Politics and Non-Profits

It has occurred to me recently that arts nonprofits and politicians have something in common. They share decreasing audience and over-reliance on a shrinking pool of donors. Perhaps participation decline in live performing arts events and in political process shares some causes. I wonder if the time people used to spend on attending a concert, a play or considering political platform of a candidate is now spent on social media, surfing internet and binge watching TV.

This abdication of personal agency leaves a dangerous vacuum where perhaps few people than ever in history will be able to exercise unprecedented control over our politics and culture. At a time of growing economic inequality we as a society need personal agency more than ever. Active, well-informed citizenry can hold politicians accountable and better counteract the influence of capital in politics. Similarly, society which supports cultural institutions has a stronger ethos rooted in commonly shared set of beliefs and therefore not as easily manipulated. I do hope that people eventually realize that technological empowerment can too easily become imprisonment, I just don’t know if it will be too late.