Comments (0) Best Arts Administrators - 2000
Centro Sociale
If art wasn't administered, would it just run amok? Does arts administration exist, in reality, to keep art contained, rather than -- as arts administrators insist -- to nurture (oh God, that word), as if artists are the eternal unweaned infants of society? For what if art were truly unleashed on civil society, the reins loosened, the bit in its teeth? What if art appeared in inappropriate formats? What if art didn't arrive on schedule or expanded beyond the allotted city block? What if it kept the neighbors awake on a weeknight? What if art turned its back on the People Project or didn't fill out the appropriate forms? What if art spent its time being art rather than looking for acceptance or recognition or funding? What if art stood on its own two feet and glared? Here's to the folks at Centro Sociale and their assorted acts of mere anarchy on the world, or at least the Hill. They bring in musicians who wouldn't otherwise be heard and deserve a hearing. They give artists a place to show work and fuck up and do better next time. They allow theater artists to come in and make do with what they have. They've defined for themselves, to quote the poet Gary Snyder, "the real work: what is to be done." And best of all, at Centro, you can dance if you want to.
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