Arts Are Key To Social Change

To the Editor:

I enjoy keeping pace with Pablo Eisenberg’s contributions to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, as he usually champions causes about which I care deeply.

I was distressed, however, to see the pull quote in his article on the Highlander Center (“How One Charity Has Reshaped America,” September 4), which said, “Why do wealthy progressives support arts institutions but not an organization that has been in the trenches fighting their battles for social change?”

I don’t think Mr. Eisenberg meant to denigrate the arts. Unfortunately, that’s the effect that the editorial paraphrasing of his text had.

I am a longtime admirer of Highlander and an advocate for social change. I agree that Highlander deserves more support than it has received.

I also believe ardently in the socially transformative power of the arts, and have spent much of my personal and professional life championing the arts as an essential tool of democracy. I believe Mr. Eisenberg appreciates the social impact of the arts, too, as he cited the Zilphia Horton adaptation of “We Shall Overcome” as a marching anthem of the civil-rights movement.

That pull quote, however, took an inappropriate swipe at the arts. Not only was it unfortunate, but potentially damaging at a moment when there is leadership change at many of the country’s largest foundations, and priorities are being called into question. The paraphrased quote came off as a suggestion that the arts are not worthy of support from progressives.

Our country boasts a long list of artists who have added their vision and voice to the progressive struggle for social justice — Toni Morrison, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Maya Lin, Diego Rivera, Eddie Adams, Harold Pinter, Maya Angelou, Tony Kushner, and so many more — not to mention the thousands of quilters, gospel singers, muralists, and street dancers who live among us, giving shape and texture to our collective experience, and uniting us as communities.

It may seem a small thing, but one capable of a negative ripple effect among some of us who otherwise work in common cause with Pablo Eisenberg.

Claire Peeps
President
Grantmakers in the Arts
Executive Director
Durfee Foundation
Santa Monica, Calif.