Do It Yourself: Producing Performance Art on Election Day

And I thank them all
Those who fought for the privilege I have today
To take part in creating the future
With an equal voice, I have my say
(From "To the People Who Came Before" by John Schneider)

Imagine an award-winning playwright, John Schneider, who also has his own band that plays pop songs of the 1920s-1950s. He interviews senior citizens at a center that also serves as a polling location about their past voting experiences. He pulls from these interviews to write the lyrics to the song "To the People Who Came Before." Senior citizens at the center sing the song on Election Day to voters.

From Jill Sebastian's "Suffragium," Milwaukee's Central Library. Photo by Jill Sebastian Click here to enlarge

Imagine Jill Sebastian, a widely recognized public artist who is descended from a family of Milwaukee suffragists. Using images from female sculptures at Milwaukee's Central Library, she creates an animated video where the women rise from their bases to explain the history of voting rights in Wisconsin. It is played on two monitors for voters at the polling place inside the library. Outside, a female dressed in period dress sings suffragist songs.

These, and nine other projects, were part of My Vote Performs (MVP) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For the first time in U.S. history, on November 4, 2008, there was nonpartisan performance art at polling places on an Election Day.

MVP, co-produced by John Loscuito and myself, viewed performance art as the best vehicle for doing site-specific projects that would make people more aware of the voting experience and the places where they vote. John and I had co-produced an annual local performance art showcase, 2004-2006. We drew from our knowledge of Milwaukee-area artists to match them with particular sites. In many cases the pairings ended up being more powerful than we could have anticipated. For example, we asked Renato Umali to be the lead artist at Rufus King High School because we knew he had experience working with young people. However, we were not aware of the school's International Baccalaureate focus on the questions "What do you know?" "How do you know?" and "How do you know that you know?"

Umaili writes down one thing he learns every day as part of his ongoing art project where he collects and shares statistics about his daily life. He enjoyed being able to bring his and the school's exploration of knowing to the voters standing in line.

The connection between the lead artist and the polling place also had an impact on the site managers at Rufus King. They went out of their way to help facilitate the project because they felt Umali understood and valued their program. To hear Umali and all the artists discuss their projects, please go to http://www.myvoteperforms.com.

Vetting and Supporting Public Art

MVP is one of the most heavily vetted public art projects ever undertaken in the U.S. After getting site and state approval, MVP also needed to get support from the Milwaukee Election Commission. Approval from these three entities occurred at multiple stages in the planning process.

From Wild Space Dance Company's "Line Up/ On the Boards/ Dive In," Pulaski Indoor Swimming Pool. Photo by Bill Sell Click here to enlarge

John and I calculated that despite all this careful planning, at least one project might be shut down on November 4 because someone would complain that the art was partisan or interfered with voting. This did not happen. Election officials were cooperative and even supportive. Wild Space Dance Company had selected a space in the lobby at the Pulaski Indoor Swimming Pool that seemed out of the way of voters and poll workers. On the 4th, the chief inspector initially arranged the registration tables in a way that would have required the dancers to move outside. The chief inspector was willing to reconfigure the tables so the project could take place as planned.

MVP's key sponsor, the Wisconsin Arts Board, gave funding hoping the project could serve as a model for other cities, and the Wisconsin Elections Division staff also urged MVP to establish procedures that could be used elsewhere. Based on the positive outcome of this experimental project, MVP is doing its first attempt at outlining basic principles for the Community Arts Network. MVP hopes readers will respond with questions and ideas.

MVP’s Basic Principles

Location: MVP wanted to produce performance art at polling sites. Some of the ideas discussed below are moot if the art is outside of the neutrality zone stipulated for polling places. MVP cares about cities around the country celebrating voting through art in any number of ways. For example, a parade could be perfect in the Southwest and would not necessarily entail the same sort of rigorous oversight because it wouldn’t have to comply with strict polling site regulations.

Partisanship: For the 2008 presidential election, there was an increased interest in art connected with particular candidates. MVP wanted to foster nonpartisan art that allowed voters to celebrate the act of voting separate from party preference.

Getting approval: Every state has its own voting boards, but in any state organizers can assume that if the art is going to be at polling sites it must be nonpartisan and not interfere with people voting. Organizers need to approach key state and local officials early. This should be done at least a year before the election. MVP did this close to two years ahead of time.

Resistance: If you run into resistance, you could remind officials that polling sites are not pristine places. Voting happens at all sorts of locations, including churches. People in line come in contact with all sorts of elements that may offend them. Bake sales in schools may offend people on a diet. At one of the MVP sites, the Wisconsin Humane Society, people may have to come to the polling site even if they are afraid of dogs. Now an organizer can point to MVP as an example where voters at eleven sites in Milwaukee experienced dance, video, recorded sound, sculpture and more.

Artist selection: MVP decided not to do an open call for artists. For this first-time endeavor, we had to work with artists we could trust. This project demanded artists who were open to truly public art. The artists had to be willing to have their concept and final projects previewed by John and me, polling-site managers and election officials. In addition, some artists are only used to art-venue settings, with an audience aware of their work. These artists had to be excited about an audience that may have never visited an art museum or heard the term "performance art."

