WGBH Journal; Encore Magazine

Good afternoon and welcome to GBH Journal. This is Marsha Hertz. Today shell will consist of four features prepared by other public radio stations throughout the country. First we'll hear about a black news magazine called Encore. Then we'll have a report on an elderly self-help group in Berkeley California. We'll hear about Puerto Rican theater groups. And we'll close with a look at the problems and the lack of ethnic involvement in a nationally funded arts projects. Often black newspapers and magazines are criticized by the readers as being overly conservative and afraid to deal with controversial issues. Some attribute this

alleged conservatism to fear by these publications of losing advertisers. One periodical which might be expected to be especially vulnerable to advertiser pressure is encore the black bi weekly news magazine founded in the early 1970s by veteran journalist Ida Lewis encore provides national and international news coverage from a black perspective. Recently Sonia Williams of public radio stations in Cedar Falls Iowa asked Lewis if advertiser influence was indeed a problem at the magazine. No because of the advertisers. The avatars will not tell you what to write in your magazine or reporting your magazine unless you allow them to. We have lost advertising because we reported or interpret some news event from our point of view and intimidated never ties or. But we did not change our point of view or

apologize for it. We just lost the advertising. If you if you if your purpose is to serve advertisers of course you're going to pursue policies that you think they are. You think that they're they are interested in but ordinarily advertisers do not come in and tell you what to do. You know I think that's a myth among black people thinking that the only way that they're and really which really I think undermines the quality of magnet of black magazines. They say well to get the advertisers we have to. We have to publish this kind of magazine. You see our experience is that we publish the kind of magazine we want and we try to get advertisers to support our magazine but not at the expense of our editorial cond integrity. But many people many publishers are so afraid that they're going to offend advertisers so that they don't

even try to deal with with the substantial and essential features in their magazine. So I wouldn't put it on the advertisers I would put it placed that responsibility in the lap of the reach of the publisher and editors. They wrote to a publisher or becoming a publisher is really long and hard how did you do it. I mean that we have all night. You know what. Well actually you know I've been in publishing for 20 years. You know I was graduated in 1956 from both university and from the day I left college I started I got involved with with. Newspapers and magazines and I pursued that career and which carried me from Boston to New York to York where I lived for five years to Africa a dozen times that I've covered.

I covered a Nigerian be after war. You know I had I been covering the events in in Cairo in the Middle East in Turkey in Yugoslavia and I worked for the BBC African service as a reporter and broadcaster I've worked for The Washington Post. So I've had a long I have had my background has been in the field of journalism. So at one point in my life I had. I asked myself what would please me most. And the answer was that publishing my own kind of magazine would please me. So one crazy moment in my life I decided to do it. You know I think is probably the most the craziest moment I ever had in my life because didn't it initiated the. It started me on a trip that meant that I could not turn back that was full of all kinds of you know crises in

turmoil but and at the same time great rewards because I have something I'm doing what I want to do. I could not do anything else in the world. What I'm doing and I'm enjoying it and I hope that I'm what we're doing at Encore is of service to our community. We think that we're opening up a lot of horizons to black people showing them they're mistreating that that they are a part of the world you know and not that their their horizons should not be. Stop at the doorstep of their community that they are part of a. Big Thing and what they think is important and what they are and what they do is important. You know to to everyone around them and and around the world. This is interesting you know the whole concept of the international outlook is that why you set up a bureau in Paris and how easy was it.

