Creative capital: A life-long enterprise

David Brooks' column describes a phenomenon that certainly resonates with me.  When PBS aired an American Masters program on Joan Baez recently I realized how profoundly affected I was by her civil rights work - especially her fearlessness in marching with Martin Luther King - and the role of folk music in it.  I doubt that Brooks would have had his flashback of recognition, nor would I have had mine, had it not been for a conemporary "trigger" experience, though (his seeing his daughter's reaction to a recent Springsteen concert, and my happening on the PBS program).  Two things worry me about that: how such "learning loops" are subject to mere chance, and thus, the profound effects of cultural influences are, as well.  

"Building Creative Capital," the white paper Dennie Wolf and Steven Holochwost have posted on our web site alludes to the part cultural traditions and legacies play in building creative capital.  I'd say that definitely includes moral capital, too.  

Caroline Marshall   

Aside from the moral or even aesthetic elements that you allude to, it is also interesting that music is so evocative of those pivotal moments in our past. This is far beyond nostalgia, much more about how we make and retain meaningful connections in our lives.

Marc

This line from Brooks' column stood out for me...when talking about his idea of a "second education" he says that: "It’s generally a byproduct of the search for pleasure, and the learning is indirect and unconscious."
 
The arts are so much about emotion, about pleasure, about deep learning and transformation that is difficult to quantify and grade.  They are about our experience as human beings trying to figure this (life, love, self/others, etc etc)  all out.  So basic. (More basic in fact, than the "basics" of reading/writing/'rithmatic.  But that's just my opinion.) 
 
Bottom line: we need to communicate the value of the arts a way that people not only understand but support.  But since it’s hard to describe and hard to quantify (though I know that there are efforts to do so which I very much appreciate), it's so easy to dismiss by so many.  May I never read another rant about public funding for the arts. 
 
I’m excited about the "creative capital" work because I believe it is a framework which offers an inclusive, generous and meaningful role for the arts for everyone.  Of course getting our collective hands around this idea to actualize is a great challenge.  How do we spread this idea to people outside of the arts world?   How do bring together communities to imagine what the arts can do in their own backyard?  How about adapting the paper as an editorial for newspapers nationwide (while we still have them!)?  What about a TED.com talk?  Just some thoughts.  Thanks much Dennie and Steven and everyone at WolfBrown for your work.

Jacques Attali on music (from Noise: The Political Economy of Music) :

"its styles and economic organization are ahead of the rest of society because it explores, much faster than material reality can, the entire range of possibilities in a given code"

Attali's conception of the power of music, or the 'second education' (as Brooks refers to it), acknowledges the musician as both the upholder of traditions and prophet, which goes a long way to explain how musical experience simultaneously makes one aware of it's heritage while also positing visions of a future of potential harmony or disharmony.

The significance of such things are incredibly hard to quantify, but indispensable to any aspiring movement or community. Perhaps it would be interesting to take a counter factual approach, and attempt to conceive of successful community developments bereft of the arts in order to attempt to gauge their relative importance.