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article about arts in BC

This is an article copied from this link: http://www.opusframing.com/opinion/tough-times-arts-bc
I found it quite insightful about our society and balanced in it’s value statements…

Tough Times for the Arts in BC

by Chris Tyrell on October 1st, 2009 in

The current arts funding crisis in BC has reignited embers of debate that have been recurring as long as our forest fires. I recently attended a closed-door rally for artists and arts administrators held at the Museum of Vancouver to strategize an industry response to the government’s recent draconian cuts to arts funding in BC.

I was in a room with a whole bunch of people facing a future without revenue they were certain was theirs, furious with a government also facing a future without revenue they were certain was theirs. Ironic, eh?

I see no value at all in anger. If we get angry and try to communicate, the people with whom we are trying to communicate will respond to how we are speaking, not to what we are saying. If we want to be heard and understood, we have to communicate calmly and with all the cleverness and relevant information we can muster.

So I am not angry with our government. The government is us; we put them there. The trouble is, we artists are part of a larger we – the people of BC. And we artists justifiably feel that the people of BC do not value the arts enough. We see our collective lack of respect for the arts in BC in the priorities of our educational and political agendas and budgets.

And now, as the shock waves of the global financial meltdown ripple through our society, we find ourselves in an urgent and critical situation. Hard decisions have to be made now by every economic ecosystem: individuals, families, small businesses, large corporations, cities, provinces and our nation. No one is exempt.

When hard decisions have to be made, it takes time to make them fair, and when a crisis takes hold of the whole world, there is not time for wisdom, and a lot of decisions are made in panic. And in times of crisis, sadly, it is often the loudest or most aggressive (or corrupt) of us who win, not the most deserving.

When times were good, I learned a lot about the arts working at the Arts Club Theatre. At the time, under the inspired and visionary leadership of Bill Millerd, both the man and the institution seemed pathologically averse to debt. Most, if not all, of our peer organizations, however, seemed not to be. They routinely amassed debt and were bailed out by government.

I loathed this public policy of rewarding fiscal malfeasance while punishing responsible arts administration, but now that very policy is being applied to the banking and automobile industries worldwide. I abhor this policy, yet it is deemed wise by many experts; so suddenly, a lot of long-held social covenants seem to be being turned upside down.

We seem to be suddenly surrounded by paradoxes. What has long been deemed wrong is suddenly right. There are contradictions everywhere. Frankly, I find the current times frightening and not only because of the financial crisis.

Besides the financial meltdown, I am seeing a social meltdown. Manners are virtually gone. The concept of what is polite has disintegrated. I see elderly disabled people forced to stand on buses while young and able bodies people sit. And I hear hate and anger constantly spewing from the media.

Worse, I see an emerging population of people robbed of their futures. Instead of degrees, they get debt, a lost hope of owning property, impossible odds for the establishment of a life-long career and the probability of divorce. Where and how, exactly, do we foster a love and respect for the arts in the next generations?

And how do we expect government arts subsidy policy to change, exactly, in the face of the current financial and social problems? As I said, wise decisions take time. Our current government is in panic.

The arts community of BC has to think about what we want in the way of arts funding policies and express it, not just vent our anger. And we have to face that things are going to change. They have to. And government has to think about what is best for us – not about what’s best for their party and the retention of power. Stephen Harper learned the hard way from the people of Quebec that cutting arts funding was not acceptable. He heard from everyone, not just artists. Gordon Campbell must hear from the people of BC that we value the arts. But we must also communicate wise and practical direction.

We must fight to restore a higher level of funding for the arts in BC: the cuts have been far too severe, too sudden and too many. But we must also make practical and difficult decisions about changing past practices. Artists and arts organizations are going to have to adapt the same way that all families and enterprises are.

More than ever, the things we make and do will have to consider the market. Our audiences and customers are going to have to support us more, and we are going to have to figure out how to make that happen. The coming HST, the decimation of corporate largesse and these government funding cuts mean more than ever that it will be individuals who will have to support the arts.

Tough times are ahead. We are the solution the arts need – all of us; each one of us, every day. We must buy as much of our entertainment as possible locally, just as we move to do our food shopping locally. Turn off your TVs, get out of the movie theatres and get involved with our concert halls and galleries and get as many people as you can to do the same.

