Ask the experts : how Ford, Rockefeller, and the NEA changed American music / Michael Sy Uy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Uy, Michael Sy, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National Endowment for the Arts--History--20th century.

National Endowment for the Arts.

Rockefeller Foundation--Music patronage--History--20th century.

Rockefeller Foundation.

Ford Foundation--History--20th century.

Ford Foundation.

Music patronage--United States--History--20th century.

Music patronage.

Government aid to music--United States--History--20th century.

Government aid to music.

United States--Cultural policy--History--20th century.

United States.

Cultural policy.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 263 pages) : illustrations, maps

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"From the end of the Second World War through the U.S. Bicentennial, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation granted close to $300 million (approximately $2.3 billion in 2017 dollars) in the field of music alone. In deciding what to fund, these three grantmaking institutions decided to "ask the experts," adopting seemingly objective, scientific models of peer review and specialist evaluation. They recruited music composers at elite institutions, professors from prestigious universities, and leaders of performing arts organizations. Among the most influential expert-consultants were Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, and Milton Babbitt. The significance was two-fold: not only were male, Western art composers put in charge of directing large and unprecedented channels of public and private funds, but in doing so they also determined and defined what was meant by artistic excellence. They decided the fate of their peers and shaped the direction of music-making in this country. By asking the experts, the grantmaking institutions produced a concentrated and interconnected field of artists and musicians. Officers and directors utilized ostensibly objective financial tools like matching grants and endowments in an attempt to diversify and stabilize applicants' sources of funding, as well as the number of applicants they funded. Such economics-based strategies, however, relied more on personal connections among the wealthy and elite, rather than local community citizens. Ultimately, this history demonstrates how "expertise" served as an exclusionary form of cultural and social capital that prevented racial minorities and non-dominant groups from fully participating"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Defining excellence, quality, and style: consultants as contributory experts

Gatekeeping from within: grantmaking officers as interactional experts

Pluralism and public-private relationships in the field of cultural production

The Rockefeller Foundation, the University New Music Center, and "foundation music"

The Ford Foundation, matching grants, and endowment building

The National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Bicentennial, and the Expansion Arts and jazz/folk/ethnic programs.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from web page (Oxford Scholarship Online, viewed on October 20, 2020).

Other Format:

Print version: Uy, Michael Sy. Ask the experts.

ISBN:

0-19-751047-7

0-19-751045-0

OCLC:

1145080156