The Fine Arts Can Draw In Citizens of Indifference : Music Center: Heal Thyself

I was quite surprised to hear of the Music Center hosting a discussion, “Can the Arts Help to Heal L.A.?”

While I agree with Times Art Critic Christopher Knight that art is not therapy, perhaps the Music Center should heal itself first. It could start by getting rid of its provincial insecurity.

I have worked at the Music Center as a designer--the opera company is fine, backstage is very good and helpful, but I have been put off working there again by the Founders, a dining room that functions as a private club in a public, tax-supported institution.

It’s an ugly building inside and out, and for anyone who can read architectural space the most vulgar part is the Founders room taking up more space than all the other facilities combined.

It is not a welcoming place for visitors. Indeed, I would say of all the places in the world I have been to concerts or opera, the Music Center is the least user-friendly of any place I know.

This is simply due the fact that the Founders just doesn’t notice how dull and awkward the rest of the space is. If I go to a long opera in San Francisco, I can eat and drink there quite easily, without having to book a table and without knowing anybody there.

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My own experiences with the Music Center have sometimes been acutely embarrassing. Invited in to have drinks, my guests have been told they were not dressed properly. My European friends simply didn’t know how to react, and as I dress up every day of my life I’m not too keen on sartorial rules myself. This has happened nowhere else I have ever worked.

It now seems to me to be run by a very small-minded clique (who I’ve no desire to meet) that has really put me off working there again, especially as it’s always finished up costing me money in the work I have done there.

By contrast, San Francisco is very friendly to all who come. Sometimes I don’t know what’s wrong with L.A.