Attachments

kids portray clearly the affinities of our human nature. Karina is sitting on the couch holding 5 or 6 of her dearest stuffed animals and one doggy styled backpack on her back…oh, and her favorite blanket. Things are bursting out of her arms, she’s tangled in the blanket and starting to lose her balance. should she let go of one of her precious critters to save herself? the attachments are too strong and she can’t bear to let anything go…so she rolls off the couch right onto her head where the harsh reality of the consequences demand her attention.

How foolish and silly it all looks, and yet we are much the same with our own “hidden” attachments. The consequences don’t appear that great for a while and we appear to manage holding on to all the things we want in our lives…meanwhile God sees what we really need and what we were made for and patiently draws us towards himself.

God’s Provision

God’s blessing and provision doesn’t come as a result of our hard work. God’s provision comes as a result of God’s generosity and hard work is the small part he asks of us in return. Work teaches us something more about the process through which he provides so that our gratitude can be more sincere and come from the heart.

Purpose of Pain

Why does it seem to be that only in our pain and suffering that the image of Christ in our hearts grows more radiant and compelling? Why does the splendor of His beauty become illuminated in our troubles more than in our blessing or success? Is it connected to the fact that he was called a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief even in prophecy? Is this perhaps why He made it so abundantly clear that he never promised to lead us away from suffering but rather right into the heart of it? Is it because that’s where he resides as one of his most familiar places? And how can we truly know a person if we don’t spend any time where they live?

Solitude of Night

from journal some time in 2008:

Why is the deepness and solitude of the night the mother of most of our children as artists (at least many of us)? The sights, sounds, and moments of inspiration in the day find their true depth and meaning in the quiet reflection of night where we carefully unravel deeper sources of meaning that spin the threads of truth we hold on to…the things that move us beyond mere existence into passionate living. As I watch a tribute commemorating the top musicians of the world leaving their best on a stage before the eyes of man I am struck by how clearly different are the things that fuel their passions (top 20 Grammy award performances).

I am stirred with passion again to reflect the exceeding beauty and grandeur of my Lord and King to the eyes of man…something so impossible to achieve and yet the only truly worthy pursuit as an artist *. In this endeavour will we know his delight and on this ground is the battle waged with the enemy who would seek to magnify our broken humanity to the point that it suffocates the joy of our inspired play with God. This enemy would have us believe that all the discipline and patience, all that labor and slow plodding development, and all the cost both to self and to family/friends who support us is not worth the meager yield we have to show.

How fragile many of us artists are and vulnerable to these messages from the enemy and from our own heads. But God has given me a secret weapon in the form of my wife who tells me she doesn’t care what i show for it…even if it’s just scribbles it is something I have to keep alive and keep pursuing for the sake of God who gave me the gifts and for my own children’s sake. There is truth in this and I hear the voice of God speaking as if directly to me through her beautiful mouth. May my scribbles and scratches never cease until something of beauty finally emerges to wash the feet of Jesus.

* I’m not speaking here of literally depicting religious subject matter in my art but rather an attitude of devotion to God that is earnestly reaching for Him and responding to Him through my gifts. All attention this might generate is then an opportunity to turn that attention back to the preoccupying focus of my life which is the beauty of Christ.

Goodbye to J-M

I drove down to mom and dad’s today for no other reason than to cry for my brother’s farewell. If I hadn’t listened to this inner prompting that i needed to finish something i would have missed a key opportunity to both experience and express the heart of God. I’m afraid there is nothing that expresses the depth of love one has for another quite like a heartfelt cry. and today i stood at the confluence of God’s love and my own natural affinity for my brother. It was a mix of many emotions that ordinarily would be too confusing to decipher and therefore left on the shelf…but God is slowly introducing me again to the person created in His image that is within me. This person cares deeply about others and is not afraid of vulnerability in showing it. Today i let it all out…and once i finished my heaving sobs God gave me help to express my emotions…that i felt the loss of his family not being able to share experiences with my own, that our children couldn’t play together, that i couldn’t be there as a regular support for him. I can’t understand why God has him walking a difficult road alone without much family or friendship support…but i trust God’s wisdom in shaping J-M’s life and character. I expressed the deep conviction i feel that God is delighted in J-M and wants him to know that with great assurance. Dad also felt need to confirm this and expressed the same thing in his own words, explaining that his father had never felt free to express his delight in his children verbally but dad wanted to say to us (his kids) that he delights in us. It was an important memory in our family history to mark. Last night was another memory (at Kendra’s suggestion) of worshipping together, the five of us plus Brian and a couple of the Thiessen kids. Worship and music within a family is a precious thing…a gift that ought to be picked up with greater frequency.

