What Should the CT Office of the Arts Do For a Living?

 Based on the empirical evidence, the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) is a government body who think that art administration is a branch of aesthetic malfeasance. The evidence that the Connecticut Collection is being systemically weakened at the expense of future generations as well as current CT artists of merit.

Add that to the fact that rural and suburban artist communities in the Second District are marginalized and fiscally ignored as if the wealthier and more CT State government situated counties needed priority.

So how do we fix it?

The first step in accountability is replacing the current staff with a more qualified field of administrators. You can't fix what's broken with the individuals who do the damage and don't have the intellectual capacity to actually do their jobs.

But aside from the ingrown, myopic current administrative staff needing to refresh their resumes, there are a number of things I've thought about that would systemically ensure a more equitable and fair administrative practice.

1. To ensure artists in the entire State are given opportunities to be represented in the 1% for Art program, each CT Call for Art will in round robin fashion, automatically enroll the art pieces that have won member show awards from that select set of diverse geographic State Art galleries assuming the winning artists qualifies as a State resident.
   
   This simple change will benefit CT artists on multiple fronts. First, it supports membership in local art galleries and performance venues meaning that those volunteer and otherwise funded organizations thrive through membership.
   
   Secondly, the art being considered for the State Art Collection in part has already been vetted for quality by Ct art galleries.
   
   Third, when an art piece is purchased from that Ct artist, the gallery gets its fair percentage of the purchase which fiscally supports the artist AND supports to organization.
   
   Each 1% set of purchases will feature the next cohort of geographically diverse gallery entries.
   
   
2. Artist qualifications must require proof of two previous years of having paid CT income tax instead of dubious residency addresses.
   
   
3. The COA must publish the actual dollar amounts of 1% totals and what percentage of that amount is actually spent on CT art purchases. Fiscal transparency.
   
   
4. Transparency of how the work will be judged.
   Spatial requirements
   Serial edition considerations
   Thematic considerations
   In scope/out of scope material considerations
   
   No more moving of goal posts.
   
   
5. Artists who are awarded purchase must not be considered again for two years.
   
   
6. The COA must publish a rich representation of how the works were evaluated, who and from where they were purchased, and the totals of works submitted, by who, from where.
   
   
7. The purchasing judges must first become familiarized with what the State Collection owns to ensure a complementary and ever enriching CT Collection.