It's a fundraiser, nothing more. The 18th time Stonewall Cincinnati has gathered people together to celebrate its support of human rights, focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.
There will be the requisite music food, drink and revelry. On Saturday the Music Hall ballroom promises elegant surroundings. Turning serious for one moment, the Stonewall Party will honor local civic and cultural leader David Herriman. Now it's no longer just a banquet. This party is about to turn political.
Try to remember the last time a prominent member of the business and arts community was openly celebrated by a gay activist group such as Stonewall. Sadly, there is no Cincinnati precedent for Stonewall's honoring of Herriman. It's the year 2000, and it's long overdue.
Open communication requires trust, understanding and respect, a willingness to be open with each other. Stonewall Cincinnati and Herriman represent a step in the right direction. The Stonewall banquet offers the perfect opportunity for Cincinnati's arts community to forge a political collaboration with the local gay community in a win-win relationship. Together, issues about censorship, tolerance and openness can be publicly addressed. The arts need to be more politically active because they are frequently under political attack.
I've never seen one pamphlet or banner in all the years I've voted at the meeting hall of Cement Masonry Local 524 on Woodburn Avenue. It's as if local artists, arts administrators and art patrons intentionally avoid political debate. If it takes activism by Cincinnati's gay community to bridge the gap between the arts and political community, so be it.
"There is much that the arts and gay community share in common," says Jeff Thomas, co-chair of the Stonewall Party. "I think this banquet can make a political impact."
Cincinnati has a way of turning people into cynics. It would be too easy for the arts community not to use Herriman's recognition to launch new dialogue.
"I wouldn't put too much into it," says Michael Blankenship, artist troublemaker and CityBeat's own Power of One columnist. Blankenship agrees with the selection of Herriman. After all, Blankenship remembers how Herriman financially supported the Ensemble Theatre's 1994 production of Poor Superman.
"It can only do good for the gay community to flex its muscle with the arts and business community," Blankenship says. "And Herriman is active with these groups. If the banquet serves as Herriman's coming out party, I say great."
Someone needs to tell various arts administrators that arts and politics do indeed meet. An active arts community would have united behind the Roxanne Qualls' bid for the U.S. First District Congressional seat. More notice would have been made of Steve Chabot's lack of support for the National Endowment for the Arts. Local arts groups would have reacted to Cincinnati City Council members Phil Heimlich and Pat DeWine's proposals to reduce city funding for ArtWorks.
Politicians need to hear more from local arts organizations. They need to hear our interests, our concerns and our issues. The dialogue could begin with the Stonewall Party.
There are arts advocates: Roxanne Qualls and County Commissioner Tom Neyer Jr. Further proof of the political power of artists can be found with local artists Dale Hodges and Barbara Wolf, who formed a grass roots coalition to support the Drop Inn Center's fight against forced re-location by a new School for Creative and Performing Arts.
It's surprising that Cincinnati's arts community isn't more active with the political community. Not enough money, not enough staff and not enough time are no longer valid excuses.
There ought to be political ads supporting candidates, news releases and conferences and campaigning for public school levies. The arts could emerge as Cincinnati's new public voice.
It's a message worth repeating in future elections. The arts have been noticeably silent for far too long. The Stonewall Party's recognition of David Herriman is a hopeful sign that times, at last, are changing.
