(upbeat music) - [Announcer] In Person is brought to Marylanders through grants by Waverley Press, Incorporated, the Williams & Wilkins Company, Merit Gasoline Stations, and the members of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.

- Hi, I'm Rick Breitenfeld, I'm about to talk with a Maryland citizen who's received both presidential and gubernatorial appointments, but he's not really a politician.

He's a musician with well over a dozen compositions that have been performed publicly.

Well, he's not really a full-time musician, either.

He's an arts administrator, a professor, the author of five books and countless articles, producer and director of national television programs on the arts, as well as reading plays and musicals.

He's president of the Kennedy Center's National Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Performing Arts and special consultant to the Kennedy Center Board Chairman.

In Person, Dr.

Archie L. Buffkins.

(upbeat music) Archie Buffkins is a Memphis native, but his bachelor's degree in music education is from Jackson State University in Mississippi.

He earned both his MA and his EDD degrees in music.

Music education and higher education administration from Columbia University.

And he has also studied at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and at Harvard.

Dr.

Buffkins has taught at Rhode Island College, Texas Southern University, Kentucky State University at Frankfurt, Jackson State University, and Morristown College.

He was executive assistant to the Chancellor of the University of Maine before he became Chancellor of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1971.

He also served as Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies at the College Park campus before moving to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In 1974 President Ford appointed him to the National Advisory Council on Adult Education and because of his contributions, he served in that capacity during the Carter administration.

He also chaired the national task force on President Carter's urban policy and adult education.

(sighs) Well, let's go back to the beginning, Archie, and ask when you were that young clarinet player and what was going on in your entire gestalt had to do with music.

What did you see in your own future, Jackson State clarinet?

- [Archie] Well when you put the two together, Jackson State and the clarinet, it was the only way to get to college.

But seriously, I was very much concerned about the instrument, not only from the standpoint of music, but the standpoint of where could I go at that time.

Being Black in the South, there were very few avenues open.

And one that was clearly identified was the performing arts.

And because someone along the way thought I was talented, through a series of musical examinations and certainly auditions, I felt that I was talented.

But I was not talented in the area of clarinet.

I was just gifted there, if you can say gifted.

I think, I wanted to become talented in the area of composition.

This was the area that I felt I had more to say in, but there were very few teachers available in the area of composition, and even today, I don't think you can teach composition.

You can teach the technique of putting down what you have, but to make a long story short, the clarinet was a kind of an entree instrument.

It could be used not only in jazz, it could be used in classical music.

And at that time, jazz was not recognized as a kind of art form within the musical area in order to receive scholarships.

So, I studied the clarinet in a classical sense, and it did send me on to undergraduate school, graduate school as well.

And after I left Jackson State after four years, I went to the Chicago Conservatory to study composition.

In other words, I use the clarinet in order to do some of the things that I wanted to do, but at the time...I must admit, I wanted to do the things that Quincy Jones is doing now in California.

I wanted to write, orchestrate, arrange, and hear some of my sounds come forth.

And at the time, I was doing my undergraduate work, there was new major in composition there.

In the long run, I think it paid off tremendously because it gave me more time to think about what I wanted to do in a broader way within my lifespan.

So clarinet was an exciting instrument and I think it gave me the springboard to do some other things that were interesting.

- [Rick] Since then, you've had more than a dozen compositions performed.

What kinds of music do you write?

- [Archie] Well to begin with, I think studying composition might have turned some things around for me that I thought might've been creative.

Um, I was brought up in a Baptist church where most of the music was done, what the general public would call from the head.

We would give a basic theme and everything else would come in and just flow.

In other words, we would get a basic idea flowing in the church and we would ad-lib what is to take place.

This came automatically to me when I went off to grad school... Well, let's go back to the Chicago Conservatory, where I went into the study of music per se.

I didn't know all of the rules, but I applied the rules simply because I was capable from within.

And what I needed to do was to get some discipline.

Unfortunately, in that process of getting the discipline, you lose some of the creativity that you had because you were flowing originally.

And then, I started thinking about the rules of style and composition, and I became very, what I call, ordinary in composing.

And this became very frightening to me because I was putting myself in a box, musically.

I was trying to write like Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and that made it very difficult because even today, very few very fine music schools will allow you to explore more of what you feel about the music, they will say in counterpoint form and analysis classes, this is the way, it should be done.

Therefore, you should do it.

And I found myself losing that instinct of improvisation and I think, it's one of the things that we should try to avoid when we're working with people that do have ideas.

I think, this is happening with playwrights and what have you.

But the long story, I picked up the twos outside of the classroom, playing jazz in the summer and the way to make a living.

So I kept in touch with it.

And at the same time, I performed a great deal in what I say, classical, area.

- [Rick] What drove you to go to Columbia Teachers College?

