DAY 4
February 5
Prompt: "Art Suppression Day (ick)."
Oh good lord. This was probably the dumbest thing that Interlochen ever did, bar none. If only I'd been in the room when they came up with this one...
President Kimpton: Okay, y'all, we need a great way to kick off the New Year. The kids just got back from break and we want to welcome them home--what do we do?
Board Member #1: Ooh, ooh, I have an idea! Let's show them what the world is like WITHOUT ART!
Board Member #2: Oh, great idea! They probably have NO IDEA what that's like!
Board Member #1: I know, right? I'm sure none of them have EVER faced censorship or lack of instruction or lack of equipment before...we need to show them what that feels like or they might graduate without knowing how it is in the real world!
Less-Clueless Board Member: Uhh...guys? Maybe they already know what the world is like without art? Seeing as, you know, most of them have transferred from public schools, where more art funding is getting cut every semester and nine times out of ten, the art students are outnumbered twenty to one by jocks?
Other Board Members: ...
President Kimpton: Great idea, Board Members #1&2! Let's do it! Let's show those spoiled kids what it's like to LIVE WITHOUT ART! I'll make some speeches, #1 can cover all the art displays with trash bags, and #2 can tell all the teachers to suppress the kids all day!
Less-Clueless Board Member: But they do that already...
President Kimpton: SILENCE FOOL!
I mean, really. That's exactly what they did: Got us out of bed for an 8 AM community meeting (and SOME OF US didn't have class until 10:30 on normal days!), forced us to watch a presentation on WHAT THE WORLD IS LIKE WITHOUT ART OMG BECAUSE NONE OF US KNEW WHAT THAT FELT LIKE, and then made us listen to Kimpton, Farraday, and Wade's speeches. And THEN, we were forced to live in a pseudo-suppressed environment for the rest of the day. We were informed that "Uniform would be strictly enforced" (but for anyone who had Kullenberg or Nadji, uniform was enforced ANYWAY), "iPods would be checked for inappropriate music," "you would not see art you'd normally see," and, my personal favorite, "You would not be allowed to practice or make art the way you normally would."
Oh, really.
OH REALLY.
Is that a fact, Mr. Fancy Pants School Administrator? Well, let's see here. Normally I get my scripts figuratively torn to pieces by every teacher and student in my workshop. Then I have to listen to my AD tell me that something isn't going to work on-set, then I have to listen to my DP tell me that something isn't going to work on-set, then I have to listen to my thesis advisor tell me why I can't have the actors I want, and then I have to listen in while freshmen and first-years are given priority for crew roles that I should get first crack at--so, you tell me, Kimpton, Farraday, and Wade, how exactly am I "allowed" to practice my art usually? Filmmaking is not like drawing or creative writing or music--you can't just sit down and do it by yourself. It's a collaborative process, and in film school, when every last thing you do is graded, that goes double. So, really, you can't possibly "suppress" us any more than they usually do.
Added to which, most of the other majors at Interlochen felt the same way. I've heard the visual arts majors complaining because nude portraits are not allowed. I've heard theatre majors complaining that the same few people get the main roles every year. Film was not the only major with issues. Not to mention the fact that, as I mentioned, a lot of us were crossovers from public schools, where most art programs play second string--if they even exist--to the football team or baseball team or whatever sports team happens to be in-season. So chew on that for awhile...and then "show us what it feels like to be suppressed." Because, clearly, we have no idea. Because, clearly, that wasn't the whole reason we came to Interlochen in the first place--to escape that suppression.
But, being the artists that we are, we still rebelled--because it was just too stupid to not have SOME sort of reaction to this tomfoolery. Apparently (and oh, how I wish how I'd been there to witness this) a group of percussion majors paraded up the concourse and ripped down all the plastic trash bags covering the displays. People wrote all kinds of witty things on the paper tablecloths we were supposed to "write our opinions" on at Stone. (As Mishka so aptly informed the administration via those cloths, "You will get used to seeing the word 'bullshit'...you will fool yourself into thinking that this was a success.")
But my favorite thing that we did was make a huge banner that read "ART MOVED" and hang it over the sign at the entrance.
Here is what I love so much about that day: It did not tell us anything we didn't already know about "art suppression." It did not make us appreciate art more. But what we did--putting up the ART MOVED banner--was such a perfect, innocent, cheeky way of standing up for ourselves. It was a nice, subtle, jokey-but-no-really-we're-serious-here way of saying, "We are not going to put up with this." What with everything that's currently going on at Interlochen, I think this is something that all current students--and rebels--need to keep in mind: Don't try to steamroller the administration--but do make sure that they get your point.
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