has to be a better way to factor in who should be able to acquire funds. That’s what I am saying here. There is absolutely nothing wrong with competition.

  21. ckay

    I also agree with your take on corporate competition. It’s insane. I have had to deal with being overly competitive for most of my life. It’s like anything out there. Balance is the key. Too much of anything is not good or healthy.
    I vote for the new voting for President. Nice. Lisa…what a hoot that would be, Palin and Obama. I’d pay to watch and vote for that. Hey what an idea. Use the funds for the arts!

  22. dangerousideas

    I empathize with Jill. Competition when it comes to creating art is exhausting. Not very inspiring neither… We want to soar like eagles, be playful as dolphins and lion-hearted in our pursuit of artistic vision. We don’t want to end up leaping like lemmings or swimming with the fishes in a “dod-eat-dog rat race” where “pitbulls wear lipstick” and like the greedy pigs they are behind the crocodile tears, monkey around with our privacy while forcing us to play possum or parrot the party line if we hope to bring home the bacon. Right?!

  23. hassankhan

    of course it happens but not in every case:American idol is very popular show in the history of the t.v shows that i have ever seen in my life, but they have to finance the show

    Listings

  24. dangerousideas

    @Hassan- Not eggsackly following your message there.
    The show (“American President”) would still be financed by commercials like any other TV show. I’d bet whichever network got to carry it would profit enormously. Or maybe it could be broadcast by all 4 networks!

  25. joncoffelt

    Very interesting election this would be

  26. joncoffelt

    People with a limited vocabulary and who appeared too outwardly prompted would be pulverized for sure.

  27. dangerousideas

    @Jon- hooray to both your points. I doubt if George B. would’ve got past the first few weeks in a ‘competition’ like that. I’ll propose it again: “American President: The race to become president of the United States”. Democracy at it was meant to be. May the best man, or woman, win!

  28. joncoffelt

    Let’s push for a televised presidential election in 2012.
    Sound like a great plan.

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