It was very easy I had a young lady who was working for you how at University Press and she is very talented She's about 25 26 years old and she told me she wanted to go to Paris and open up a bureau for encore. So I gave her a ticket and a mini contract and she went and she's been there for over a year and a half now and she's doing that time she traveled to Ethiopia and covered the OAU conference she's idiot I mean I call her mediate I mean. She invited her to Uganda where she stayed for two weeks and and and went all around East Africa and she's been to South Africa for three weeks you know and she's been to Brazil so she I believe and since I came out of the School of International Journalism where you Porter gets on a plane and goes after a story I believe that we should

send our reporters around the world. We should send our reporters directly to the source to to get stories rather than depend on UPI An API to to give us news I'd like firsthand information. So it was as easy as that I I thought we needed it you know as if we were going to really be and develop into being a news magazine for black people and do the job we just have to to go in that direction. Because of the comparative

environment. And members. Of our sex 70 years old today he is one of the leading members of an elite group in Berkeley who say they're trying to stay young until they die. He became a member of the senior actualisation and growth exploration group when it started about four years ago. Talk about eye disease realities. It's kind of a morbid situation. So some so and if I knew a lady who lived there ask me Would I like to join an organization that was trying to stay alive till they got dead.

And I said sure. Great. There are now about 200 members of sage each week man and women all over the age of 60 need to discuss such topics as sex and death with the help of physicians and various therapists. Members meditate practise yoga and exercise all day let their minds go on what they call a guided fantasy trips frequently sage members take their groups to other elderly people in nursing and rest times according to Sage these activities help elderly people understand their physical and emotional needs needs which are often neglected because of the medical problems of old age. Your friends are dying all around and it's kind of scary. It's easy to get people happy and think gosh I'm too funny. Maybe I got cancer. You know it's easy. A lot of us do that. The alternative is to have fun be happy be around a lot of people be doing things something you like. Whatever it is but do something.

Ken Dyke welder co-founder and director of sage says. A study of old age called gerontology has so far mainly concentrated on the negative aspects of aging. We've tried to have a hand in demonstrating in fact the other side of the coin. What are the possibilities for each of us as we grow older. What are the Create creative possibilities what are the physical possibilities what are the mental possibilities spiritual possibilities and through our work we've been exploring the ways in which other people can revitalize themselves can engage in new and perhaps dynamic lifestyles. What exact results of your head from stage there seems to be an increase in physical agility flexibility health. We've noticed an increase in things like soft steaming self-confidence the ability to cope with life and it seems that many of our people seem to be taking on new and more creative lifestyles seem to be engaging in a more active relationship with their family in the community. Has your life changed a great deal since you joined sage. Oh yeah. I'm taking the harp lessons.

Anyway I'm amusing myself and I'm enjoying it 100 Rimu is 75 years old. She explained why she joined sage three years ago. I was looking for a group of people with whom I could talk freely and easily. And a friend suggested that this was a group in which people communicated and expressed their feelings about what was going on in their own personal lives and in the life of the community. How's it affected your life. Well I feel very much alive and many people my age who have lost close relatives and their companion. And it has a deadening effect on you. And when you get to a group of people who want to be alive and are interested it suddenly wakes you up and makes you all the things you have felt all your life become alive again.

Have your friends noticed a difference have you noticed a difference. Yes my friends say Mildred is much more outgoing than she was for a while and they seem to enjoy my company better. Elizabeth granted age 71 says sage helped her become more relaxed and less nervous in her approach to old age. She believes others can change their attitude to an awful lot of people. We used to acknowledge the existence of aging and it's final and that is one of the most crappy things about age. And as long as you have that you you cannot be free to live your life while you're living it which is the point of the sages supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and with money from private funds on individual donations according to dyke with several other organizations like Sage are starting up throughout the country. And the National Association for humanistic

gerontology has also recently been formed to cater to the needs of older people. This is not an option is incorporated as a professional theatre company. Puerto Rico founded 14 years ago. The goals of its organizers was to bring all parts of the island together. And to allow each village to share and intensify its love of theater. To date the company's productions have ranged from Shakespeare in the hundred and Antonio all of the performances are done in Spanish and spoke with the company's director

choreographer Sheldon avara. The development of a truly professional by a professional I don't really mean that you have to live doing can't you know that much can continuity here. But I mean people work most of the time with a professional attitude. I think it's a group of people who are kind of working around 1940 the 1040 and they really wanted to do was you know wanted to. Be good actors good designers and kind of going off to study and coming back and starting a drama department starting different professional groups. It it's up to it had been up to all these people and we are among those people who have worked towards what you could call a Puerto Rican profession. When you look for actors you find you find where you can get them did they ever come to you from the States to reconsider.

