Call it Paradise. Northampton is the shining beacon, the arts hub to end arts hubs. At least according to reputation. Yet Northampton seems to have lapped itself.
There are many, many artists, musicians, dancers, writers and performers in town, and scads more when you figure in the rest of the Valley. Many of them are worthy, innovative, and a whole host of other laudatory adjectives. But most of Northampton's arts institutions have gone a bit gray. Not just grab-the-Grecian-Formula gray, but boring gray.
It was with some interest, nonetheless, that I opened an email last week from the Northampton Arts Council. To be clear: the Council, part of the city government, often supports innovative art, especially with its unusual spring round of artist grants (full disclosure: I was part of a band which received a grant award in 2002). But last week's email was about awards, the institutional brand of award that often goes to inside players, players behind the scenes. The two award recipients for "excellence in the arts" were Joe Blumenthal (Dynamic Impact in the Arts) and Andrew Crystal (Community Service).
The Jane Ahlfeld Award for Dynamic Impact in the Arts, says the press release, "is given to an artist (or arts organization) who demonstrates rare achievement in the arts." And indeed, Joe Blumenthal, owner of Downtown Sounds and the Pleasant Street Theater building, is an artist. Armed with an upright bass, he regularly lays down the bottom end with the very fine group Klezamir and two Balkan groups, XOPO and Druzina. That is unusual, worthy stuff (just try playing klezmer on bass or anything else if you scoff), and Blumenthal, as Downtown Sounds owner as well, is certainly a part of the music scene.
The second award, the Keen Hahn Award for Community Service, goes to "an individual or business who has made a tremendous effort on behalf of the arts." This year's winner is Andrew Crystal. Crystal's effort for the arts is best exemplified by his leadership of the Academy of Music, for whom he crafted a business plan and "updated vision statement" to help save the old venue from financial troubles. Worthy stuff? Well, perhaps—in the current economic climate, declaring the Academy a success might well be a touch premature.
In both cases, however, a question is clear: to what extent are these arts awards, both of them offered to prominent businessmen, tied to Northampton's completely unartistic political machinations? Perhaps it shouldn't matter—these aren't Oscars, and there's not money involved. But in a town long claimed to be a haven for the arts, shouldn't there be something a little fresher happening than pure politics invading the arts?
Blumenthal is, as the press release says, "active in civil affairs." He is indeed active in civil affairs, most prominently as part of the State Hospital Citizens Advisory Committee, ground zero for some of the city's most contentious goings-on. As part of the CAC, Blumenthal aided Mayor Higgins and the city in the destruction of the landmark Old Main building on Hospital Hill, and in crafting the ever-evolving development there. That process has seen stiff citizen opposition, to say the least. And that makes Blumenthal prominent in a whole different, more controversial way. His current involvement as a proponent of the Northampton BID puts him at the heart of another impassioned political controversy.
Crystal, on the other hand, was the chief developer of South Hadley's Village Commons and of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was part of the board of directors that oversaw the Academy of Music's decline into financial trouble. That said, his revamped business plan may well end up placing the Academy in untouchable solvency (here's hoping). But is the granting of awards for rewriting vision statements what Northampton has come to?
Perhaps arts institutions can't escape their institutional proclivities, the slow creep of procedure and bureaucracy. Perhaps even a place that claims to be a center for artistic innovation gets less innovative as dull businesses take over bohemia. But isn't something amiss in Paradise when artistic awards become equally about businesses and political connections instead of the bohemia and groundbreaking art the town reportedly loves?
Even some of the most award-worthy endeavors in Northampton look back to a grittier arts climate—O'Brian Tomalin's revival of the old Baystate Hotel Thursday nights at the Sierra Grille is a truly beautiful thing, but now the grime and the napkins draped over the lights for rock show ambience have been replaced by the clean floors and gleaming bar of a gentrified Northampton that largely looks at smelly rock bands as nostalgia, emissaries from the days when there were only seven sushi bars in town.
Newcomers to this Northampton—newcomers with suggestions—upset people sometimes. Take Dave DelloRusso of Primate Fiasco. On one hand, he proves that the Arts Council sees and rewards new energy, considering its awarding Primate Fiasco a grant last year. The award was for an odd purpose: to bring bands to Northampton and promote it as a regional destination for musicians. That might seem an odd perspective, a bit of naivete on the part of a newcomer—this is Paradise, after all, already an arts hub. But DelloRusso grew up in the Valley, spent time elsewhere, then returned. Perhaps he isn't entirely crazy when he says Northampton needs a boost.
DelloRusso's efforts have admirers and detractors, but that is often what happens to new ideas in places where circles have formed, grown encrusted like coral atolls. And perhaps it's just such endeavors the Arts Council should keep rewarding rather than turning to the tired choice of handing arts awards to those with deep political connections, worthy or otherwise.
Surely we can be more interesting than that—the past Northampton Arts Council Awards sometimes, at least, point to recognition of edgier achievements, giving the nod to the likes of Mal Thursday, longtime booker for the Baystate Hotel's rock scene and Chunk record label owner, and Sheryl Stoodley, artistic director of innovative theater troupe Serious Play.
Where are their new counterparts? We need them, and we need to recognize their contributions. Forget that tired old '90s Billboard hype about Northampton being the next Seattle. Who wants to be the next Seattle anyway? How about being the next Northampton?
