Art.com: California Governors Conference on the Arts

Millennium: Redefining Arts for 21st Century Governor's Conference on Arts Los Angeles, December 7-10, 1998 We all hear stories of technology profoundly influences who we are both as people and as a culture. Since mid-1990s popular media has become enamored with Internet and communication technologies (computers, telephones and various wireless devices) are converging with radio, television, film and still photography to create a densely mediated cyberspace of information and entertainment. We are saturated by a media - fueled by commercial interests - telling us that technology will make our lives easier, instantly connect us to anywhere on globe and democratize world through inexpensive and easy access to information and education. As media professionals and as artists, we simultaneously resist and perpetuate these stories because of our complex personal experiences with these technologies. We know that computers and other communication technologies can make our lives more chaotic and frustrating and make us feel disembodied, alienated and disconnected. We also know that access is not actually cheap and universal, and that democratization and education do not occur through technological advances alone. But clearly lucrative links between arts, technology and economic development have been established and it is not surprising that state government sponsored a conference on arts and technology. Last December's California Governor's Conference on Arts, held annually since 1995, focused on arts will be created, supported and experienced in next century. This year's conference, Beyond Millenium: Redefining Arts for 21st Century, was organized by Arts Council (CAC) in partnership with Electronic Imaging & Visual Arts (EVA), an international organization that hosts inter-disciplinary, multi-level, international fora for leading-edge technology helping and being helped by cultural sector throughout Europe and recently Japan. The conference was held for four days in downtown Los Angeles, culminating in launch of CaliforniaCulture.Net, the first online network for culture, during a party at new Getty Center on last day. There were panel discussions, a small exhibit area for vendors such as Hyperstudio and WIRED magazine, keynote speakers during lunches and dinners and an evening presentation (sponsored by Intel) by California-based performing and visual artists who work with new technologies such as video, digital audio and Internet. However, conference felt disconnected from its artist constituency. As one artist close to planning process put it, the conference represented a brain-dead point of view, and had feeling that it needed to happen just because it needed to happen. There seemed to be no urgent or relevant issues coming from artists or arts community. Instead, there were mostly general questions being posed to panelists such as how will arts be delivered to audiences of future?, that often lacked specificity of real-life examples from field. The conference fees started at $295 with no discount for individual artists and no daily passes. Scholarships were given, but there was little advance notice of conference sent to artist organizations and application deadline was very short. Most likely these reasons kept artists from attending conference, except for those who were invited to participate on panels. The audience was primarily composed of arts administrators (only some of whom are artists themselves) representing arts organizations of all disciplines from across state. Some artists attending conference reported that CAC had a four-year history of not including artists in conference planning and only in last two years did panels include artists. …