Theaters are going dark in Boston and Mayor Marty Walsh, who campaigned as an arts mayor, is administering platitudes, not solutions. The story is a warning about how when politicians advocate the arts, they are usually just wanting votes and donations but don’t want to stand up for them in the crunch. The reason? Cries of elitism and complaints from social service sectors that want that money. There are exceptions: King County executive Dow Constantine is one. A composer friend in Portland has a rule of thumb: the more liberal the city is politically, the less willing it is to buck populist sentiments and fund the fine arts.
The city’s historic stages are in crisis. Why isn’t Mayor Marty Walsh doing more to save them?
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