Restrictions: The artists were extremely sensitive to both the opportunities and restrictions provided by MVP. Most of them went out of their way to think ahead and avoid problems. However, the initial 12 sites narrowed to 11 because MVP read a lead artist's script and found it partisan. John and I requested the lead artist change some words, and the artist pulled out rather than alter the content. The polling site had done pre-publicity and was disappointed.

Compensation: Due to the demands of the project, MVP felt very strongly about compensating the artists. All the lead artists received between $1,000 and $2,000, depending on the number of artists participating in the project, the materials and equipment needed, and the amount of preparation time anticipated.

Fundraising: MVP cost about $30,000. John and I thought that, with early support from the Wisconsin Arts Board and with a number of projects approved in early 2008, fundraising for the project would be fairly easy. Unexpectedly, MVP fell into the cracks. It wasn't viewed as art education or providing direct social services. Then the economy started to tank, and some funders made it clear they would not be able to take on any new projects. Fundraising for future projects should be easier because MVP proved a success and now has documentation. At a forum about MVP after the election, a possible future donor came forward. The donor was unwilling to sponsor a first-time endeavor, but now feels it is safe to contribute.

My Vote Performs logo. Credit: Jamison Burish

MVP wrote grants to national and state organizations, both public and private, approached individual donors, and also attempted a grassroots effort. MVP presented the project to Phil Belair's class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and asked the students to come forward with a logo and collection-can designs. The logo was used on the can, signage, promotional materials and the Web site. The collection cans were distributed to locations all over the city.

Documentation: MVP cared about getting documentation of the projects not only for future fundraising, but also for the artists and for evaluation purposes. Joseph R. Reeves, a senior at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, as an independent study course taped interviews with all the artists and as much of their projects as was in place prior to the election. He edited the footage to create a documentary.

MVP did not even look into the legality of videotaping or taking pictures of projects on Election Day. MVP made sure all the lead artists knew that they needed to cooperate with Reeves and leave cameras at home on November 4. MVP did not want documentation to interfere with the privacy of people voting.

One of the projects, at Craig Montessori School, did involve filming. Lead artist Steve Wetzel taught some of the students how to use video cameras and they conducted exit interviews outside with voters. The questions were general, not about specific candidates. State and local elections officials approved this project.

MVP encountered one documentation disruption. The WhiteBoxPainters, a collaborative performance group, specializes in conceptual projects using white boxes. For their project, "The Tally," two huge functional Jacob's Ladders were suspended on either side of the main entrance to a city services building that used to be a water tower. The flipping action of the ladders was meant to represent contending opponents and the competitive nature of the presidential race (http://TheWhiteBoxPainters.blogspot.com).

Without alerting John or me, the group hired photographers, including one in a helicopter, to take pictures. The actions of the photographers resulted in multiple complaints, and the city sent out an investigator to start an inquiry. To date, it appears that the WhiteBoxPainters' actions will not threaten future MVP projects in Milwaukee.

Coaching: MVP had coached all the artists that voting came first. MVP let artists know it would be fine if a project stopped because it was interfering with the voting process in a way that couldn't be quickly resolved. Organizers need to be vigilant, from the wording of the contracts up until the project ends, to ensure that artists respect the voting process.

Media: My Vote Performs received excellent media, including local TV, radio, online and print coverage, and some national attention as well. MVP already had a fairly extensive contact list, and Andy Larsen from Boelter Lincoln was generous with his public-relations expertise and contacts. In the future, MVP would like to do more to attract national coverage.

Organizers should try and think ahead about the media's possible misunderstanding of performance art. Mark Belling, a conservative Milwaukee talk-radio host, after reading the first press release for the project and without doing any research at the MVP Web site, literally told his audience that "there would be nude women having whipped cream licked off their breasts" at polling sites. In response, MVP added an endorsements section to the media page on the Web site to counter the negative portrayal of the project, and the attack resulted in positive media stories elsewhere.

Publicity: MVP had hoped to distribute posters and flyers in the neighborhoods surrounding the 11 polling sites where MVP had projects to encourage people to vote. MVP lacked funding and a large enough volunteer base to follow through.

Staffing: Volunteers were essential for the success of MVP. Although there was signage at each polling place to explain MVP and the project, as well as to thank contributors, MVP also had at least one volunteer at all 11 sites. They were on hand to answer voters' questions about MVP and the specific project, to hand out cards that explained how people could comment (either positively or negatively), and to act, if required, as a mediator between the election officials and the artists. This last function proved unnecessary.

Reflection: MVP held a forum on November 25th so that anyone in Milwaukee could review and make suggestions for future projects. One person thought that there should be a traveling show to help get out the vote for nonpresidential elections when such a small percentage of people come to the polls. Another had the idea of setting up "We Voted" photo booths. On a voluntary basis, people could have their pictures taken after voting and copies could be printed to create a mural of voters. Neither of these projects is particularly site-specific, but MVP doesn't care. If election officials, polling sites, artists and citizens in Milwaukee could make My Vote Performs succeed, it proves artists in other cities can link performance art and voting too.

For comments or questions please contact Pegi Taylor at pegitay@sbcglobal.net

Pegi Taylor is a freelance organizer, writer, educator and performance artist. She is the founder and co-producer of the Performance Art Showcase, highlighting talents from southeastern Wisconsin in an annual show. She is chair and site manager of IN:SITE, fostering temporary public art in Milwaukee County, and is a member of the Milwaukee County Public Art Committee.

Original CAN/API publication: January 2009