Soprano's senator dad buries arts stimulus funding

Come November, Sarah Coburn, a rising soprano, is scheduled to sing her first L.A. Opera role in Handel's "Tamerlano," playing opposite Placido Domingo as the beleaguered daughter of a conquered Turkish potentate.

Culture Monster wonders whether any semblance of that tale's turbulence is stirring within Coburn's own family these days considering that her dad, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), has led the charge to keep federal economic stimulus money from landing in the pockets of artists such as, well, his daughter.

On Friday, the Senate voted 73-24 in favor of Coburn's amendment "to ensure that taxpayer money is not lost on wasteful and non-stimulative projects," such as funding museums, theaters and arts centers.

"It's been ... Sarah's longtime policy not to comment on her father's career," said Stuart Wolferman, a spokesman for her New York management company.

If arts partisans are tempted to cast Coburn père as a stereotypical Okie-from-Muskogee (indeed, that is his hometown) who hammers the arts out of ignorance, there's a bit of a complication: "The senator comes to the opera a lot," reports Mark Weinstein, executive director of Washington National Opera, which is sending its production of "Tamerlano" our way. 

Reviewing "Tamerlano" in Washington last year, the Washington Post said that a lovers' duet Coburn sang with Patricia Bardon, a woman playing a male role, "was so lovely it stopped time."

Writing in the New Yorker about Sarah Coburn's performance last summer in Bellini's "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, N.Y., Alex Ross described her as "a voice of particular radiance.... To the requisite loveliness of tone Coburn added ample breath control, pinpoint accuracy in coloratura passages, and innately musical phrasing."

-- Mike Boehm

Photo: Sarah Coburn. Credit: Stacy Boge.

Photo: Sen.Tom Coburn. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Comments

[Michael Cain]

So, either this is a cheap way to get some press for Sarah Coburn (which is lame) or this is a cheap way of making Tom Coburn look like the pariah of the arts community (which is equallly lame). So Ms. Coburn's federally-employed father wants to make sure that the "stimulus" package is being as streamlined as possible; so what? Is it not true that most arts organizations rely heavily on private donations from companies or foundations (usually founded by a retired or late ex-executive millionaire)? By ensuring that the federal money used is going to create some kind of lasting sustainability, do the arts not secure their own future? There are people, people that were once gainfully employed and are drug-free, that have nowhere to sleep; no reliable source of food and feel almost all-together hopeless. How is a government-sponsored production of Thaîs, or Bohème, or any other grandiose, elite musical affair going to solve this problem?

I'm a musician; a poor, struggling jazz musician in Philadelphia that would like nothing more than to compose and play for a living. I believe someday that I will achieve that goal. I don't believe, however, that I need the government breast to suckle me. I believe that good music at a fair price attracts and retains an audience. Naïve? Perhaps. History shows, however, that in times of crisis people turn to the arts for comfort (eg. Messian's "Quartet for the End of Time". Artists have the opportunity to be part of the solution. Standing in the queue with our hands out is being part of the problem.

[Samuel Thompson]

What this IS is a cheap way to smear Ms. Coburn's reputation as an artist. Her relationship with her father is exactly that - hers - and should have nothing to do with the reporting and chronicling of her career.

[Terri Hill]

I agree with Michael Cain's post.

[Rob]

Hot chick with a great voice. Why should we not want to stimulate it?

[dave]

Sen. Tom Coburn is a right-wing nut -- he opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest, and said in his 1994 Senate campaign that he favors the death penalty for any doctor who performs an abortion. He has also said the "gay agenda" is "the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today."

Nobody can pick their parents -- but if Tom Coburn were my dad, I would publicly disagree with him about those subjects. I wouldn't simply refuse to "comment on his career."

[Matt]

Everyone is embarrassed by their parents at some point...

