This is a short summary of a lecture presented by Ardean Watts at the December meeting of Humanists of Utah.

"…As I left Abravanel Hall following a recent concert, I was forced to run a gauntlet of street musicians playing violin, accordion and flute, respectively, with hats in hands outstretched. I felt some guilt as I walked by them without contributing, thinking of the card I carry in my wallet listing names and addresses of the agencies offering help to vagrants, homeless and the down-and-out. The appeals printed in the symphony program or delivered to my doorstep daily in the mail are only thinly veiled variations on a similar theme…those who choose music as a vocation indirectly choose begging as an avocation. I learned the art of panhandling from Maurice Abravanel, my mentor from the day I met him in 1956 until the present moment. His death a little over two years ago scarcely diminished our relationship; the memory of his example and personality continue to be a source of strength and delight to me to this day.

"During my 32 years as a professor at the University of Utah, I often cautioned starry-eyed young music students that while music is one of the most transcendent activities of the human race, it offers few rewards when bought and sold in the marketplace. Like music, love, with all its beauties, is not expected to pay its own way…

"America's enormous World War II effort gave us an inkling of our nation's capabilities when we dedicate our full resources to something. For instance, a national road system was considered necessary for future defense and development of our industry. Within a few years, we had a highway system that is a wonder of the world. The billions of dollars put into our highways should also be seen as a subsidy to the automobile and oil industries… America's priorities seem to be of a material order…I hope it will never be forgotten that American contributions to rebuilding war-ravished Western Europe included aid for the reconstruction of cathedrals, opera houses, and concert halls, as well as industry…

"Artists were not always beggars; before they were beggars, they were slaves. Popular musicians, then and now, were the exception, going from place to place selling their wares to whoever would pay a few pence for some moments of levity and delight. They were numbered with traveling salesmen, jugglers, and town criers. At the same time there was a substantial academic artistic establishment supported by large churches and monasteries. They decorated the places of worship and beautified the literature. Their pay was bread and water and promises of paradise. The secular establishment developed its own form of patronage. Each court maintained musicians and artists along with housekeepers and field workers. Their duties were to fulfill the whims of their patrons. In rare cases they were allowed sufficient freedom to function as creative artists. Bach, Mozart and Haydn are examples of people of genius whose patrons allowed them sufficient breathing room to nurture the growth and natural expression of their abilities."

Mr. Watts then presented a brief history of music and musicians with particular attention to the effects that Beethoven had. Beethoven moved music from a pastime of a special class and made it broadly human and available.

"…In 1826 President John Quincy Adams proposed a 'Plan for the Permanent Encouragement of the Fine Arts by the National Government' that failed to get the support of Congress. Theodore Roosevelt appointed a Fine Arts Council that collapsed for lack of funds. Adam's dream finally became reality in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy established a President's Advisory Council on the Arts, followed two years later by the National Endowment for the Arts established by Congress and signed into law by Lyndon Johnson…

"…Jane Alexander, National Director of the NEA, told the Utah Town Meeting…that 'not-for-profit arts in this country are responsible for over one million jobs and $3.4 billion back to the Federal government in income tax revenue from an economy that can be described conservatively as $36.8 billion in direct expenditures alone. It is estimated that every dollar the endowment gives generates about $11-$26 in any given community.'"

Mr. Watts traced arts in Utah from the commitment of early Mormon pioneers to the more pragmatic current leadership. In the '60's our schools were an example to the rest of the nation. Today Utah ranks 50th in the ratio of professional arts teachers to the total state student enrollment.

Mr. Watts' closing thoughts were two bumper stickers: Fear No Art and Practice Random Kindness And Senseless Acts Of Beauty. "After all, the best art may be how we live our lives, the kindness we promote, the beauty we share."

--Wayne Wilson