- [Archie] Well, Columbia had an unusual program.

It had music and music education.

Furthermore, Columbia was in the center of innovation in music, educational theory, public policy.

The Deweyites at that time were trying to say, let us teach the basic disciplines, but do them in a very exciting way.

Well, that followed my line of reasoning.

I felt that I wanted to have several options, but at the same time, I didn't want to get boxed into music per se.

I was concerned about what was happening to, particularly Black people across the country, um, and it was understood that in that time, you were either preacher, you were an athlete, or you were a musician.

Now, there were other avenues for Blacks, but I'm saying these were the most pronounced ones.

That kind of arena did not appeal to me in its entirety.

I found myself reading philosophy, history, math, I mean logic, some of the areas that did not relate directly to what music was all about.

Columbia University at the time said, we want the cultured men to come out of here.

And by doing so you could develop a program that would give you the specialized area of concentration, but give you a broader area to just play around with.

And I found that very exciting because when I left the Conservatory, I went in the Army.

And while, I was in the Army, I worked with the 7th Army Symphony, the 40th Band, and what have you, where we did nothing but beautiful works in California.

But at the same time, I had an opportunity to do more reading, to get a balance of what I thought I was all about.

And by the time I left the Army, I had made up my mind.

I just started working with the Monterey Symphony and I found right there, I did not want to play Beethoven the same way every day, five days a week.

I just...I mean, I just couldn't do it.

I said, this is the end.

I love doing it, I think it's great, I think it's beautiful, but it is not what I want to do.

So, I became very interested in public policy.

There was no outlet in music to deal with public policy, unless you went the route of cultural affairs, working over a number of years and put you in a position.

So, when I came out of the Army, I decided that I would look for one of the Ivy League schools that had a strong music program, but at the same time, that would allow me to go across the board.

And at the same time, you must understand, the various foundations did not give money for you to study music.

It was not considered an academic discipline.

So what I did, I got an interdisciplinary area and said, gee whiz, I can get money through these areas.

So that was part of it.

- [Rick] Years later, after teaching at a half, a dozen schools, you came to Maryland.

It's now what, about 1971?

- [Archie] Yes, I went to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1971.

- [Rick] As chancellor.

What did you find there and what was the greatest joy and what was the greatest pain?

- [Archie] Well, I'll have to go back one step.

Before coming to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, I was executive assistant to Dunn McNeil, who was chancellor of the University System of Maine, you have reverse titles there.

The head of the campus, called a president and the head of the system is called a chancellor.

I found there that music should have been a kind of side move for me.

I had gotten involved with administration through being department head, chairman of the department, what have you.

And I liked the idea of getting things done.

And I found that very few people in the arts had top flight administrative positions across the country in higher education that could have some bearing on what is happening with the arts.

So, I went into higher education administration thinking that I could do more for the arts.

But as I got involved, I found that I could do a little bit more.

So that led to general administration from the University of Maine to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Now, there are some interesting things about that.

I left Maine where there's a certain kind of philosophy that is typical of Maine, that same kind of philosophy, and I'll explain it, had some relationship to the Eastern Shore.

Seaboard countries, yet and still, I'm not talking about the same kind of intellectualism.

But the same kind of social mores and ways of putting things together.

So within that context, I went to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus, very idealistic.

This is the time to make something happen within a university that is predominantly Black.

But I failed to understand part of the mood of the country.

It was very important to the historical Black campuses that they maintain their identity, and at the same time grow qualitatively.

Um, I felt that I could do the two at one time.

And I don't think you can, not with institutions part of a tow fabric of a society.

Now this might sound very humorous, but it's true.

I enjoyed all of my work at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, but I enjoyed the young people more than anything else, because I felt that here in an isolated area.

I could build a cadre of new minds.

And I went with a philosophy of multi-racial education.

In other words, I didn't want White kids to become Black and I didn't want Black kids to become White.

What I wanted to do was to take from the two and create a different kind of world.

I believe that the leadership of this country will depend on how the group is observing what's going on in order to plan for it.

And I felt that if we could get young minds coming through an integrated setting, that is multi-racial based on mutual respect, not assimilation.

- [Rick] What's assimilation?

- [Archie] Assimilation in higher education, as I see it, is letting the majority take over control of the minority, by saying, if you become a part of what I'm all about, then you can flow within the mainstream.

- [Rick] Is that what some call mainstreaming, Archie?

- [Archie] Mainstreaming unfortunately today, mainstreaming is a little bit more sophisticated.

It means that you can fit into the situation and you can bring what you are, what you're all about, and where you're going.

Just maintain that we are here together.

I think assimilation, particularly to Blacks and many of the Black social writers would say that you are supposed to lose all that you have and become a part of the mainstream.