[Kevin]

Michael Cain is thinking only of himself and has obviously taken a right wing stance on the stimulus issue. Amazing that everyone today has an MBA in Economics. Not. Arts organizations are going under at an alarming rate and many artists are left in the lurch because of it. Perhaps if Mr. Cain's career were more successful he'd realize that. This stimulus package issue isn't about stimulating individual careers - it is about creating and maintaining jobs. Jobs not only in the arts but in the services that have a symbiotic relationship to the arts (restaurants, hotels and the like) - I suppose that these hard working, "drug-free" people Mr. Cain refers to (and is that "drug free" statement trying to say something about artists? What kind of stereotype is he trying to advance here?) might find jobs as chefs, servers, managers, desk clerks, or whatever as arts organizations give cities a reason to be visited by tourists. And why is reporting that a father and daughter, who are both in the public eye, may have differences about the largest issue to face this nation since the Great Depression not of interest? Is Mr. Cain also a journalist? Stick to blowing your horn, Mr. Cain, you cannot toot out a truly thoughtful response to this article.

[Donald Frazell]

Talk about self serving, or not serving, as from what you claim, artistse are incapable of cooking for themselves, or paying there rent so they stay in luxury hotels all the time. Tend to your garden, and learn where that quote comes from. It is very applicable right now. Few of us go out to eat, we cant afford it, besides, us creative types grow our own food, cook better than most restaurants, and pay the house note and taxes, and put our kids through school. Michael Cain is being very selfless, not looking for the easy buck, but wanting to do it the old school way. Earn it. Paying ones dues is a phrase that has sadly lost its meaning and appeal, and its truth. time to work son, no more handouts, except for homelss families and jobs to those who will work. And again, that EARNING it. Lets all get to work.

art collegia delenda est

[John Kramel]

It is clear to anyone with a brain that people employed in the arts are workers as much as are auto assemblers, pipe fitters, school teachers, baseball players and bankers. All of them are a part of our economy.

There will always be a Michael the Musician and Joe the Plumber. Just ignore them. Be productive about changing things, instead. If you are an artist, consider making art that will help inform the voters in OK and other states that insist on sending creativity-hating stuffed shirts to the U.S. Senate. This needn't be "didactic" art - just art that is somehow informed by this principle. Art, being what it is, will convey the message.

[Donald Frazell]

Obviously art hasnt, as those with a fully functioning brain have avoided art schools for decades, witness your non functioning logic. Artists do NOT add to the economy, they cant even function without handouts, real industries do what? Create wealth. What is wealh? Creating more than you consume. What does art do? Consume endlessly, and hands out leaflets to gallery opening parties and bad wine. It does not create energy, or materials needed for life, or services for ones heatlh. Its actully mostly been a big industry of the mental health ward, taking in those who cant fuction in society.

No, art is not a form of human culture that adds to ones economy, it is a usually a luxury, spent on with left over money after paying for essentials, but does have a role, one completley ignored and neglected by art academies, Reflecting the world, humanity, nature and god, and visuallizes it for us to get a better hold on our Purpose. But art no longer has purpose, so is useless. Will artists come from time to time who truly do add to our common humanity, not just cater to the whims of the rich? Of course, but they are rare. There are thousands times more artistes than any culture truly needs, its an out, but now, the military may be your only option, They dont have many, if any, marketable skills. And for every art job one seeks, hundreds other do to.

Close the fine art schools, they just produce useless "workers" who have no training or work ethic. Who are fascinated by work areas, as they have never done any, shying away from actually doing anything like its the plague. There are far too many already, only a few design schools and such are needed, like Art Center. Creative arts are learned in the museums, real ones, not fake ones like MoCA, but the Norton Simon and such. And librairies, no artist needs anything more than that, just an inexpensive art store, and learn for yourself, that is the only way. Learning life is an artists job, that has ever been done by an art acadmy. Tear em down, and build solar power plants, now THAT might be useful.

art collegia delenda est

[Kevin]

Thank you John Kramel for your thoughtful response. You're quite right.

And to Donald Frazzel - I don't think anyone who reads your response could know what you're responding to or what you mean.

[James S. Trager]

Opposition to federal FUNDING for the arts should not be construed as indifference to the arts. Lets not conflate the issues. This so-called stimulus package includes funding that its sponsors believe would be beneficial, and others like Senator Coburn believe should not be incurred at this time by the Federal Government and/or does not qualify as genuine stimulus. I have met the senator and I can assure you that he is as sincere in his beliefs as his opponents. My guess is that he would never consider using his position of trust by advocating spending taxpayers money in a way designed to assist his daughter's chosen career.

