The importance of critics to the arts community

Each Friday and Sunday, as I sit down with the Denver Post, I am grateful for all the arts coverage: the theater reviews, the art show reviews, the architecture discussions. I also like thumbing through the arts section in Westword.

I am much more likely to go to a music show than a play, but it makes me feel good that local media covers all aspects of the local arts community because it gives me a sense of being in an exciting place.

Below is an excerpt of an article written a Minneapolis actor who talks about how important critics were to his career and how they aren't covering the smaller venues these days.

I suppose that if art criticism in print declines or disappears, the Internet will take up the slack. Lots of bloggers are happy to offer their opinions. But still, there is something rewarding in seeing local papers devote space to the arts. Plus by being in the paper, these events are visible to people who are casually thumbing through the pages, whereas they might not see them in niche online sites.

Michael Kennedy: The fading away of the critics is a blow to us all - Minneapolis Star Tribune 6/18/07: "These days, all we seem to hear about is the Guthrie, recently so overpriced that nobody can afford to go. The Fitzgerald may as well be the only arts organization in this city -- if you listen to MPR. As far as art goes, we have the Walker and Minneapolis Institute of Arts. When the folks in the media want to get funky, they mention Theatre de la Jeune Lune, the Children's Theatre Company or the Weisman.

Yes, we have the smaller venues, but do you hear about them very much? Not really. We hear more about television shows, movies, traveling Broadway shows and what to wear to a nightclub than we do about the fine arts in the Twin Cities.

This city is in a quiet artistic crisis. With all of our small theaters, small galleries, music groups, dance companies and literary venues, we should be getting clear, serious criticism. We should have people working full time covering all of the theaters they can seven nights a week. There are tons of art galleries that most people have never heard of. Musical groups are everywhere.

We need the critics. Their opinions are one thing, but the fact that they can go into these small places, consider these artists and watch these performances says that the arts are a serious part of this community."