Running Head: Art

Survival of Art
Cecilia Magana
University of Texas at El Paso
Jarrett Williams
RWS 1302

Survival of Art
Art: the simple form of hobby to most people, but for others, it is part of a bigger picture.
Art is all around in this earth that mankind has shaped and formed and called it home. It is part of
history, it shapes us now and it will have a big impact in the future. Lot of people dont take in
mind that shape, color, the volume and texture, even other forms like voice, movement, music
and so much more, is a part of their world, a world of creativity. Unfortunately, not much is
being done for those unknown artist since the lack of funds prevent the continuation of art. It is a
big deal since its a cycle, places without artist cant grow meaning places will get shut down and
those creative minds will have to be on their own to make a living.
Media is the only way that most of these artists can spread their art around. One example
brought up called Can Art Survive The Crisis, by Keren Chernizon, documents the struggling
lifes of four artists; a musician, singer, dancer and painter. The other source is called, Art in
Crisis, by Michael Kaiser who blogs about art organizations being closed down and the reasons
behind them. As the evidence will show, these genres show the real meaning of art is crisis.
Audience and Purpose
The first genre from Keren Chernizon is a video done in April 13, 2015, showing the life
of four artists, David Otto Castrillo, Irene (Mimo) Ferra, Alejandro Silva, and Sonia Camacho.
These artists came from Spain where art suffers to grow. In this video, their desire is to show that
the situation not only happens there but everywhere. The second genre is a blog called Art in
Crisis, May 25, 2011. Kaiser provides information on the status of art institution. He explains
to his audience that art revenues in art related businesses and other organizations are plummeting
all over the world and that it cant really survive in the economy.

For both of these genres, there is no exclusion to who the intended audience is since art is
for all ages, it just depends how much a person cares about art. However, the first genres kind of
tells the audience that though they had to move, they wish they could have stayed in their
hometown, so it is more set to younger people saying to try to not leave your hometown to
follow an art path unless it is very necessary. One of the artists tells his part about leaving his
country. Noted that the video is in Spanish, the director does provide English subtitles. As said
by dancer Alejandro Silva, In my opinion, we have to go back. We are here to learn. But we
have to manage to take what weve learnt back with us. (Chernizon, 2015). The other genre is
more for older people owning art business or in pursuit of it. If anything, this genre provides
devastating news about what is going on in the art world.
Once these genres are seen, people will find the sole purpose of it right away. In other
words they are saying that art needs to be considered a bit more. Not only do artist fail to make a
good living but organizations drop down as well. Now this video in the first genre is about five
minutes, but as these artists give their stories, the purpose is clear to the audience. The blog, even
though it came from 2011, it still is acceptable to this date since art is still in its crisis.
Rhetorical Issues
With these genres rhetoric is shown based on the format of the genre itself. Once
separated into Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, it will be shown that these genres share a few
similarities.
Ethos
Genre number one presents the artists who all came from Spain, although, the director
doesnt introduce herself giving no information on her or her credibility, however, we do get the

credibility of the artists. Violinist, David Otto Castrillo moved to Germany since there were no
opportunities for him in his homeland and has a two year contract with the Germany concert hall.
The next artist is a musician and singer named Irene (Mimo) Ferra who once had her own group
of musicians in Madrid but then she had to move to Berlin. Alejandro Silva also has a similar
story as Ferra. He is from Jan, and not only is he a dancer but he was also an IT for a company
in Hamburg then later moved to Berlin to continue dancing. Sonia Camacho comes from a line of
painters, the difference is that she never studied it; instead, her degree is in communications. All
these artists except for Sonia moved to Germany where art grows a lot and struggle to continue
on with their art. Their credibility can be shown at the end credits with producers and locations
of where the project was done.
In the second genre, Michael Kaiser gives information about himself in the Huffington
Post website which in that website provides news, business, health, politics and much more. He
is the author of the blog as well as the Chairman in the DeVos Institute of Arts Management. Not
only that, he in charge of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as many
dance related theaters and ballet. He is known in many countries and has an art management
programs for non-profit art related organizations.
Pathos
The first thing that comes to mind as soon as the first artist states his stories is the pity
that maybe he will be able to continue his work or maybe it will be terminated. The video of the
first genre is good example of pathos because the audience will see and hear their exact words
and how they feel about the situation. One of the artists tells how she feels about the situation
going on in her country. Irene explains, What more is there to say? For me, not being able to

sing in the street, its very illustrative of the kind of political landscape that we have in Spain.
(Chernizon, 2015). She isnt the only one who explains how hard it is to be an artist. Most of
them had to move to Germany in order to make a living and they all wish they could have stayed
in their homeland in Spain.
In the genre by Kaiser, he provides his viewpoint since he too is part of the art world and
in his position, being a chairman; he knows that art is doing poorly because of the economical
position we stand in today. He explains:
Cutting programming and marketing, the current favored strategy, therefore, ensures that
future revenue will fall. This initiates a viscous cycle; less art and marketing yielding less
revenue leading to more cuts in programming and marketing, less revenue, etc. etc.
(Kaiser, 2011)
He used the word viscous describing how badly art is doing in the economy. He also
repeats etc. providing that there is more to the situation than just money.
Logos
Both genres have Logos in their work. In the first one, evidence is provided in the end
credits, they put the artist in the film, who was the director, music names and the exact locations
of where the video was recorded as well as the name of the project that this video is intended for
called Generation Crisis and the supporters of the video.
In Michaels work he tells that art is falling down by 6% giving a number to how art is
doing in the economy. Also taken into consideration, the U.S was suffering its financial crisis
that started in 2009 and it wasnt until 2012 that the economy started to get better. His post was

in 2011 so it was in the middle of the crisis and industry must have been suffering financially.
Even thought his post was indeed from 2011, it still concerns us today because many places are
not doing well financially and lots of people have to move in order to make a living, especially
for anyone who is in the art or is associated with any art related businesses.
Structure and Delivery
The way the first genre is presented is by giving the title, next, introducing each artist for
about a minute each, then providing extra thoughts of three of the four artists and ending with the
end credits, this is giving a total of about five minutes. The video isnt too long making it easier
for the audience to follow through the whole video. In the other genre, he writes a bit less than a
page. He is providing enough information for his viewers to be informed as well as information
about himself.
Conclusion

With all evidence and information provided by the authors, it is shown that art is in crisis.
Information is shared by how the economy is shaping art and how some make sacrifices in order
to peruse their career. Like how Sonia Camacho says that she is living through the expression
carpe diem, explaining that she has to make the most of it now because she doesnt know what
might happen in the future. There is some hope for those artist out there and as said by Jeannette
Walls, The Glass Castle, Sometimes you need a little crisis to get your adrenaline flowing and
help you realize your potential. (as cited in Chernizon, 2015). These artists out there will make
the most of it and they know art will survive, but it will be difficult in the process.

References
Chernizon, K. (2015, April 13). Can Art Survive The Crisis? Retrieved February 17,
2016,
https://vimeo.com/119539763
Arts in Crisis [Web log review]. (2011, May 25). Retrieved February 17, 2016,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kaiser/arts-in-crisis_b_222393.html