ABSTRACT
In 1979, the same year that New WORLD Theater opened, cultural historian and poet Lewis Hyde published a widely read book about art-making, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World. Elucidating gift transactions across cultures, The Gift argues that “works of art exist simultaneously in two ‘economies,’ a market economy, and a gift economy,” of which, Hyde notes, only the latter is essential. Not surprisingly, given its thesis, the book happens upon a riddle central to a beleaguered arts and creative sector: if, as Hyde asserts, works of art are made trivial when assessed solely on commercial terms; then, conversely, how are artists trivialized when their works are not considered on professional terms?1 A perfect answer to the riddle would likely address the appropriate amount of giving required of one’s gift. The answer might also illustrate a new world for artists, one in which artistic laborers anticipate adequate social, political, and financial capital reward. Given New WORLD Theater’s commitment to artists marginalized by color, as well as class, gender, sexuality, and aesthetic, the answer to those questions also models equity and access emerging in an arts infrastructure that has historically supported largely white, hegemonic “high-art” forms.2
