The condemnable mishandling by President Trump of the Charlottesville, Virginia, protests on Aug. 11 and 12 spurred 16 members of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities to publish a letter of mass resignation the following Friday. Among the members who resigned was Jhumpa Lahiri, a writer whose words in her 2004 novel, "The Namesake," seem all too appropriate:
“There were things for which it was impossible to prepare but which one spent a lifetime looking back at, trying to accept, interpret, comprehend. Things that should never have happened, that seemed out of place and wrong.”
The single remaining member of the committee, George C. Wolfe, a playwright and director of theater and film, released a statement later that day announcing that he would be resigning as well and that his name would be added to the others that had signed the letter. This means the committee is now the first White House department to completely disband.
“Art is about inclusion,” the committee members wrote to Trump. “The Humanities include a vibrant free press. You have attacked both. You released a budget which eliminates arts and culture agencies.”
PCAH members were completely justified in their criticism of Trump’s actions, but I cannot say I agree so enthusiastically with the actions they chose as a way of giving weight to their appropriately passionate letter.
The constituent artists claim they initially continued working under Trump’s administration because they were “hopeful” that serving the PCAH would allow them to “focus on the important work the committee does … to address, initiate and support key policies and programs in the arts and humanities for all Americans.” They must have lost hope in the wake of Trump’s defense of neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
The first letters of each of the letter’s paragraphs may spell “resist,” but I find myself worried about what this resistance will look like. Of the 17 constituent artists, Kal Penn, an actor, has made the most notable posts about the resignation, publishing the letter on Twitter and cutting down the White House’s de facto press release stating that Trump had already decided to disband the PCAH several weeks ago.
What he did not post about, and what I have not yet seen reported, are the plans he and other committee members have made to continue their public service to the arts – which would not include their own personal creative projects – now that they no longer work for the Trump administration.
For instance, they ought to declare whether they will continue their work for Turnaround Arts, an initiative that uses arts education to revitalize failing schools. Or, considering that the White House now proposes that PCAH funding be appropriated toward the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, I would love to hear that PCAH members were planning a new arts alliance.
Between being slated for defunding a few months ago and being hailed in a White House public statement on Friday as “cultural agencies [who] do tremendous work,” it is only fair to say that the NEA and NEH have very tenuous futures and could benefit from renewed support.
I would rather leave the fate of American art and arts education to the artists and students themselves than to Trump and his administration. So, former PCAH members, I urge you to continue your leadership and be vocal about exactly what form your resistance will take.