[DD]

I used to live in New York. She's a sweet girl, very conservative politics.

Glad to see her doing well. Great publicity shot. In any case, this is news because why wouldn't a guy with a daughter who is singing opera professionally want to support the arts?? It's a puzzlement.

[helen]

This is supposed to be a stimulus package. Money for the arts, however well intended, does not belong in it. I'd suggest "the artists" stop waiting for a handout and learn to live within their means, like the rest of us. If that means getting another job to support yourself, while persuing the art on your own time, so be it. It is not the taxpayers responsibility to support some peoples' career choices.

[Donald Frazell]

I dont doubt that most artistes dont understand what I am saying Kevin, and that is as sad a commentary on our educational system as can be said. Therefore, I am not writing for them, they are too involved with being a part of the problem, those who do get it want to be a part of the solution.There are simply far too many artistes, no culture needs as many as our art academies spew out every year. So they come up with games to while away their time, and justify their existence. It's really simple from the outside, the inside? its so convoluted, truth is never even sought, let alone seen.

This bill has NOTHING to do with yearly art appropriations,. There, simple enough?

art collegia delenda est!

[James]

Donald Frazell, the issue of understanding what you mean to say has more to do with your incompetent use of the English language, with regards to syntax and grammar, than with the content content of your tirade. I sort of got what you were trying to say but you would be much more effective if you'd learn how to write coherently...

[Connie]

Part of the problem is that people conflate "the arts" with individual artists. The kind of funding that is prohibited in the Coburn amendment goes not mainly to individual artists, but to local arts organizations - regional symphony orchestras, theater companies, local history museums, etc. - the kinds of organizations that have a very difficult time providing the services they can offer without some assistance. Sure, corporations and donors contribute, but in this economy, those resources are drying up. When those arts-related jobs (not just artists but ushers, stagehands, janitors, and the ancillary jobs in the hospitality industry) get cut, local economies, especially outside major metropolitan areas, suffer deeply. For every dollar the government invests in the arts, it generates about $7 in local economic activity. Wouldn't you like to be getting that kind of return on an investment right now?

[Leonard Jacobs]

I see the irony in this story -- I mean, that's what it's predicated on, right? OK, so I see the irony in this story. But political disconnects within families are nothing at all new. Dr. Herbert I. London, a conservative who heads up the right-leaning Hudson Institute, is the father of Stacey London, the fashion guru who isn't, shall we say, liberal-averse. Dr. John Sexton, the President of New York University, had no quibble demolishing the Provincetown Playhouse, one of the iconic venues of the Off-Broadway movement and owned by NYU, but his son is an actor. Oh, and Newt Gingrich's sister is a lesbian. Oh, and Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian, too. Next?

[Donald Frazell]

Benjamin Franklin was a patriot, his son, a Tory governor of New Jersey. Trumps all others. With Abraham Lincolns wifes family being all Confederates, in both cases, people killed the others people.

Makes this stuff seem tame, as it is. Lets all have a sense of proportion here, shall we?

[Billy Hayes]

Just yesterday I received a chain email from this man talking about how the stimulus plan was going to turn us into the Soviet Union. What year is this? Let's take a look at what the last administration was willing to spend on war. Let's take a look at how much this package is going to cost. One could conclude Republicans are willing to spend more to blow up someone else than they will to feed themselves. Fascinating. Also, this particular republican senator is simultaneously for the death penalty and against any form of abortion including rape and incest cases. I should respect this person's opinion why? The spam, bad metaphor and his questionable values make me have much more faith in http://recovery.gov to tell the truth. It is what happens when the open records act meets technology. Most of the spam, bad metaphor, and questionable values comes from people too old to understand the implications of http://recovery.gov and the precedent it sets across government. I don't expect Mr. Frazell to understand, especially after inspecting the code to his website, but most people 35 and under should. Major changes are already happening and having a positive effect. There is a bigger and much more important story here.