AYES ON THE PRIZE
posted by James Reel
Stephen Elton, an excellent local actor and the man behind Beowulf Alley Theatre, has this response to my post against arts prizes:
While I agree that arts prizes can ultimately be meaningless, they do have a tremendous value in publicity. Every year people gather for the Academy Awards and have lively debates over which film or actor is better and who else should have been nominated. Regardless of why a winner actually wins, we the people will disagree. But, I think that’s OK because without the awards there would be no venue to have these discussions. And I think even having something to complain about gives more life to any arts field.
For a local example I can bring up the recent Tucson Pima Arts Awards. Regardless of what I think about the nomination process or of any prestige related to the award, there were 400 people in the room that day that heard our name as a nominated organization. This has great value to us because it is a form of endorsement. Artists are always looking for audiences and audiences are faced with many choices in choosing their programming. Any endorsement of an artist, even by a “trivial” award, may help artists get the audiences they deserve.
I have wanted for some time to try and create an annual celebration of local theatre that would include annual awards. The goal, more than anything, is to have a “celebration”; a way to look back once a year at the tremendous work that was put on stage. It’s hard to have these types of events without giving awards.
I also think awards are important because it’s a way for the community to show how they appreciate the arts. When I go to eat at Pastiche restaurant I like to go a read the plaques they have hanging in the hallway by the restrooms. They aren’t anything special, nothing named after a Swiss scientist. But, there are a lot of little plaques from organizations that have appreciated something that Pastiche did and wanted to give them an award; a thank you; an endorsement.
