Performing arts organizations have always had to jump through
hoops just to convince government agencies to allow international
artists to enter the United States. With the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks
and the current conflict with Iraq etched in the nation’s
psyche, the process of booking international artists has turned
into an episode of “Mission: Impossible.”
“Of course, after 9-11, so many things in the U.S.
government were being re-evaluated, and the immigration policy was
one of those major areas of focus,” said Judy Mitoma,
director of the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance.
“The government basically made it impossible for people to
obtain visas.”
In Los Angeles last September, the second World Festival of
Sacred Music suffered last-minute cancellations by Rahat Nusrat
Fateh Ali Khan of Pakistan, Syria’s The Whirling Dervishes of
Damascus, and Najwa Gibran, a Canadian singer of Palestinian
descent. African musician Youssou N’Dour recently backed out
of his U.S. tour, including a show at Royce Hall. The absence of
these artists all point to the international policies of the United
States.
“Before 9-11, the government was always particularly
stringent on applications for artists, and it was an internal
complaint that all arts organizations had about how difficult it
was to get visas for artists,” Mitoma, the festival organizer
said. “It was always a kind of suspicion on the part of the
government that people were not legitimate artists, or they were
just trying to find a way to get in the door. After 9-11, this
became a thousand times more difficult.”
According to Mitoma, major arts institutions spend enormous
amounts of time, energy and resources when hiring people to process
visas so artists can come. In a field that is economically
stretched, this action adds additional burden.
“In the arts, it’s a very time sensitive
thing,” Mitoma said. “We plan ahead; we have a
schedule; we have contracts; we’re organizing with the artist
in order to come on tour; we have commitments in America; we have
theaters being reserved; we have publicity already out; and we have
a dependency on the income from the ticket sales in order to make
up for the investments. There’s a huge complex chain of
relationships, and if the visas are not issued, everything is in a
state of collapse.”
While several artists of World Festival of Sacred Music were
denied visas just one month before their scheduled U.S. appearance,
N’Dour’s decision to call off his U.S. shows was of his
own volition. N’Dour is notorious for canceling his shows due
to political reasons, and he was no doubt angered by the current
U.S. foreign policy.
“There’s a list of countries where males, not
females, coming into the country have to do face to face
interviews,” UCLA Live Director David Sefton said. “The
FBI are involved in the visa-granting process for the first time in
history. That fortress-of-America thing has become much more of a
factor. The whole so-called Homeland Security Initiative has really
made it more difficult to bring in artists from a whole list of
countries, including Pakistan, who is supposed to be on our side,
and Cuba, who to my knowledge hasn’t expressed an opinion one
way or the other.”
Mitoma is deeply apprehensive about the culture of fear and
mistrust the nation seems to be creating. Not only are
international artists hesitant about coming to the United States,
but organizers are also shying away from enormous obstacles the
government has placed in front of them.
“What’s so painful is (organizers) who took that
risk before are no longer willing to do it because if they
can’t get the visas, they’re not going to get the
artist,” Mitoma said. “As a result, at the very time we
need more exchange between America and other cultures, we’re
having less. At the very time we need more understanding of Arab
nations and Islamic cultures, we’re getting fewer.”
According to Mitoma, several event coordinators have hired
lawyers to sue the U.S government. However, she believes any change
in policy cannot make up for the grief she and other performing
arts organizations have already endured.
“The irony and pain is that it’s a time of great
need, and this U.S. government’s policy has locked the doors,
thrown away the key, and said, “˜We’re not sympathetic,
and we have to defend the national security,'” Mitoma
said. “We’re talking about people whose very lives are
spent trying to create dialogue and exchange and increase
understanding between cultures through the arts. The costs are
incredible. If in fact they come up with a reasonable policy, it
will still take years to recover from damage done in the last two
years.”