About Tithing

Thought i’d directly copy and paste this excerpt from First Fruits of Zion’s weekly email.

Parashat Hashavuah

Re’eh – ראה :”Behold”
Torah : Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
Haftarah : Isaiah 54:11-55:5
Gospels : Acts 8, 9

Tithing

Adapted from Torah Club Volume One
Unrolling the Scroll

Thought for the Week

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says [in Deuteronomy 25:4], “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and [Yeshua says in Matthew 10:10,] “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

Commentary

You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. (Deuteronomy 14:22)

Tithe is an English word that means “tenth.” Most Christians have heard of tithing. Many churches rely on the regular and faithful tithing of their congregants. The idea is that a person is duty-bound to give a tenth of his income to the LORD by donating it to his local church or congregation. This concept is loosely derived from the Torah.

The practice of giving a tenth of one’s income to the gods was widespread in the ancient Near East. Prior to the giving the Torah, both Abraham and Jacob tithed. The commandment to give a tithe, however, refers specifically to agriculture in the land of Israel during the days of the Temple. The Torah commanded farmers to give ten percent of the produce of their fields, vineyards, orchards, flocks and cattle to the Levites. The Levites in turn gave ten percent of that to the priesthood. The tithe was the primary mechanism by which the Levitical, priestly system was sustained.

Donating ten percent of one’s income does not sound too formidable, but the Israelite farmers were to set aside an additional tithe as well. This means that the total biblical “tithe” was closer to twenty percent. The additional ten percent was not given to the Levites, though. The Bible says that the Israelite farmers were to spend this second tithe on themselves in Jerusalem during the festivals. They were also to share with the poor. It is this second tithe which is under discussion in Deuteronomy 14:

You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock. …You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you. (Deuteronomy 14:23-27)

Churches sometimes misappropriate the commandment of the tithe by suggesting to their congregants that the Bible requires them to give ten percent of their income to the church. The Bible’s commandments about tithing do not apply to churches or people outside the land of Israel. They applied only to farmers in the land of Israel during the days of the Temple. Nevertheless, the principle of giving ten percent is an important baseline for charitable giving. Although they did not levy a tithe, the early believers outside the land of Israel contributed a portion of their possessions and income to the poor as well as to the teachers and prophets in their communities.1 Yeshua taught us to support ministers of the Word.2 Paul taught that elders who teach the Word should be paid for their efforts.3

Because there is no real tithe today, it is customary in Judaism to give ten percent of one’s income to the poor or to invest it in the education of Torah scholars or other charitable causes. Additional charitable giving and support of the community and synagogue are encouraged over and above that ten percent baseline.

Should believers today tithe? Yes. They are not obligated to do so, yet it is good to tithe one’s income for the work of the LORD. The tithe should be donated to one’s local congregation, to the poor and/or to ministries serving the kingdom. Some might even want to consider setting aside a portion of an additional tithe to spend during the festivals.

Endnotes

1. Didache 13.
2. Matthew 10:10.
3. 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

Unity

“Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace”
Unity comes with a common desire and pursuit of the Truth. There can be disagreements, even strong ones, but unity can remain when we are all committed to finding out what God’s opinion is about things over and above just what makes sense to us.

“Dialog is the path to learning Torah, not monologue” Tim Hegg. The Jewish Rabbi’s used to invite debate and disagreement, believing it sharpened their understanding of truth and helped them separate the dross from the gold.

The End of Fertility (but not virility)

Yesterday I went in to see Dr. Barry Rich at the No Scalpel Vasectomy clinic. He keeps a good sense of humor about him which helps keep the atmosphere light. In the end it was easier than going to the dentist. It’s a bit tender now but i’m taking it easy for a few days. It’s harder on Kendra really than it is on me since she has to fill in more to cover me. A few more weeks and we can put to rest any nervous concern about accidentally getting pregnant again. Yahoo! Honestly I did have a brief period of realization that our little Caitly would be our last experience of the baby stage. the sadness lasts a few moments but gives way to the rational understanding that we have as much as we can handle and 3 girls will keep me busy for many years to come.

If i could be guaranteed a boy would I consider another? Don’t ask me, the job has been done, the ship has sailed.

Caitlyn full on laughed this afternoon. it was a riot. Kendra was making faces and getting her to peel with laughter. Video camera comes out and it’s all gone….bah.