Let's face it. Madison is more often than not deemed a fabulous university on account of its outstanding academic reputation and its plethora of beer. Yet, there is more to the University of Wisconsin than high GPAs and a nice, cold brew. The unique, passionate, and truly creative minds and personas of the students that bring this campus to life are something to observe with awe. It seems to me that Chancellor Biddy Martin agrees, as this past week she has deemed this fresh school year ""The Year of the Arts"".
With goals to inspire, engage and celebrate, this declaration is part of a two-year process to bring attention to the arts and humanities programs offered in abundance on campus. Last year was that of the humanities, this year it's time for the arts to take the spotlight.
It's a great year to be a freshman. If it is your first year as a Badger, consider yourself lucky to be so informed about amazing performances and displays that we more seasoned Madisonians will be hitting our heads over for missing out on all these years. Seriously—from dance, theater, music and film to live speakers, this campus has them all and they have been severely underappreciated. And there's no excuse for such absences either because almost all of these events are FREE.
We have access to a broad range of arts that include free concerts of up-and-coming musical artists at the Union every weekend to galleries at the Chazen museum of art. There needs to be more people at these venues and I can only hope that this year will bring a wider audience.
It is my belief that human expression through art of any form is one of the greatest and most powerful mediums that makes us who we are and perhaps even helps us to find ourselves. Whether your passion be writing poetry or doing some kind of crazy interpretive dance, art helps us take a deeper look at ourselves and in a more broad way, at humanity. Art says what a simple conversation may never be able to convey. We should all be embracing it.
We also must cherish the opportunity given to us while such things are still affordable. Our appreciation for the arts could already be becoming compromised as our society continues its focus on making more money.
In mid-January, the way the music industry operates was revolutionized as Ticketmaster (a company that controlled and sold over 80 percent of the market for concert tickets) and concert-promoter LiveNation merged to form one giant conglomerate now known as Live Nation Entertainment. Music lovers let loose a huge outcry as fear arose that a monopoly on the live music industry had been formed. The combination of these two companies put them in control of large portions of ticketing, band management, promotions and venues; a first in the music world.
As even the simplest of high school economics classes has taught us, a monopoly on a market can lead to barriers to entry for other budding companies and therefore unfair, high prices for products.
With Live Nation Entertainment in control of so many processes on the negotiating chain of pricing, there is no middle ground to truly attempt to drive a price down. Yet, this was allowed by the U.S. Department of Justice as LNE claims implementations for some market competition have been made and that by combining the two businesses the whole process that goes into making a concert happen will run more smoothly. And while I'm sure it will run with more ease, it will be at a cost, and a high one at that.
Art is supposed to set us free, yet it is constantly creating barriers between people as soon as a price is set on the medium of choice. A barrier of entry to culture is being formed as the cost of witnessing something beautiful makes a steady ascent.
This shouldn't be so, and on our campus it doesn't have to be. I appluad Chancellor Martin's initiative to promote the arts and hope that the rest of campus learns to appreciate the importance of expression throughout the coming year.
In the face of a music industry revolution and dire economical circumstances, we must welcome the arts more than ever to get us through the day, and UW-Madison is rolling out the red carpet.
Jaime Brackeen is a sophomore majoring in Journalism and Strategic Communications. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
