They decide what they can ask the Dean for in terms of money
>to support special events, like a reading by poet John Prynne. Now, I'm
>not in the academy, and I don't know this for sure, but if the Dean, and his
>helpmates, recognize the word 'poetry' as valid and a vital literary art,
>regardless of what they know or don't know about 'poet' John Prynne,
>they'll agree to fund the reading.

Yes, Finnegan this is pretty much how it works. Usually the "Dean" may not
know much about poetry, may not read it, and may not know the difference
between Pam Ayres and John Prynne, and the bureaucracy that runs such things
may not either, but this means that the creative writing faculty who do read and
often have varied tastes can make a pitch for whomever's work they're
enthussed about, and since the Dean, not reading poetry, isn't going to gasp
and say, oh my gosh, Prynne, or oh my gosh, Ayres! he's most likely to support
it because of the importance of poetry in the community, both oncampus and
off. It depends; there are some foundations that give awards based upon
reading, that is everyone on the board and in the decision making process is a
passionate reader and reads all the work of all those whose work has come to
some one reader's attention somewhere. But often it's as you say where a board
or foundation or Dean is not a passionate reader and supports poetry and
poetry events, publication, etc, because of being persuaded to the importance
of the arts and poetry in the community,

Best,

Rebecca



---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 20:15:00 EST
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: down with the down with poetry crowd
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>> All poetries benefit in the society when any one form
>> of the art is pushed forward.
>
>This sounds like the trickle down theory, Finnegan! I really don't think
>that a huge audience for Pam Ayres is going to generate a bigger audience
>for Prynne.
>
>All the same, I know what you're saying here, and I don't think anyone was
>condemning all support for poetry. It's more about having it jammed into a
>particular month, so you don't have to bother about it for the rest of the
>year: a little corral or reservation which renders the rest of the culture
>safe from poetry allergy. At the same time, I do tire of the hallucination
>that somewhere out there in never never land is a huge audience for poetry,
>just waiting for the right advertising campaign. What if there isn't?
>
>Best
>
>A
>---
>Forgive my odd entry to these topics; being on Digest. it's harder
>to seamlessly enter the fray...
>Alison,
>You cut me to the quick, with 'trickle down," which everyone knows
>is a code phrase for the Republican's urinating on one's head. But, to
>the question at hand, I don't recommend any kind of force-feeding of
>poetry. I don't believe marketing poetry will necessarily produce mass
>audiences. That was not my point. But here's how a Prynne, and his
>readers, benefit from the people out there beating the drum. Every year
>English Departments, over here and I suppose over there, have budget
>meetings. They decide what they can ask the Dean for in terms of money
>to support special events, like a reading by poet John Prynne. Now, I'm
>not in the academy, and I don't know this for sure, but if the Dean, and his
>helpmates, recognize the word 'poetry' as valid and a vital literary art,
>regardless of what they know or don't know about 'poet' John Prynne,
>they'll agree to fund the reading. Now here is where Dominic gets his
>check/cheque, whether he knows it or not: They pay John Prynne a
>reasonable reading fee/bonarium, let's say they get him cheap for $2000
>(USD). 100 people show up for the reading. There was a faculty member,
>paid $70,000 USD a year, who spent 2 hours on introduction. Two students,
>not paid, spent 1 hour setting up the room and making sure the microphone
>worked. A janitor at the University, swept the place an closed up after it
>was over. 50 in attendence, of the hundred, were students; they paid or their
>parent did, but not directly. The other 50 were general public. They got
>for free, for what would otherwise cost $20+ per head.
>
>Now let's extend this a bit...How many presses that published John Prynee
>(or other poets) get government funding or private foundation funding. Do
>they
>think that money comes because people woke up one morning and decided
>poetry was worth funding?
>
>No, the people who said Yes were influenced by what they believed Poetry
>(capital P) meant to the culture and the community. How were they influenced?
>Richard Howard would have you believe they read a beautiful poem they didn't
>understand sitting by a fireplace one evening and a dove descended over their
>heads and whispered 'This is high art, support it'. What do you believe?
>Finnegan