Dear Class,

The Occupy Wall Street movement has received more and more attention in recent weeks.  Our “Arts in New York” seminar is not centered on politics, but the role of politics in the cultural life of the city (and the relationship between culture and politics cultural through artists’ reactions to politics) is a significant aspect of the Arts throughout history and throughout the world.  The essential battle cry of the Occupy Wall Street movement is the claim that 1% of the population hold 99% of the wealth.  This sounds strangely similar to the cries of 18th century revolutionaries, who complained of a similar disparity between the aristocracy and the rest of the European world.  The American and French Revolutions were a fact of the political landscape at the exact time that Mozart and DaPonte were composing their greatest works for the Viennese Aristocracy.  (It is also no surprise that the “Arab Spring” uprisings have found cause in the similar disparity between the wealth of the ruling class and the general populations).  We will explore the relationship between the 1% and the 99% as it relates to the Arts.

The distinctions of wealth and class have always played a profound role in the arts.  The internet has served as an enormously powerful tool to bring some aspects of the arts to anyone with a computer (or mobile phone) connection, but going to the Theater, the Opera, the Symphony or a museum (and certainly OWNING art), is still (and always has been) a distinct feature of the lives of a rich upper class. (And the wealthiest class has also typically been the ruling class.  This is a natural outgrowth of the most famous “Golden Rule”; “He who owns the gold, makes the rules.”

The Occupy Wall Street movement is primarily concerned with the financial disparity between the 1% and the 99%, but the movement provides an opportunity for us to explore the relation of this struggle to the arts in general, and the Arts in New York in particular.

Because of a number of events taking place this week, we will devote a class assignment to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The purpose of this exercise is to explore the movement and its meaning for us (specifically what it has to say about the relationship between art and commerce; art and wealth; art and political expression; etc.).

Here is what is going on this week:

•Monday November 14, 2011
A Conversation About  The 99% Occupy Wall Street
Where: Rosenthal 230 (Library Lower Level 2)
Time: 12:15pm – 1:30pm
Meet organizers of the Occupy Wall Street Movement
Learn about the causes behind the movement
Ask questions, seek answers/ Sponsored by Queens College Provost’s Office

•Wednesday Nov. 16 – Homelessness in Focus @ Patio Room (Dining Hall) – Free Hour (12:15 – 1:30)

•Thursday Nov. 17 – OWS Teach-In from 9am – 3pm @ Patio Room

•Thursday Nov. 17 – Mobilize for Economic Justice – The PSC (the Professional Staff Congress, the union to which the Professors at Queens College belong) will take part in a peaceful, permitted rally and march that will begin at Foley Square at 5:00 PM before winding its way around City Hall and across the Brooklyn Bridge.  Our members will meet at the intersection of Broadway and Worth Street at 5:00 PM, before marching together into Foley Square. Earlier in day, people’s assemblies will be held near subway stations around the boroughs, and the organizers of the march are also planning civil disobedience actions. If you are interested in being trained and participating in a planned act of civil disobedience, contact Deirdre Brill (Dbrill@pscmail.org).

•Other information available at:  nycga.net * takethesquare.net * occupytogether.org * wearethe99percent.tumblr.com – click here

Here is your assignment for this week:

1 – Attend – Everyone is required to attend at least one (preferably 2)  of these events and report back to the group by posting about your experience on the Blog.
2 – Research – augment the experience of attending these events by reading some of the information found on the web sites listed above, and by reading and reporting about additional articles from major news sources (print, online, etc.).
3 – Focus – Your blog post can be general in nature, or focussed on a particular aspect of the movement, (or the rallies, or the experience, or historical connections, etc.) depending on what comes up in your research. remember to focus your blog post on the issue of how the Movement reflects issues that have resonance in the arts.  What does the movement have to say about the position of the arts in general and the Arts in New York, in specific?
4 – Write – The actual assignment is to create a single, detailed and substantial blog post on this topic. These posts should all be in the “Politics” category I have just created and include “Occupy Wall Street” in the title.  Your blog post should include links to articles you cite. Due Date: Monday, Nov. 21.

Further plans:
1 –  I will be attending the “Mobilize for Economic Justice” event in Manhattan and will be at Broadway and Worth Street on Thursday.  If anyone wishes to accompany me, we can travel together, or meet there.  Take my cell phone number so you can find me: 516-850-9536.
5 – I cannot attend the conversation on Monday at 12:15.   I would like at least a handful of volunteers to attend that meeting and report to the class at our regular meeting on Monday at 3:05.

This is a rare opportunity to engage in a major political movement that is right outside our door.  I am especially interested in exploring ways that this movement informs the questions we are asking about the Arts in New York.  Your blog post should address this aspect specifically.  We will relate what you learn this week to the experiences in the arts we have had already this semester.

See you on Monday.  The blog post on “Occupy Wall Street and the Arts” is due by Monday Nov. 21.

Best,

ES

Prof. Edward Smaldone, Director
Aaron Copland School of Music
Queens College, CUNY
Kissena Blvd.
Flushing, NY 11367
718-997-3800