Lest We Take It for Granted

by Vince Durnan

This week brings Artclectic to USN. The risk in its familiarity for us is that we treat this annual miracle the way New Yorkers treat the Statue of Liberty.
So here, in brief, are a few reminders: we've been sponsoring Artclectic for nearly two decades, from founding days when the work hung on pegboard stands in the Auditorium. The goal was, and is, at least trifold--invite working artists to campus, highlight the creative process in our community, and generate a financial return for both the school and the artists. And it all happens though the bounty of volunteer initiative at USN.

Every effort extends to be inclusive. Every student and teacher, every member of our extended school community, and everyone in our city gets some kind of consideration in the planning and the doing of Artclectic. That means that the artists need to be especially available during our school day and that we need to be correspondingly appreciative hosts for them. It means a high gloss gala that comes as close as we ever would to a big-ticket formal and it means opening our studios to anyone who's game to make art out of scrap materials for free on a Saturday. And it means everything in between, with POPclectic and young alumni and past chairperson features. It's one of the only times you'll hear us pay to advertise on WPLN.

The basic financial arrangement borrows from the gallery world, where the people hanging the art get a slice of the proceeds from each sale-- though in our case by no means the majority of those proceeds, with an eye on fairness to the artists. For tonight and Friday there's a ticket price, to offset expenses and add to the bottom line. To earn a place on Nashville's "Artober" calendar we need to do it right, and that costs money in staging etc, but let me confirm that our organizers sweat every nickel. And the punchline is that every dollar that we net goes to USN's Fund for Innovative Teaching. It's a win, win, win.

Not everybody goes to Artclectic. Not everyone goes to our band concerts or soccer playoff games either. But this is a little different in that most everyone has been to a concert or a game and knows what they might be missing. And those other events (which of course I love to watch, btw) don't depend on hundreds of volunteers or provide such an intense and multifaceted festival of component pieces. The smoothness of the logistics, thanks to the skilled cooperation of USNA, Operations, Athletics, PE, and Food Service, among others, actually makes it amazingly easy to miss for busy tunnel-visioned members of the USN community.

May that not be so this year, or any year for that matter. Let's celebrate the Statue of Liberty right in our little harbor. Go once or more than once, and see it with the eyes of a newcomer even if you're a veteran. And thank the superstars who made it possible.

Yours in the creative spirit,
Vince
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.