The mainstream is not Black, it is not gray, it is not yellow, it is predominantly White, and I'm not talking about values.

I'm saying, the actions of the values in terms of public policy.

I can't turn it around.

And the best example would be what they're having in Florida now, in terms of bilingual education.

There are a number a of people in, say in Florida, that would believe that Spanish could be the first language and get along very well.

But this would mean that the majority of the population speaking English would have to take on that language as a major language too.

But that's pretty secondary.

But the University of Maryland Eastern Shore was, and I believe now is, predominantly Black.

So that meant that we had to make some kind of accommodation.

So I thought, the best approach would be a multi-racial philosophy.

Because from the philosophy you would get the programs, the policies, the personnel's, the P's, I call them, and eventually we'll end up with a product that can function effectively within a multi-racial society, but one thing's different.

There would be mutual respect there.

It's like saying let's integrate in the South.

And if you're the only one with a swimming pool, you're not integrating really, I'm imposing on you jumping in your pool.

But if I have a pool and you have a pool, I can say, you can visit me and I can visit you.

So that's a different situation altogether.

I think that is the kind of multi-racial environment that I'm talking about in mainstreaming.

Taking what you are, what you're all about, within the pot.

Not try to become a melting pot, because we've never been able to do that.

- [Rick] Would you support the separatism though, that seems to exist as Black colleges try to maintain their identity?

- Well, I think that the identity question is a new one, in the context of we see it today.

We can maintain our identity, not by the presence of Black, like a dot of ink in a glass of milk.

We can do it better than that.

We can have people that know who they are, what it's all about and not become a part of the total other than for operational purposes.

Let me give you a good example.

No one would ever think that Brandeis is largely Jewish and it's maintaining a strong Jewish heritage, position, and tradition, but it is a fine university for anyone.

I call it instant Harvard.

So I believe that the historical Black colleges must take on that kind of a posture, being institutions for all the people, but at the same time, maintaining its own posture and its heritage.

I think you can do that.

I don't think College Park at the University of Maryland is gonna become half and half, one quarter Black, three quarters White.

I think it's going to continue to do what it's doing, but it is attempting to accommodate other kinds of ethnic groups.

And I don't think any other way as possible.

So, some of the... I think, we have 111 historical Black colleges in existence.

Some of those will probably die because of the lack of support, like many of the Whites that are not well established that are dying, but I do believe that there is a need in a society where we talk about pluralism for these institutions to exist.

Maintain the identity by programming, not by facial identification.

Um, I think it's very important, it's very important to me.

- [Rick] How does this relate to your current assignment, which as you speak I realize is in its own way, a mere extension of what you've been talking about.

In concentrating on so-called cultural diversity in the performing arts.

Tell me about the activities at the Kennedy Center.

- [Archie] Okay, when I left the chancellorship at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, I went to the position of Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Maryland College Park campus.

I knew, I had been away from my overall area of concentration for quite some time.

Then, I realized that there's a difference between having an idea and being very active in the results of this idea.

So I brought together a number of people which created what I call, and what is legally called, the National Black Think Tank.

An organization that is loosely run consisting of some of the best minds within the Black community to say, we don't want to set up another NAACP.

We don't have set up a SCLC.

We want to come together to decide what it is that we can best do for the community in various areas.

At that time, I said, I'm gonna concentrate on the performing arts.

So I did a study indicating that the Kennedy Center could better serve the country by living up to its mandate, with reference to the representation of all cultures within its performing arts areas and certainly its personnel and policy.

- [Rick] Was it basically White at that time?

Did you feel a lack?

- [Archie] No, no, no, we didn't find that, in our study that it was White.

We thought it was not concerned about the mini cultures.

Yes, it had the sprinklings of everything.

It's very multifaceted in its sense.

But what we wanted to do was to deal with what has not been dealt with in this country.

We wanted to deal with the policies that affected the performing arts, because the Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, these are the pace setters in the performing arts.

There is no doubt.

Like if you say Harvard, Yale, Columbia, I mean, there are other very excellent schools, but these particular institutions are gigantic in their influence.

Roger Stevens, Chairman of the Board felt that the Kennedy Center should have a broader, active role.

He's always thought of it as a national cultural center.

But after my little study, he felt that we should go directly to the problem.

So we set up a commission and we used the Black community as a catalyst.

It was called the National Black Commission on the Performing Arts, dealing with the Black community to show that we can make the Kennedy Center more accessible to not only the consumers and the audiences, but to the actual playwright, the composers, the performers, and what have you.

I decided to use that as a kind of medium to focus in on, and we've done very well simply because of the Chairman of the Board.

And he's a businessman... He's a businessman and a fascinating man.

I wouldn't consider him to be a liberal, but he has permitted very strong liberal policies to take place within the confines of financing.

