An Interview with Michael Kaiser
Guest Speaker, Michael M. Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, interviewed by Nicole Caruth. An excerpt:
Michael M. Kaiser speaking at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum (pre-interview). ArtPrize, 2009. Photo: N. Caruth
Nicole Caruth: What was your first thought about ArtPrize?
Michael Kaiser: I was a little upset I hadn’t thought of it myself, and I’m someone, as you’ve heard from my presentation, who believes in big ideas, big projects. So, it immediately was exciting to me. I was one of the first people to endorse [ArtPrize] in their first press release.
NC: Oh. Have you had time to look around?
MK: Just a little bit. I’ll have a bit more time this afternoon. I’ve seen about eight or 10 things, but not nearly enough. The things I’ve seen have been outdoors, primarily, which are so large. That’s been sort of stunning, the amount of time and energy. I think the big thing that it really says to me is how much latent creativity, or not so latent creativity, there is in this country. How do we, A) allow people to benefit from it more, and B) how do we also use the people who are so creative in our communities to inspire others in our community and to inspire our corporate world as well? Because there’s so much creativity here. It’s fabulous.
NC: …You said you were kind of jealous that you hadn’t come up with this idea yourself. Is this kind of process something you might employ at the [The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]?
MK: Well, I don’t like to copy. [laughter]
I like to do new things. But I believe that what is wonderful about this is it’s really about an entire city getting together as opposed to about an arts organization saying, “This is what we’re going to be doing.” I think that’s really a wonderful testimony to this community and to the city of Grand Rapids.
NC: What do you think might be the biggest implication to come out of ArtPrize, or rather the most powerful thing?
MK: Well, two things. One, I think it’s going to force the more staid institutions, the visual arts institutions particularly, to assess how do they build excitement around everyday people, and maybe get rid of some of the rarefied air, or at least be able to allow individual citizens to enjoy and participate. Although, I do believe it is our job as arts organizations to lead the taste rather than to follow it. I don’t do programs where I ask the audience, “What do you want?” I create programming, and I hope that it inspires them. And if I’m successful, it does, and they’ll go, “Wow, I never thought I would like that.”
But it’s important to allow people in, to allow artists in, and to give voice. I think we see it in American Idol too. There’s amazing talent in this country, and people are not always given an avenue to express that talent. And I think that’s what’s great about ArtPrize.
I also think it’s going to have great ramifications for Grand Rapids. It has already made Grand Rapids an instantaneous star in the art world. While Grand Rapids has wonderful arts institutions, I don’t think that people in other cities were really talking about the art institutions in Grand Rapids very much. I’m talking about not just in the immediate area, but also throughout all the 50 states, and around the world. And I think it’s made it a star.
I think now the challenge is going to be to keep it fresh and lively and wonderful, and also to not allow ArtPrize to dominate all the arts of Grand Rapids. How do we allow the ballet and the symphony and all to succeed and do well despite this great new success of ArtPrize. And the pressure is on them to now produce something really interesting…Given the success of this year, I think there is going to be a lot of discussion of mission. What, really, is it for? Which is true for every arts organization. I’m not saying it’s unique to ArtPrize.
NC: You said something in your talk here [at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum] about ArtPrize being a model of organizations working together, and also about marketing and getting people excited. I haven’t found, so far, that anyone has really talked about marketing and how important that is…
MK: There’s been a lot of viral marketing [of ArtPrize]. The fact that people in New York are talking about ArtPrize means they’ve heard about it. That’s marketing. Most of it’s been through the press, and most of it’s been through the online press. Much more online press, I’ve found, than written press. I don’t think the radio and television — I’m not talking about locally, I’m talking about nationally — has spent that much time on it. But there’s a ton of online activity, and that’s how people get their information now.