Topic
You are a board member of an arts council in a medium-sized city. Every year, the council awards thousands of
dollars in grants to different arts organizations in the city and region to support their programming, from theater
to concerts to gallery shows. Like every year, some of this funding will go to support an opera company in the city
that is renowned for attracting large audiences with its high quality, creative, and innovative programming.
This season, one of the works the company is programming is Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta The Mikado.
Although the council wants to support the company’s endeavors, board members are troubled by work’s
controversial faux-Japanese setting and characters. They are aware of the problems this work raised recently in
Seattle* in which the Seattle Opera Company withdrew its production amidst protests of racism and cultural
appropriation, replacing it with a different Gilbert and Sullivan work, The Pirates of Penzance. They are also aware
of similar allegations of racism directed at another city’s recent production of The Nutcracker, due to the
choreography of the “Tea Dance.”
Many of the board members feel that this company should take a similar measure, and are proposing making this a
condition of providing funding: either withdraw/replace the work, or don’t receive funding this year.
You are sympathetic to this argument, but also feel that the board members have not offered sufficient support
for it; you feel that such a drastic decision must be supported by much more solid evidence – historical, social, and
artistic. Furthermore, you feel uncomfortable with the entire notion of playing the role of “throwing out the baby
with the bath water.” Beside, The Mikado is a work that is known for its excellent, attractive music, and highly
engaging and funny text.
Assignment
Decision time:
1) Do you side with those members who advocate for the removal of The Mikado from the season? If so,
you must defend your position on the basis of all available resources, including articles, book chapters,
videos, etc.
2) Do you disagree with the members who advocate for the removal of the work? If so, what is the basis for
your defense (including what you have read and viewed). What alternatives do you present? In other
words, what will it take for the company to present The Mikado and for the arts council to support it
financially? Assume you cannot change character names or key elements of the plot. Lyrics and setting
are fair game for change!
Write a discussion of the historical circumstances that facilitated racism and cultural
appropriation, as well as a look at the intentions and contents of The Mikado itself.
Phil Chan, Final Bow for Yellowface
David Mason, Modern Europe, A Concise History
Articles in Reading Assignments 4, 5, and 6.
Danielle Bainbridge, “What is Cultural Appropriation?” PBS Video
Layla Saad, “What is Cultural Appropriation?” from Me and White Supremacy
Parul Sehgal, “Is Cultural Appropriation Always Wrong?” NYT article.
A truly effective paper will draw on as many of these sources to support your perspective as possible. Don’t just
quote blindly, though – use the materials to substantiate YOUR OWN explanations and analyses.
