"The Great Detachment (or - when click-bait culture masquerades as arts advocacy)" [Finland] - 2019
The arts are urgently needed to address the gap between reality and what we perceive as via social media, writes Kevin Doyle, a New York-based playwright and director. Doyle has spent 2018-2019 on a fellowship working as the Saari Invited Artist at the Saari Residence in Southwest Finland. He has worked professionally in American, Canadian and European arts funding structures since 2007. Doyle believes the erosion of public funding for the arts which took place in the United States is now transpiring in multiple countries around the world. In his essay, Doyle ponders the impact of social media on arts advocacy issues, and connects it to the current political situation in the United States. This essay was written in conjunction with Doyle's appearance as one of the speakers at the joint Kone Foundation and Helsinki International Artist Programme ‘Towards Smart Art Funding’ seminar on April 25, 2019.
In gratitude to the staff at Koneen Säätiö in Helsinki, Finland for commissioning this essay in 2019.