Madden also noted that the “anti-ideology” resolution is actually all about ideology.
“Narrowing representation is the most explicit form of ideological warping they can do,” Madden said.
Adam with the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus was sharper in his criticism.
“Right, we don’t want to fund ideology,” she said. “I would say, ‘Then why are you taking a homophobic ideology?’”
Snelgrove insisted that being LGBTQ+ as an artist is not an ideology.
“A resolution like that starts to erode … the relationships because there’s not a sense of trust between the arts organizations and the Arts Commission,” Snelgrove said.
A chilling effect for artists, arts funding
Proud Mary Theatre Company performs “Skintight.”
South Carolina Arts Alliance’s Robinson worried the resolution could have a downstream suppressing impact, from arts organizations to individual artists.
“Even if (artists) are not pursuing grant funding, they might feel pressured to self-censor to be able to continue working with an organization or an institution that is seeking grant funding,” Robinson said. “It has these consequences all down the ballot.”
Madden said even if the commission eventually awards the grants to Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre, it has now established a context that will dissuade LGBTQ+ artists and organizations from submitting.
“It’s a broader wave of suppression of voices, of representation, of histories, and of actual people,” Madden said.
Robinson noted that the resolution, along with the suggestion that legislators and politicians are inserting themselves into the public arts funding process, is troubling.
“The founding legislation that created the Arts Commission specifically … encourages artistic expression and does not limit it,” Robinson said.
Madden pointed out that the anti-LGBTQ+ board members on the commission are doing the opposite of the mission Robinson described.
“Suddenly the people who should be championing and supporting and imagining the possibilities for what art could be and do in this state are the very ones attacking the artists,” Madden said.
