What's Eating Crow?

Our eagle-eyed scribbler talons Commander Crow, the Dalai Lama's merchandisers, columnist Jon Talton and the artful Phoenix City Council

Comments (0) By Robrt L. Pela Thursday, Nov 24 2005

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"If this project, in its current vague state, had gone before any one of our bond committees, it would not have been approved," Copeland snarls.

But the City Council was an easier sell. After all, it's only arts money.

Fred Harper

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At the council meeting the other day, members Siebert, Peggy Bilsten, Claude Mattox, and Doug Lingner appointed a new ad hoc group to oversee the project. And who's surprised to learn that this nine-member committee has just one arts commission member on it? Not The Bird. (To be fair, Phil Jones, executive director of the city's Arts and Culture Office, will also be a member. That brings the arts-to-slobs score to 7-2. And Mattox probably has a paint-by-numbers kit stashed in his coat closet or something.)

Jones told The Bird that this "fly me" project has him baffled:

"To some people, this is art. We've always used the definition that art is created by artists. If they'd asked me, I guess I'd have said that airplanes could be considered cultural artifacts, but not art."

But, of course, no one asked. The Bird guesses that's because they didn't much care to get an answer.

"I'm not going to qualify what is and isn't art," came Councilman Lingner's zingy final statement on the subject.

Okay, Doug. Don't. But isn't that the point of sending projects to the arts commission?