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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Making
a case for an endangered species<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
opinion piece appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
on </I></SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">11/19/10<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">When colleges and
universities are faced with budget cuts reflective of the nation’s economic
woes, it is usually the arts that are earmarked.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Just last year, a<A
href=""><SPAN
style="DISPLAY: none; COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; mso-hide: all; text-underline: none">Skip
to next paragraph</SPAN></A>t Washington State University, the department of
theatre arts and dance was eliminated. At Florida State University, the
undergraduate program in art education and two graduate theatre programs were
phased out. The University of Arizona cut three-quarters of its funds for
visiting classical music, dance and theatre performers.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wesleyan University’s Center for the
Arts, which supports four arts departments, lost $1.2 million from its
budget.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Similarly, many
private institutions encountered larger classes and trimmed offerings in the
arts in addition to higher tuition and fewer services.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As a result, the
traditional benefits of performing the arts, such as increased creativity,
abstract thinking, cultural awareness and social conscience have been relegated
to secondary outcomes for graduating students.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Courses in arts appreciation and
criticism have never been core requirements, partly because they fall into the
crevices between edgily linked disciplines such as literary studies and
performance, scholarship and journalism, and art and entertainment.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These, too, have been cut.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The obvious result is
that fewer students are given opportunities to witness, engage in or think about
the arts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This, in turn, impacts on
their perception of the importance of arts, their consumption of the arts, and
their support of the arts.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The responsibility of
facilitating a working knowledge of and growing appreciation for the fine and
performing arts, and inspiring their practice, consumption and support, has
fallen upon professional critics in the nation’s daily newspapers, magazines and
broadcast media.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Arts criticism was
once a thriving enterprise.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Beginning in the early 20<SUP>th</SUP>-century, the professional critics’
opinions were revered and often feared by their respective industries.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They helped inform our own opinions,
dictated box office sales, and kept the arts the topic of conversation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Critics the likes of George
Bernard Shaw (theatre), Clement Greenberg (art), H.T. Parker (music), Carl Van
Vechten<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(dance), James Agee (film)
and </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Northrop Frye (literature) </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">shaped the arts
themselves.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Only a few short
decades ago, critics were part of an elite corps of taste makers and culture
shapers.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">They are now
collateral damage in the more recent digital revolution that has sent the
newspaper business into financial turmoil.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>As total print advertising revenue declined 9.4% to $42 billion from 2006
to 2007, according to the Newspaper Association of America, the ranks of
professional arts critics have dwindled from 2008 to 2010.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Significantly.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: auto 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"
class=MsoNormalCxSpMiddle><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Variety</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> magazine stunned the industry by
laying off its chief film critic and its theatre critic.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Two longtime film critics at <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Newsday</I> were pressured into taking
buyouts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ruth Reichl was one of the
last towering food critics, but her magazine, <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Gourmet</I>, folded.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Nathan Lee, one of <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Village Voice’s</I> full-time film
critics, was laid off.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More than
one-dozen longtime TV critics at major-market dailies—including the <EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Dallas Morning News</SPAN></EM>,
<EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Seattle-Post
Intelligencer</SPAN></EM>, New York’s<EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> Daily News,</SPAN></EM> and the
<EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Houston
Chronicle—</SPAN></EM> have been either let go or reassigned.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>After 24 seasons on television, “At the
Movies<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">”</I>—the nationally syndicated
showcase for dueling film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel (and, more
recently, Richard Roeper)—was cancelled.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">These are merely the most high-profile
casualties in an industry ravaged by them.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">These professionals
have been replaced by an explosion of uncredentialed, online opinions—including
amateur filmgoers on Rotten Tomatoes, typical readers on Amazon.com, pedestrian
diners on Yelp, and casual theatre goers on Hotreviews.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"Now, we're all
critics," noted veteran editor and onetime <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">TV Guide</I> critic Jeff Jarvis, which is
fine.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More voices have the
potential to enrich the dialogue about the arts.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Unfortunately, many
of these voices are woefully uninformed, uninspired and, according to <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Washington Post</I> columnist Howard Kurtz,
“not very interesting,” the result (in part) of the demise of the arts and arts
education in our colleges and universities.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The Internet's speed is also making a
difference.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Reviews by Internet
news sites' designated critics get posted the minute a show opens, void of
reflection and critical analysis.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Even these are being supplanted by the posting of instant reactions
texted or tweeted to chat boards and networking sites.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">“The multiplicity of opinions online
can be refreshing, like a spring rain,” suggested <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Village Voice</I> critic Michael Feingold,
“but their instant, unremitting inundation of all discourse seems more like the
Johnstown Flood: The sane person instinctively retreats to higher
ground.”</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">"With the newspaper
industry shrinking,” says Terry Teachout, a <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Wall Street Journal </I>drama critic, "it's
not enough to have a [casual critic] say the local museum has bought a new
Picasso. It's also necessary to have someone who knows whether it's
museum-quality and is worth $5 million."</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thus far, Cleveland
area newspapers—including the <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald</I>—have retained their arts
critics, although at some outlets they have had their voices muted or their
presence marginalized by reduced column inches.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Still, here we are… even in these
troubled times or, perhaps, because of them.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">If you appreciate the
arts and the function served by their critics, hug your local arts and
entertainment editors as a sign of support.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto"><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">And
while you are at it, hug your local college and university administrators.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They have made some difficult and bone
headed decisions of late, and could benefit from a bit of human
kindness. </SPAN> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>