She grew up in the Puerto Rican community in New York and we have some people coming in from the States and we have some kids coming back when we had a large large amount of students coming back but we haven't had any yet. It's just you know try to be in companies you know in language problem there since they don't speak much Spanish and we do you know. But that may be coming but a lot of. People from Port go to court doing very well in the theater in the States so I want to leave Cologne she has her own theater on Broadway which we're very happy about. She's worked very very hard and she's she's gotten a theater and I think she would do very good things and the two of you got your training in the States. He's a young man with an interest in acting was a talent for acting. Grew up here and reached an age where there was a decision to be made either to stay in Puerto Rico and

pursue a career in this here or go to New York. What would you recommend. Well that's an interesting question I'll tell you that's a good question. Mate when we started our own decisions. Now we get a scholarship in our company a $700 scholarship every year and we give a scholarship so that they may pursue Franz as a master of arts or afterwards a Ph.D. in the States. I think they should come back. You have a workshop situation that allows people who aren't going to the university and people who aren't professional actors to get some experience with the craft of acting is all about. Can you tell me a little bit about that for people with low income or people with no income no income no income. Now we get a small subsidy from the U.S. to 5000 I was just paid rent. And both Josie and I teach at the workshop which was a teacher's diction he did which is kind of I teach acting

and we have a makeup teacher. We also have a workshop in lighting design and we work all day Saturday and people would come from all over the island we have a guy that we've been doing this for years we have a guy who came from LA which is way over in the western side of the island and the second year he liked it so much he's got a job and don't want to know he's working in the companies in the company most of those. Such from what you see and so many people can pay like $3 for a car some of them can't pay anything if they campaign. What are we going to do with it you know so we accept it. So that's how the workshop works and teaches practically nothing you know for teaching. Sometimes we are able to pay somebody something like $25 or $20 an hour per class when they deserve much more than that. But we also know who are cute girls. We're trip which is very important because she should know. I taught the blind children she taught the emotionally disturbed and how to talk at the deaf mutes. And there

was a performance shows with them with them and it was amazing it was. And they were the performers. They were going to say it was amazing to see and we believe that you know but it was not a special project for them to go through again because it was a change of government and they didn't believe in it so that it was a very important you'd like to do that again if you can. Well yes because I think everything is important to me. That's my dream and my dream is hard to get a seat in but somehow to come the company will be known abroad and we can be seen by a lot of hard audiences which is important. The incident of Puerto Rican culture has really been the godfather of the whole thing. You look so the government I mean could you vote. We got a small subsidy from them but we have to get money. As I said before from different sources to really be able to put on a play for instance this last play we have a sort of a bookstore Valmy cost us the first week. Ten thousand seven hundred dollars. And we

went in without any money any subsidy. But we had a terrific audience which kept us going you know so I mean $10000 is nothing compared to the states. But I believe everything is relative I mean ten thousand seven hundred dollars the first week is like a hundred thousand dollars in the States. We don't pay him better than off-Broadway. A really as we do and you know the plane probably might open today and closed tomorrow here we can at least tell an actor you know over the top here for two weeks then you go to the phones and you go to my ways. And at the rate we pay the real it's a good rate. The trouble is we don't have a theater to keep on going and I think the play could be more months if we could have a house to have it. But and the most important thing now for us. It's like a company for a company like ours that we have gone abroad which is very important because other people can see it and it's the concert with other audiences that's important to the actor into the producing unit as a whole. Yes you want to also on the tour you want to go into the Dominican Republic and we have

we are planning to go to Venezuela and Costa Rica. Well I plan to go to any kind I want but things are but this thing about human rights we don't think we have a deal of fear but really I mean it's a little you have to think about it a little bit you know. Tell me something. You have no trouble as far as what you can put on here. No no no no no no no nobody I don't think anybody's having problems. Thank goodness. And that's a very important thing that's very important to have the liberty to be able to do things you want. Decades of the 50s and 60s the federal government poured vast sums of money to scientific research through bodies like the National Science Foundation. During the

