Yesterday, we praised the astounding progress the arts have made on Duke’s campus in five short years.
But these strides come only after decades of neglect. Visible gains, like the Hull Avenue Dance Studio near Swift Avenue or the arts spaces in the renovated Smith Warehouse, look tall when stood next to the retrograde arts infrastructure that preceded them. But they also look short of what is possible. Problems still confront the arts at Duke, but they are solvable ones.
These problems fall into three silos: space, money and student culture.
There is more arts space today than ever before. But this space is fractured and spread across the fringes of Duke’s campus: in the Ark on East Campus, the spaces in Smith Warehouse, the rehearsal room tucked above Sheafer Theater in the Bryan Center.
This space may be insufficient for the host of dance troupes, theatrical groups, performance musicians and visual artists that need room for their crafts. But, beyond that, it stands in the way of cultural change. How can an arts culture ever become more than marginal at Duke when arts spaces themselves are ushered from the main stage of campus geography?
The renovated West Union building could include enhanced spaces for student artists. We have some optimism about the administration’s desire to include new rehearsal and performance spaces in the plans for these renovations. Indeed, top administrators have already proven themselves dedicated to the arts.
But student artists need to recognize that getting space in West Union will be a dogfight. Student artists are not explicitly represented by any of the four working groups created to solicit student input for West Union, and many groups will be struggling to get their interests drawn into the blueprints. The new collaborative action group for the arts—duARTS—may be the ideal body to launch a concerted lobbying effort for more arts space.
Finances also stand between arts groups and the realization of their full potential. Groups that are “selective in membership” cannot be chartered by Duke Student Government’s Student Organization Finance Committee and cannot request funds from SOFC’s annual budget, which exceeds $500,000 in the 2011-2012 academic year. Exceptions apply—the performance group Hoof ‘n’ Horn, for instance, is chartered. But other groups, notably many a cappella and dance groups, are not.
The ability to draw from the annual budget and to make capital expenditures—something like mirrors for a dance troupe—is crucial. These groups may be selective, but they are a tremendous public good. SOFC should amend its bylaws to allow performance arts groups to access the annual budget.
All of this points toward the potential for the arts to become something more than a subculture at Duke. But this will require arts groups to collaborate, hold joint events that leverage their disparate audiences and step up collective advertising efforts. The Chronicle has a role to play in this: By extending coverage of noteworthy performances and exhibitions beyond Recess, The Chronicle’s admirably done weekly arts supplement, and moving onto the front page, The Chronicle could give student art the real estate it so often deserves.
The arts have come a long way at Duke, but this is only the intermission of what could be an ovation-worthy performance.
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