Urbanowski: Art is personal and leadership matters

There is a personal relationship and experience we each have with art.

Beyond the foundational role the arts play in culture, community and civilization, individual works of art speak to each of us differently and reach us deeply. Art may bring us pleasure or comfort, inspiration or insight. A melody may lift us from sadness, a painting may remind us of a loss or triumph, a theater piece may spark self-reflection, a poem may make our heart soar with joy. During the times we are tested, we may retreat to art or find strength and be challenged to press on. Whether we are a consumer, observer, participant or creative, we can find something in the arts.

This month, as we scramble to navigate through the shadow of a new presidential administration while also honoring President’s Day, I reflect on the power of the office of the president to uplift artists and the arts. Or to do the opposite: dissolve the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, for example, a committee established by Ronald Reagan and now eliminated in the first weeks of the current administration.

Leadership matters. Beyond the politically fraught, partisan realm of national funding for the arts and policies that punish artists and present obstacles to their work, leaders have an opportunity to speak about their personal experience with art and the artists who have touched them individually. Leaders can acknowledge those artists who bring them joy, comfort and inspiration.

Through the Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of the Arts, the president has an opportunity to share a glimpse of how art sits in his heart and mind. Since John F. Kennedy established the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the 1960s, every president has included artists among the honorees. It is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the national interests of the United States, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.

This highest civilian award of the United States is bestowed by the president at his own initiative — not selected by the National Endowment for the Arts or another government agency — and so, I believe, the choice reflects personal values.

Presidents have often used this honor to uplift artists from previously marginalized art forms or cultural backgrounds. Many recognize the art they have personally enjoyed and artists they have followed throughout their lives — perhaps an artist who symbolized a cultural or personal touch point.

Kennedy selected Marian Anderson, an African American opera singer, along with E.B. White and Thornton Wilder, among others. In the 1960s T.S. Eliot, Leontyne Price and Ralph Ellison were honored. Richard Nixon named Duke Ellington; Gerald Ford chose Alexander Calder and Georgia O’Keeffe; Jimmy Carter honored Beverly Sills and Tennessee Williams. Reagan, a film artist himself, picked Eubie Blake, Kate Smith, Count Basie and more. Bill Clinton selected actress Martha Raye, who entertained troops during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. George W. Bush named Rita Moreno, Aretha Franklin and BB King. Joe Biden included Michelle Yeoh and Denzel Washington… See some themes?

Barack Obama gave the most Medals of Freedom of any president — more than 100 — including a record number of artists representing a wide range of artistic disciplines and cultures, from Chita Rivera and Toni Morrison to Isabel Allende and Itzhak Perlman.

Some presidents may name popular or “safe” choices. Some may be making a point. But leaders tell us something about their values when they uplift the voices of culture bearers. When leadership is lacking at a presidential level, others can step up.

The artists that speak to me may not be the same ones you’d name, but when you tell me who speaks to your soul I learn a little more about you. Who would you honor?

Alexandra Urbanowski is CEO of SV Creates, the state and county designated arts service organization and local arts agency for Santa Clara County. She serves on the leadership committee for the California Coalition of County Art Agencies and as a board member at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. Her columns appear every first Wednesday of the month. Contact Alexandra at [email protected].