last decade or so however the arts have received much greater attention and public money through such agencies as the National Endowment for the Arts. Despite much of this money is spent on projects of little relevance to them and to their cultural heritage. Last year a special committee was formed to deal with the problems at one of the largest cultural complexes in the United States. The Kennedy Center in Washington to Rhes king of public station reports. The commission is made up of 18 prominent performers and national leaders in the arts education and business. Its president Dr. Archie L. Buchan's assistant dean for graduate studies at the University of Maryland in College Park. Dr. buskins previously served as a consultant to the Kennedy Center on Minority Affairs. He holds graduate degrees in music and music education from Columbia University and is currently serving as chairman of the executive committee of a new organization the National

Black think tank. I have talked about how the idea for the commission to expand the scope and constituency of black participation at the Kennedy Center came about. Well first I'd like to say that it really started based upon a research study that I did with the assistance of various research assistants at the University of Maryland College Park campus. We did somewhat of a kind of casual survey to find out whether there were say a substantial amount of black participation in the activities of the Kennedy Center. And we found some very very important kind of findings and they were reported to Roger Stevens chair of the board of the Kennedy Center and he indicated to me that he was interested in dealing with the study before we found out that things could be better. So as a result of this and many conversations with several people within the Kennedy's staff. We came up with the idea that let's get a collective action kind of group on it and this is

what happens. We wanted to make certain that we expanded the scope of the scope not only dealing with say employment at the Kennedy Center but we were talking about the performing areas the creative areas not just the consuming area not only for the Kennedy Center because it is known as a national national institution and we have a feeling that when the Kennedy Center is doing can be looked at somewhat as a kind of idealistic concept that could be projected across the country. What are your views on starting similar organizations like this around the country. Well one of the activities of the commission is that we have forums across the country using the original 13 approach going out asking people at a certain time we run into that you would like see Don at the Kennedy Center. And how can usually expertise in getting it done. Will this network set up. We believe that many of the other

programs that are similar to the Kennedy Center but not as elaborate as the Kennedy Center will become part of a network. Now you know there is a network but the network is based upon a National Endowment of the arts. Every state has a council of some sort on the arts as well as the humanities. So we have a location of people where we want to do is make certain that these councils are somewhat responding to a broad constituency. Now I must admit in my dealings with the various council across the country I see that there are certain people that will get what they want from these kind of organizations first they have the time. Secondly they know that they have the know how. Thirdly this is part of the daily activity of one particular cultural group and the only time minorities get into this is when they are doing something special related to minority Let's have a jazz problem let's have a rock program let's have something related to this. And they have been away from it. So I've been hoping that this. Profitably using a can is

going to be an approach that can be used elsewhere particularly through the National Endowment on the Arts where there is federal money moving into a particular state and it should be used by an assortment of people. What are some of the problems that are going to be encountered in this kind of thing. You've been working on it now from US to year when we're in a very emotional with most people. Would be the fact that how do we change behaviors in relationship to getting people that are normally not looking at what we call other ethnic groups in their participation into the Kinison is performing arts area. We can deal basically with attitudes more so than behavior. We're hoping the people that are unaware of the major contributions of other ethnic groups within the arts can be exposed systematically. We might have to do something and I call our deconditioning deconditioning people to a different frame of reference in the appreciation of

the arts. I think we may be able to do it with the Kennedy Center simply because he is divorced in its artistic participation from the political process and by introducing a person to say. Think of Nigeria and some of its culture you might get people to appreciate what's going on and then deal with the political issues of South Africa. Dr El Buchan's assistant dean for graduate studies at the University of Maryland and president of the commission to expand its scope and constituency of black participation in the Kennedy Center reporting from Washington this history. So we come to the Journal for today. The show was produced by Marcia Hertz

Perry Carter. Have a Good afternoon and a good evening.