Programming for the People

Kori at the Fashion-y Blog recently posted about Boston's Musuem of Fine Art's upcoming exhibit, Walk This Way. Finally, a topic I can really sink my teeth in to!


As a fan of art and of fashion, I appreciate seeing an organization taking a functional object like shoes and highlighting the architecture, design, history, and style of it. As an Arts Administrator, one who very much loves programming, I find this exhibition programming intrinsically fascinating.

Boston's MFA has come under fire in the past with their choices in programming-- from big blockbuster exhibits featuring Picasso and the Impressionists to shows that strategically showcase hot cars, MFA is constantly teetering between for the people and angering "the people." It's a problem that faces many arts administrators-- how do you program for your opera, theater, museum, dance company, gallery, in a way that is both stimulating to a select few (the academics, the connoiseurs, the donors) and is appealing to a broader audience? Some companies cater to a narrow patron base, while other organizations try to appeal to as broad and mainstream a base as possible; but I'd suspect that a majority of them are falling in that middle area, where they are trying to attract and provide for both groupings.

An exhibit on shoes, despite the historical legitimacy and art-worthy design, is bound secure a few complaints. "Walk This Way" is the ultimate case study on the problems and questions facing arts organizations today-- how do we define what art is? What are our responsibilities to challenging the publics' thoughts on art? Is it wise to use resources on a blockbuster exhibit that may be designed only to bring in additional funds? Should arts organizations faced with presenting shows that they may find less educational, less artistically worthy, in order to bring people in to the space?

While I myself, and my classmates, too, are excited and pleased to see "Walk This Way" being produced at the Museum of Fine Art (hey, we're all fashion fiends), I can't help but think my enjoyment of the show may be complicated by the above questions racing through my head. It brings me great pleasure to see an established art museum continuing to bring recognition to fashion and accessories as an art form, but the opinions of the status quo worry me.