Island People
Charting a new course

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

David Farmer sits in the future home of the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts museum at the Hemmeter Building. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser • • • David C. Farmer Born: Dec. 5, 1945 Birthplace: Los Angeles Married: Wife, Loren In Hawai'i: Since 1966 Education: Bachelor's degree in fine arts in painting and drawing, University of Hawai'i; master's degree in Asian art history, UH; law degree, UH Occupation: Lawyer, law firm of Ashford & Wriston Avocation: Actor, director, producer for 40 years; credits at Kumu Kahua, Manoa Valley Theatre, Hawai'i Academy of Performing Arts Company, Diamond Head Theatre Little known fact: Did radio drama show at age 9, in DeLand, Fla.; began performing in community theater at 10 Family ties: Family has traditions in law and show biz "and I struggle with both. My dad's sister was (actress) Francis Farmer; both grandparents were lawyers; my mom was the first woman deputy sheriff and my dad is a retired police chief."

"You're only as good as last Sunday's game," said Farmer, 61, a lawyer and sometimes actor. "I often feel like my knees will buckle soon."

But Farmer is passionate about the future potential of the agency responsible for buying the state's art collection and for handing out grants to artists and companies involved in all forms of visual and performing arts, historical and humanities projects, and cultural pursuits.

The weak Hawai'i economy of the past decade has reduced availability of grant money, and the foundation is in flux, moving next month from its tiny quarters in the old Kamehameha V post office building at Merchant and Bethel streets (where Kumu Kahua Theatre also is based), to larger facilities at the Hemmeter Building closer to the State Capitol.

And the foundation is realizing a long-awaited goal next year, opening a museum on the second floor of the Hemmeter complex to exhibit years' worth of acquisitions.

"It's a wonderful, exciting time for the arts," Farmer said. "The arts are no longer stepsisters with begging bowls. Grants may be fewer now than before, but they are available. Exciting times are ahead."

Farmer said he's still finding his way at the agency. "It's like learning to walk and building a floor at the same time — an interesting learning curve," he said. "There's a lot to do and lots of opportunity. I'm excited and thrilled to be here."

He knows there's a lot to do in what may be a relatively short tenure.

The foundation was established in 1965, in anticipation of a National Endowment for the Arts law that would provide money, matched by public contributions, which the agency would dispense to applicants in all categories of art.

Farmer is the agency's fifth director; his predecessors were Alfred Preis, who served 15 years; Sarah Richards, nine; Wendell Silva, nine; and Holly Richards, two.

"It's healthy to have a focus and a game plan, but I don't think it's a place to retire," he said. "I want to accomplish a lot ... in bite-size pieces. It's an appointed post, and, depending on your scorecard, anything can happen."

Farmer worked at the foundation from 1976 to 1978 and even applied for the top post at that time. When Sarah Richards got the job, he said, he went to law school to better prepare for the position he still intended to hold someday. "I think I am better qualified now than then to do the job; I have a better game plan now," he said. "Law school has intellectually and spiritually toughened me; I can roll with punches and come out not too bloodied."

And there will be punches.

Though he acknowledges that the state's economy is not the most robust, Farmer is optimistic. "I would say that in the past 35 years, since the formation of the foundation, our Art in Public Places program is in better shape now, and the public perception of arts funding is a lot healthier." (Art in Public Places is a program through which 1 percent of the state's expenditures on building construction are reserved for purchases of art works to be displayed in and around these and other buildings.)

"We live in a community where government support of the arts is a big player," Farmer said. "My policy is to make our processes as transparent as possible, to indicate that the foundation is a true advocate for the arts and supports the arts."

He acknowledged the foundation's reputation as a "closed shop" that caters only to a select few who receive the plum grants and whose work is bought for the collection.

Farmer said rigid rules govern the granting process and, while bids are open to all, those who've already received grants know the drill, while others may need guidance in the arcane grant-writing process. Grants often cover a two-year period, with applications required as early as a year in advance. Such regulations place a lot of the responsibility on the applicant to understand what needs to be done.

"We need to step up but minimize application periods and reduce misconceptions," he said. "The grants are for everyone, not a select few."

At the same time, SFCA grants have been shrinking in recent years. The high-water mark was 1994, when $5.4 million in grants were available. The total this year is $1.8 million. "The perception is that we're not doing much, which is partly true, because there are no resources to do much. We need to find sources to make up the deficit," Farmer said.

Dwight Martin, managing director of Manoa Valley Theatre, said Farmer is well-suited for the challenge because of his breadth of experience, characterized by his broad range as an actor.

"David is a very talented, strong and diverse performer," Martin said. His most recent role was in "The Woman in Black," playing a multitude of Victorian character roles. "He has focus, is a clean actor with a marvelous stage presence, but also a good comedian, as he was in our earlier 'Shear Madness.'

"I think anyone who moves on to the producing, managing and any other executive level, who has roots in any art form, brings a lot of perspective to the job," said Martin, who hopes Farmer will continue to act from time to time. "A member of the selection committee told him that if acting's his art, he should stay nourished, happy, and artistically active. And I agree."

Harry Wong, a Kumu Kahua director, concurs, as well.

"He is not a typical bureaucrat," said Wong, who first met Farmer years ago when they took a Kumu show, "Ka'iulani," to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland — Farmer as an actor, Wong as a techie. "He was already a lawyer and the rest of us were poor, and he treated us to lunch and got admission to a festival play with Kenneth Branagh. He has the understanding that everybody should get to experience the arts and, in this respect, the state foundation is fortunate to have a leader like David, who understands the arts from a different perspective."

He wouldn't put a timetable on his wish list, but Farmer said he believes that in time, Honolulu will have an equity (union) theater company able to produce top-quality regional stage fare, with actors and backstage crews drawing salaries rather than the modest honorariums that are the rule now.

How and where? He's not yet sure, though he looks to the Islands' tourism industry as a partner in marketing arts attractions, and broadening the customer base for arts here.

And he hopes the foundation's new $3.7 million museum, downtown near 'Iolani Palace and Aloha Tower Marketplace and just blocks from the seats of state and city governments, can become a showcase for what the agency does and a magnet for tourists.

"At a time when schools are in decay, this may seem like it shouldn't play. But if you analyze the majority of dollar grants, arts in education is No. 1 — an initiative I believe in," he said. "Hawai'i is serving as a national leader in the way government is looking at the arts; the (conventional) wisdom is to cut arts, not sports, in schools. But the philosophy now is that if you learn music, you understand math. And math exercises the brain. Music, dance and drama are now perceived as means in which you can problem-solve, stimulating creative thinking. It's a whole 'nother way to look at the arts."

• Farmer's views on arts-related issues

• On the evolution of an equity theater here: "I hope we can establish equity theater here, and you think of other models, like the Guthrie Theater (in Minneapolis, Minn.). You tend to need to have a charismatic visionary to coalesce the community. One of the major issues is the venue — there are not a lot of accessible places here. But the if-you-build-it, they-will-come thing doesn't apply unless you have the talent, too."
• On the fate of the symphony: "I'm very optimistic that Stephen Bloom (the new executive director of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra) can turn it around ... He has an impressive track record and he has energy; if anybody can pull a rabbit out of the hat, it's Mr. Bloom."
• On tourism bonding with the arts community: "There needs to be more connections between the visitor industry and the arts community. In some (places) like San Francisco, part of the hotel room tax is dedicated to culture and arts; we've had dialogue on that for some years, and it's time we moved toward getting a measure like this."