Editorial |
Halls of Fame: What Do the Arts Mean to Us?by Lauren N. Maynard |
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Abolitionist Mary B. Talbert, co-founder of the Niagara Movement which later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is one of Buffalo’s most honored citizens and one of America’s greatest human rights activists. She died in 1923, but on a chilly afternoon this October, she made her way through an excited crowd in Rockwell Hall as Buffalo State professor Geraldine Bard officially dedicated the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame.
Of course, the part of Talbert was being played by well-known Buffalo actress Mary Craig, but her legacy moved regally about the room with the swish of crinoline skirts as Craig and three other actresses portrayed several prominent Buffalo women, now honored through a new and permanent display in Rockwell’s lobby. Bard was joined at the podium by inductees old and new, as well as by Buffalo State President Muriel Howard, Buff State alum Sam Hoyt, and members of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Its director, Billie Luisi-Potts, spoke at length about the serious dedication so many New York State women gave to the suffragette and abolitionist political movements, whether at Seneca Falls or in Buffalo. She talked about how men like W.E.B. DuBois joined Talbert, her husband and many others of all races to stand up again civil injustice. Potts, along with Bard, Howard, Hoyt and others, came forward to talk about how this new Hall of Fame display and its annual nomination and induction process will help the spirit of equal representation alive in our community.
The dedication was a happy event that recognized dozens of influential women: attorneys, scientists, a few journalists, many nurses and educators, activists, philanthropists and elected officials. Several had ties to Buffalo State, which I suppose is understandable given the Hall of Fame’s roots at the College; Bard co-founded the Hall of Fame, was a founding member of the Western New York Advisory Council of the New York State Division for Women and serves as President of the New York State Coalition on Women Issues [sic].
Never before had the WNY contingent had a place to display all the familiar or famous names of inductees, such as Talbert, Lucille Ball, Mary Lou Rath, Nancy Naples, Margaret L. Wendt, Lauren Belfer and Diane English. Names that have either quietly or boldly influenced the Buffalo area for generations, like Olmsted, Rogovin, Nardin and Rich.
Unfortunately, what was not acknowledged was the surprising dearth of local artistic talent standing at the podium that day. A look at the program’s list of past inductees since 1997 revealed, aside from Lucille Ball, not one other actress of local or national prominence. No painters, dancers, or playwrights. No poets, filmmakers, photographers or musicians. And just one arts administrator, Cornelia Bently Sage Quinton, who served as the then-named Albright Art Gallery’s first woman director at the turn of the century.
After the ceremony, I bumped into Celeste Lawson, director of the Buffalo Arts Council, actress and theater booster Darleen Pickering-Hummert, and Marilyn Ciancio, producer and host of Adelphia’s “Artscope.” Given our vocations, we naturally wondered, where were these distinguished ladies? Where are the Joyce Carol Oateses, the Lucille Cliftons and Catherine Parkers and Christine Baranskis? Why wasn’t theater maven Blossom Cohan’s name on a shiny brass plaque? What about Jane Keeler, co-founder of Studio Theatre (later Studio Arena)? I’m sure that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just last week, the nomination deadline for next year’s 10th anniversary Hall of Fame induction passed, as it does every fall. Lawson told me that she and some other concerned arts supporters collected the necessary biographical information in time to nominate Cohan; actress Katharine Cornell; television and stage actress Nancy Marchand; and Amanda Blake, who played Miss Kitty on “Gunsmoke” throughout its long and historic run on television.
However, questions still remain. Did Mary Craig and the other actresses see the irony in their plucky performances? Do Buffalonians really believe that women artists (and men, for that matter) are here just to entertain? That artistic accomplishment doesn’t need such recognition? If we think that the arts are here to put on a show and distract us from the realities of life, then the budget cuts really do signal the end of Buffalo’s cultural reign—its proud heritage as an artistic city and its potential to someday be a vibrant destination for tourists, families and professionals.
What I’d rather believe is that most of us cherish this cultural legacy as much as we do our doctors, judges and children’s advocates. As Craig and company demonstrated, the arts give history life. They help us put reality into perspective, to illustrate, mirror, and translate its pains and pleasures. Talbert, as one of the first inductees, would have certainly wanted such equal representation in this growing Hall of Fame, because she would have understood that “fame” takes all forms, including color and gender.
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