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University of Wisconsin .... Summer 1949
THE QUESTION: WHO CARES?   Kent

Before I begin this dissertation, I want to warn you that it may go a little wide of the announced title (which is, "The Question: Who Cares?") because I want to touch somewhat upon the role of an artist in our society--- that is, whether he is an entirely indispensible element.

I think it ought to be a healthy thing for both artist and public to ask themselves some questions about this; about where the artist belongs in the heirarchy of public servants, whether he belongs there at all, whether his kind of contribution -- imaginative, intellectual, spiritual as it is, is of really tangible value along-side the more material contributions of other kinds of work.

But before we start pondering upon this, let's con-sider some of the problems of the artist himself, especially of the young artist.

The decision to become a painter is rather a grave one for any individual to have to make. He realizes that he will immediately put his livlihood in jeopardy. He knows that a good many of his friends will look at him with raised eyebrows and that he will be regarded by many (however unjustly) as someone outside the world of real affairs.