Oral Histories

Interview of Hyman R. Faine

Labor lawyer and national executive secretary of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Helped found the UCLA Management in the Arts program.
Subtitle:
The Art of Arts Management
Series:
Z: Orphan Interviews pre 1999
Topic:
UCLA and University of California History
UCLA Faculty
Biographical Note:
Labor lawyer and national executive secretary of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). Helped found the UCLA Management in the Arts program.
Interviewer:
Novak, Steven J.
Interviewee:
Faine, Hyman R.
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Abstract:
Faine's father immigrates to the United States; family reunited after World War I; attends the Talmudical Academy and the Teachers Institute in New York City; attends City College of New York and Harvard University Law School; Jewish cultural and political identity; political ferment at City College; various forms of Jewish socialism; law school education prepares him for trade union work; brother-in-law Bertram Gross joins the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration; Faine works as a legal clerk; beginnings of the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA), the Screen Actors Guild, and other arts-related unions; dispute between American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and AFRA taken to the United States Supreme Court; Faine unionizes radio stations in Cincinnati; works for AFRA; works for AGMA; collective bargaining for artists and musicians; the Works Progress Administration; government support for the arts after World War II; Faine serves as a member of the War Labor Board; sources of funding for nonprofit arts organizations; AGMA negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera Company; James C. Petrillo's argument that soloists should belong to the American Federation of Musicians; negotiations with the Metropolitan Opera Company; why arts administrators need university training; Faine begins teaching in the Arts Management Program at UCLA; situation Faine encountered at UCLA; funding for Arts Management Program; establishing the internship program; how Faine prepared to teach courses in arts management; his personal relationship with students; Faine's retirement; UCLA administration fails to give adequate funding to the program; students organize their own placement program; fund-raising for the Arts Management Program; faculty in the Arts Management Program; research on arts organizations' needs; Faine's relationship with other faculty at UCLA; the need for new arts management professors; job placement of arts management graduates; developing broader training programs in management to meet more complex needs; increase in arts activities in Southern California; the Music Center of Los Angeles County and other performing arts centers in the Los Angeles area; nonprofit arts as a cultural necessity; Faine is asked to develop a nonprofit management program for the University of Judaism (UJ); conditions at UJ compared to UCLA; how Faine developed the UJ management program; unique challenges at UJ; attending the first graduation of students from UJ program; why nonprofit management training and profit-making management training should be taught separately; reflections on general problems of copyright and ownership for artists; Faine's Zionist activities in the United States and abroad; principles of Zionism and problems in establishing the modern state of Israel; the problem of a homeland for Jews; the potential for the establishment of a Palestinian homeland; the problem of the Orthodox hold on the World Zionist Organization and the parliament of Israel; the schism between Jews in Israel and Jews outside Israel based on Orthodox definition of what a Jew is; Faine's first trip to Israel in 1952 and his active role in the American Committee for Labor Israel; Aliyah and the Zionist agenda; Jonathan Jay Pollard, the feeling of Galut, and the problem of dual loyalty.