Theatre Design & Technology - May 1973 - 63

In summary, a rather complete review of room
acoustics prior to 1950; aimed at university level students -- and of most interest to students looking for background material with respect to the acoustics of cinemas
and studios for recording and broadcasting.
Russell Johnson

THE STATE OF THE ARTS AND CORPORATE
SUPPORT
Gideon Chagy, Editor
New York, Paul S. Eriksson, Inc., 1971.
184 pp., 8 charts, 14 tables, 65 iIIus., 4
appendices, index

$10.00
Preceded by Business and the Arts in 1969 and
Business in the Arts 70 which appeared in 1970, th is is
the third volume in a projected annual series sponsored
by the 'Business Committee For The Arts, Inc.' to
"provide current information about the state of the arts
and the amount and kind of support contributed to the
arts by business." Despite the unquestioned need and
relevancy of its stated purpose, the series so far has been
little more than a slick Madison Avenue, once-over-lightly
exposure vehicle for the BCA. One senses neither deep
commitment nor probing analysis, neither 'gut' concern
nor enlightened understanding of the place and problems
of the arts in America today. Given the American heritage
I suppose we must all bend and suffer graciously through
an adolescent stage where men and women who have
been highly successful in one human activity dabble in
another. On the other hand, we must have learned from
the past three decades of incredible scientific breakthroughs that our scientists and technicians have offered
no patented solutions to our overwhelming social problems. Not that business understanding of and support for
the arts is not essential -- clearly it is and those of us in
the arts administration field are almost daily made painfully aware of the hideous lack of communication,
diverse criteria for qualitative not to mention quantitative evaluation of programs and results, bumbled administrative and budgetary opportunities. In all these areas and
more the business community and the arts community
can and must make su bstantial progress in cooperating
with one another. If this volume can contribute even
slightly to an improved communication and concern then
at last a ray of light will have pierced the gloom; if this
series even indicates a recognition in the business community that the arts need and deserve their help, then a
positive first step has been accomplished!

audience is th is series directed? One suspects that the
business community itself could have been far more
effectively reached had the efforts which went toward
assembling and publishing The State of the Arts and
Corporate Support gone instead to exposure in Fortune,
Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, or Business and
Society Review. As far as the arts community is concerned, commenting generally on the obvious (e.g.,
"imprudent handling of finances, last-minute, haphazard
fund raising, failure to seek and develop new audiences,
inefficient administrative practices, and poor public relations") does little to attack and solve those problems.
How about a detailed case study and viable answers such
as we have come to expect from the Institute of Arts
Administration at Harvard? God knows the arts desperately need the financial support and the administrative
and PR skills of business, but I don't think we're going
to get them because of volumes like this one!
Gideon Chagy, the Director of Communications for
BCA, has assembled eight articles, six of wh ich could be
politely termed window dressing. However, The State of
the Arts by Granville Meader is factual, well written and
informative albeit based to a great extent on other sources.
Meader's contribution along with the unsigned, How
Corporations Support the Arts, take up almost threequarters of the book with the latter article being an encouraging walk through the annals of successful businessarts collaborations. At the risk of sounding cynical, my
own reaction was, "Great, but so what!" Is either the
artist or the business man challenged to a new commitment or dialogue by pages of statistics or by a list of
prior successes? How do we begin to communicate and
thus cross-fertilize? Lest my review sound overly negative
(as the editor assures me that totally negative reviews
are unprintable) let me say that any hint that the corporate structure in America is recognizing the need to understand the arts and artists MUST BE ENCOURAGING.
The State of the Arts and Corporate Support is just such
a hint. Now if only the BCA will go on and set up
regional and local affiliate groups devoted to building
bridges, groups which could act as catalysts for productive
cooperation between the sources of financial wealth and
the sources of creative wealth -- then we will be on the
way. We may indeed find ourselves living in the age of
social audit where one of the fundamental units of our
society at last becomes aware of values other than
economic.
Robert H. Cowden
Wayne State University

However, before you unfurl the flags and crank up
the band, pause for a moment and reflect. Will such
commendable goals be achieved through a glossy, eyecatching volume which probably gathers dust on the
tables in numerous corporate waiting rooms? To what

~

THEATRE DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

MAY. 1973

MENTION TD& T
WHEN WRITING
TO ADVERTISERS

63
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - May 1973
