Are Lawton’s Arts Organizations Fostering A Generation Of Timothee Chalamets Instead Of Supporters?

The internet has been buzzing with reactions to Timothee Chalamet's negative comments about ballet and opera, especially after multiple shades thrown at his comments during the 98th Academy Awards. Professionals and supporters of the arts have been taking aim at Chalamet and others who similarly think that certain forms of art are better than others.

But Chalamet's rhetoric isn't new, not on a national or a local scale. Fortunately, many forms of art have survived thanks to dedicated professionals and supporters, and residents of Lawton, Oklahoma, are benefitted locally by the arts that have been kept alive by dedicated supporters.

However, Chalamet's views aren't his own, and if a new generation of arts supporters aren't fostered, particularly in Lawton, then there will be no one there to keep them alive.

Support and funding are what help keep the arts alive.

There are two factors that keep the arts alive: support and funding. These two go hand-in-hand in a number of ways. When you see a local theater production, the purchase of your ticket supports the local theater. Another way is the theater's board member applies for a grant and that award supports a specific aspect of the theater, like funding a children's theater summer camp.

Over the past decade or two, schools and communities have seen dramatic decreases in fundings for the arts. STEM gained a footing in the early 2000s, and school and government funding began favoring science and math instead of the arts.

At the same time, arts organizations began to see a decrease in their viewership, donations and volunteers. There are multiple factors causing these decreases, including the passing of longtime donors, financial crises and the hesitancy of ushering in a new generation of volunteers.

Local arts organizations across the country, including Oklahoma, have been negatively effected by a decrease in funding and support. Some arts organizations have even had to shut down due to a lack of funding and support. The only way these local arts organizations survive is through the efforts of dedicated arts supporters.

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Although funding is scarce, Lawton's arts organizations receive funds from various sources.

Locally in Lawton, Mayor Stan Booker has touted Lawton as the "STEM City of Oklahoma" and the City of Lawton has followed suit by funneling millions of dollars into the FISTA, which has since hosted STEM events for local students. So, over the years, it has been up to local supporters of the arts to make sure that the arts in Lawton remained funded.

Lawton's local arts organizations receive funding from local and national sources. A few local arts organizations receive a portion of funding from the City of Lawton through the city's hotel/motel tax, which was raised from five percent to seven percent in 2021.

Lawton's arts organizations also have a unique channel of funding through Arts for All, which is a local nonprofit with a sole purpose of fostering the arts in Lawton and raising funds for its member groups.

Lawton's local art organizations also receive funding through local and national grants. And a small percentage of funding still comes from local donors and ticket sales. But none of the funding would be possible without the people who put in the work to keep the arts alive in Lawton.

Lawton's arts organizations also struggle with recruiting and maintaining new supporters.

Lawton's arts have also been plagued by a decrease in supporters. I spent nearly 10 years volunteering within Lawton's arts organizations, and served six of those years as the Board President for Lawton Community Theatre. And when we weren't talking about funding, we were talking about ways to increase our supporter base or finding ways to get more people involved with the theater.

Most of this was a challenge because my tenure was during the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, the theater remained fiscally solvent during this time and wasn't one of the thousands of community theaters across the country that closed their doors during this time.

However, the task of finding more dedicated supporters of theater remained. Some of the areas we focused on were the local high schools and their theater programs. We volunteered our time and resources for their productions as a show of support for other local theater and in hopes of attracting students and their parents to get involved in Lawton Community Theatre.

This was beneficial as we did see an increase of new, young actors for our productions, and their parents also volunteered for backstage work and some even accepted board member positions.

READ MORE: Lawton Students Unite For A Lively 'Mamma Mia!' Production

But like most Lawton arts organizations, we struggled with volunteer retention. And there are many factors that can affect volunteer retention, like burn out if you rely on one volunteer too much, a new volunteer has a negative interaction with an older volunteer, or simply life happens and people are unable to volunteer anymore.

Even though volunteers come and go, it's important for local arts organizations, especially in Lawton, to work towards fostering a new generation of dedicated supporters because those are the people who help the organizations to sustain into the next generation.

The arts wouldn't be alive in Lawton without decades of dedicated supporters.

Many generations have sustained the arts in Lawton. Today, Lawton still sees the impacts Louise D. McMahon had on the arts in the community through the McMahon Memorial Auditorium and grants from the McMahon Foundation, a legacy that she ensured benefitted the arts in Lawton for generations.

Bill Crawford was an arts writer at The Lawton Constitution in the 1960s and 1970s and served as the Fine Arts Editor until his passing in 1980. His daily column celebrated the arts in Lawton, and helped support the careers of artists and performers from Lawton, including actress Candice Earley.

Some of Lawton's most profound arts supporters spent time not only fostering local arts organizations, but also cultivating the next generation of arts supporters. Based on their legacy, both Louise D. McMahon and Bill Crawford knew that those after them would need to carry on their dedication to the arts so that the arts in Lawton would continue to thrive after they've gone.

So today, it's just as important for Lawton's arts supporters to instill a new legacy of dedicated supporters as it is to spark the love for the arts in young children and to bring joy through art to Lawton's residents. In order for the younger generation to not become jaded towards the arts like Chalamet, and to take on the responsibility of sustaining the arts locally, then the younger generation needs to be brought to the table with the intention of one day taking the lead.

Lawton's arts organizations have made mistakes in the past by bringing the younger generation to the table but only for the means of the present. Yes, the younger generation can help with social media, are able-bodied for physical work, etc. But if that's all they're there for, if the current supporters only want the younger generation there to help with a current problem, then they won't feel needed and they will move on.

If the current arts supporters don't allow the younger generation to take responsibility for the arts, then how will they take a personal stake in the arts and instill in themselves a meaning for sustaining the arts for the generation after them? This could look like allowing a younger supporter take the reigns on a project or event, and let them run it their way and not "the way its always been done."

Because with a new generation comes a new ways of doing things. And if Lawton's current arts supporters want the arts to continue, as they have for generations, then they need to let go of "what's always been done" and make way for the future. If not, the arts in Lawton will be what Chalamet said, "no one cares about this anymore."