Wayne Dolcefino Brings Art People Together (Really)

Wayne Dolcefino, friend of the Houston art world?

That seems unlikely after his reports late last year ripping arts funding in town, which took the tone of “Do you know what crazy so-called ‘art’ your tax dollars are paying for?” (It also, to be fair, exposed some boondoggly stuff.)

But the reports, which raised a firestorm of protest in the arts community, have triggered a new effort to get people in that community to share information on fund-raising, surviving and getting new customers.

ArtCampHouston is scheduled for this Saturday, and ‘curators, artists, arts administrators, patrons, related organizations, granting bodies, arts dealers [and] gallery representatives” will be getting together to trade ideas on what works and what doesn’t.

“The trigger was Wayne Dolcefino’s scathing editorial (disguised as an
investigative report) that derided funding for the arts in Houston,” Grace Rodriguez, who’s helping put it together, tells Hair Balls.. “Members
and supporters of our arts community were appalled at the lack of factual
context and objectivity in his broadcast; and were disappointed that private
objection to Dolcefino’s “reports” were not reflected in a unified voice,
publicly.”

The meeting, at the Caroline Collective, will look to make sure The Terror of Dolcefino doesn’t happen again: “Several of us recognized that we need to facilitate better
communication and improve relationships among the various arts
organizations, stakeholders, and supporters to strengthen our community, so
that we could disseminate information and correct misunderstandings more
quickly in the future,” Rodriguez says.

The thing is free; more info’s available at the link.

We don’t think Wayne will be showing up.

— Richard Connelly