You see, I don't want anyone dripping all over me and he's the type of person will not.

He's very firm and he came from the business world, world of real estate and he tells you exactly what he's going to do once you have given him all the options.

And one of the major options was to create a national committee on cultural diversity to be a permanent part of the Kennedy Center to make certain that this kind of thing is continuing.

So what I started out doing in higher education in a broader way, I can do it now with a much more concentrated effort.

And I think that when you're spread too thin, there's a difficulty of not getting on target.

- [Rick] Well is your output concepts, projects, or actual performing programs?

- [Archie] We have a series of things.

We not only do we produce shows, we also find them and say, fund them, even though they're not coming to the Kennedy Center.

Last year, we had an unusual program.

A national consortium and competition in terms of Black composers, dealing with piano and string.

From that project, we found some of the most talented people throughout the country.

Now, how did that have an impact on the national scene?

We found that many of the teachers of piano and string instruments had never had their kids, or their students play compositions in the classical vein written by Black composers.

By doing that, we required all of the performers to do at least one work that is related to the Black community, by a Black composer.

And that meant that they had to go and find the compositions.

That told the publishing companies that if you produce Black composers' works in the classical area, you will have buyers.

Then we gave them visibility on the stage.

We brought the composers to the Kennedy Center.

We sent them out to the country.

We sent the performers out to the country.

And as a result of that, we had an impact.

We moved the same way to our Black theater.

We found some of the best Black playwrights in the country, and we gave the money and said, write.

Preserve what you know, and we will give you the visibility, the arena in which to perform.

We also provide technical and advisory assistance services to many of the growing playwrights.

Recently, we published a directory of Black theaters across the country.

We are constantly finding artists and putting them on the stage.

We're looking for playwrights now that are other ethnic groups.

So what we're doing, and because it's Washington, we're exposing a lot of the policymakers to a different way of thinking about the arts and by doing so we end up helping to change the attitudes in other areas and we see that it's working.

- [Rick] Would you feel your job's done at one point?

- [Archie] Oh...no, I don't think I'm an optimist, but I'm cautiously optimistic about things.

I think it'll take some time in order to get the public to deal with it.

What the national committee is attempting to do on a broader scale is serve as an advocate, which means that you're sometimes a sophisticated lobby group across the country to get people to think about bringing more ethnics into the performing arts areas.

And I think that this work will continue for quite some time.

And I'm still involved with higher education.

And as you know... - [Rick] You've written five books.

Is there another one in the head?

- Archie] Well...no, I don't think I'm going to have the time to do something in this area.

I'm very much interested now in public policy and the mass media.

I do believe that the media has become second God to sort of state what a new book has come out, called The Media, The Second God.

I think that the Black community, in particular, must begin to concentrate on policies.

And policies come, I think basically from attitudes that are given a great deal of visibility.

And I think the mass media, particularly electronic media, has all of the possibilities of getting certain kinds of influences that will eventually become policy.

Let us take, for example, President Reagan's idea of the enterprise zones.

I mean, that in itself, is something that will have to be sold to the general public because it's supposed to bring in new business and create new employment for the urban centers.

And there are large populations of ethnic, poor ethnic groups in our inner cities.

And it's important that we get that message over and not in support of what the program is, but what it's supposed to do.

So that's just one example of how the media... We can make a star today and kill him tomorrow with the media, unfortunately the American people take a great deal that takes place, particularly with television, as being the total truth and I think I'm going to respond to it.

So I do believe that if a minority group is to get some kind of consideration in terms of a positive policy action, then we're going to have to think about how can we get our particular story to the general public.

And I think the television is one of the major approaches that should and could be used.

- But won't the changes in television that is the increasing number of channels available in any home help rather than hinder?

- I don't know.

I'm convinced that with all the institutions that we have in this country, only a few are able to actually establish policy and the others will follow by duplicating what is.

Let us take the field of medicine.

I don't care what's going on in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, if it's not happening at Hopkins or Harvard, there's a slim chance it's going to become a trend across the country.

So I think you can have a number of television shows, but if the so-called controlling establishment by its use is not willing to say, this is number one, this is our top school, this is our top channel, I don't think it's going to happen.

I think that we in this country might have a number of institutions called, good, but there are certain institutions in this country we call universal being excellent... - [Rick] This is Dr.

Archie L Buffkins, who doesn't seem to be short of topics to talk about or energy, enthusiasm, commitment, and a bit of a sophistication on a number of topics.

This is one of those discussions that could just as well go on for a long time.

Thanks very much and good luck in Washington.

Thanks for being here.

Won't you be here next week?

Be here In Person (upbeat music) - [Announcer] In-person is brought to Marylanders through grants by Waverley Press, Incorporated, the Williams & Wilkins company, Merit Gasoline Stations, and the members of the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.