Nothing tests how much we value art more than a global economic crisis.

This came from James Early, director of Cultural Heritage Policy and Communication at the Center for Folklife Programmes and Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Mr. Early visited the Island this week to give lectures at the Bermuda National Gallery (BNG) and the Bermuda College.

He spoke about how the financial crisis is affecting artists and art and cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian.

"My general framework is art, culture and politics in the context of the moment we are living," Mr. Early told The Royal Gazette. "How does an economic crisis intersect with issues of imagination and creativity?

"I will be looking at how that is a part of the global debate on how to look at artists and art."

Since the 1980s, Mr. Early has served in various positions at the Smithsonian Institution, including assistant provost for educational and cultural programs, assistant secretary for education and public service, deputy assistant secretary for public service, and executive assistant to the assistant secretary for public service.

Mr. Early said even the Smithsonian, arguably one of the world's great cultural institutions, had not been exempt from economic pressures.

"It affects the Smithsonian in significant ways," he said. "Art and culture are not as valued as some other areas of society. In the government's $787 billion economic stimulus package, only $50 million went to the arts.

"It suggests that artists and the arts are not valued for their intrinsic contributions. It means that we value things in the market place."

He said the Smithsonian depends heavily on large donors who affect the art and cultural market in ways average citizens do not.

"Funds are hard to come by for museums and galleries," he said. "Those institutions that are heavily dependent on market realities suffer in a period like this."

Mr. Early said that while the Smithsonian has not had to cut its programmes, it is difficult to bring in new projects at this time.

Lisa Howie, director of the BNG, said her gallery had certainly felt the global cash crunch.

She said corporations accounted for about 36 percent of the BNG funding.

"Some corporations with whom we have a relationship are redirecting their charitable donations to service agencies," she said. "This places an element of urgency into the annual task of establishing new corporate relationships.

"The Government presently provides about nine percent of our required funding: grants come from the Ministry of Education we received a 12 percent reduction from last year as well as from the Ministry of Culture."

The BNG has a budget of roughly $900,000, and has been operating on a skeletal staff since January.

"I am systematically examining each of our vendors and their products for cost effectiveness," she said. "Volunteerism continues to play a vital role.

"We have extended the run of the exhibitions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as the last exhibition, 'Changing Gears —The Art of the Bermuda Motorcycle', saw 15,000 visitors as a result of the longer run.

"The longer run enables us to stretch the investment into the exhibition, while providing our sponsors great exposure."

She said they had not cut back their educational programmes, because they are essential to the mission of the BNG.

"Indeed, the programmes continue to grow," she said. "And we are finding creative partnerships, such as an art camp to be offered next summer in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation."

She said that Mr. Early's lecture was a call to action for the Bermuda community.

"As he points out, art is essential to the human experience and to our spiritual well-being," she said. "Our responsibility as democratic citizens is to demand that the Government put policies in place in order to directly fund art institutions, such as the BNG, as well as educational programmes for children and youth that facilitate art creation.

"In this moment of economic crisis his demand is that we not be complacent vis-a-vis the arts."

Mr. Early has been involved with Bermudian culture since Bermuda took part in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in 2001.

"That came through the Folklife Centre where I work," said Mr. Early. "I am also the programme consultant for the African Diaspora Heritage Trail (ADHT) Project founded by Bermuda and now recognised on the global stage by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the African Union."

The ADHT is a cross-border cultural tourism initiative designed to educate visitors, and enhance the viability of African Diaspora countries and conserve the essence of African ancestry, culture and history.

Diaspora refers to the dispersal of people of African heritage throughout the world, mainly through slavery.

It was the brainchild of the late Progressive Labour Party (PLP) Tourism Minister David Allen.

After returning from a trip to Africa, Mr. Allen wrote a very powerful statement about Bermudian cultural identity and its connections to Africa.

"Out of this emerged the ADHT that attracted multilateral governance bodies like UNESCO and the African Union, and has excited and attracted interests from Diaspora communities throughout the Americas, Europe, and now in the Middle East," said Mr. Early.

He has attended several ADHT conferences held in Bermuda. The fifth ADHT conference is to be held in Tanzania next week.

"The 'trail' is literal and metaphorical," said Mr. Early. "It may be natural sites of significance to African and African communities. It may be historical sites or settlements. It may be monuments or it may be cultural expressions, or intangible cultural heritage like the Gombeys, that have remained in the language of a people.

"The ADHT has been involved in bringing attention to developing more education and tourism that relates directly to people of African descent."

He said Bermuda itself has come a long way in recognising the richness of the African heritage within its everyday population.

"It has begun to more formally recognise it in the educational system," said Mr. Early. "It probably still has many challenges before it. It is quite significant that this is not an independent country yet, but has been a centre of emergence of this global project.

"That was initiated through the early Minister of Tourism here in Bermuda, and has been intensified through the work of Premier Dr. Ewart Brown."

Mr. Early started working for the Smithsonian 26 years ago as a graduate student.

"I got into the African Diaspora and Caribbean studies by happenstance," said Mr. Early. "It was partly the result of me being a Spanish speaker, and involved in working in Latin America and looking at African influences there."

While he was an undergraduate at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia his mother married a man in the military.

He left Morehouse temporarily and spent a year studying at Canal Zone College in Panama.

"I was at an English speaking school, but I discovered I had a knack for languages," said Mr. Early. "This opened up new worlds for me as well as new professional opportunities."

When he returned to Morehouse a year later, he majored in Spanish. He did his graduate work at Howard University in Washington DC on a Ford Foundation Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D. in Latin American and Caribbean History and a minor in African and Afro-American History.

Before working at the Smithsonian, he was a humanist administrator at the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC, a producer, writer, and host of 'Ten Minutes Left' a weekly radio segment of cultural, educational and political interviews and commentary at WHUR FM radio at Howard University, and a research associate for programmes and documentation.

He expressed his gratitude for the invitation from the Bermuda National Gallery, a "jewel of cultural Bermudian heritage in art and culture".

"They have an impressive young staff that foreshadows a very productive future," he said. "In these times of severe economic crisis we must nourish the spirit, and doing so requires that the public and government support institutions like the National Gallery who are dedicated stewards preserving and advancing the public trust they have accepted on behalf of all Bermudians."