Cheers
In 2015, Rebecca Goldberg created audio recordings of each cheer, both ones written by the SMFA Cheerleaders and the Richmond Art Cheerleaders. She included commentary and notes on formations and authorship when appropriate. Some written documentation of cheer brainstorming material is included in the archives. All cheers copyright 2026 The Art Cheerleaders, with all rights reserved, and should be properly attributed.
SMFA Cheerleaders
SMFA, The Flood Cheer, and Art Degree Cheer
SMFA: SMFA. Cigarettes, coffee, every day. We’re addicted and it’s cool because we go to fine art school. Yay!
The Flood Cheer: I appropriate this flood as my performance art piece! It’s raining, it’s pouring, the students are snoring. Reimbursement! Reimbursement! Yeah! Reimbursement! Now!
Art Degree Cheer: What can you be with an art degree? What can you be with an art degree? When we say cafe, you say waitress! Cafe, waitress, cafe, waitress Waitress, that’s us! When we say bicycle, you say courier! Bicycle, courier, bicycle, courier Courier, that’s us! When we say erotic, you say dancer Erotic, dancer, erotic, dancer Dancer, that’s us! When we say ganja, you say dealer Ganja, dealer, ganja, dealer Dealer, that’s us! When we say art degree, you say victory! Art degree, victory! Art degree, Victory! Victory That’s Us!
Buy Art
Buy Art Don’t buy art that’s gonna rock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna shock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna make you think! Buy art that doesn’t match your fur coat? Buy art that clashes with your yachting boat? No, no, buy art that’s gonna rock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna shock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna make you think! Are you scared to go, afraid of what you might find? In all the local shows, living artists that blow your mind? Don’t buy art that’s gonna rock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna shock ya! Don’t buy art that’s gonna make you think! Landscapes, nudes, and water lilies too Keep my thoughts insipid and accommodating too. Don’t buy art that’s gonna rock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna shock ya! Don’t buy art that’s gonna make you think! Buying comfort at charity balls Hanging visual vanity on my diamond studded walls. Don’t buy art that’s gonna rock ya! No, no, not art that’s gonna shock ya! Don’t buy art that’s gonna make you think!
Be Postmodern
Postmodern Be postmodern, B-E postmodern, B-E-P-O-S-T-M-O-D-E-R-N, Be postmodern, B-E postmodern Belly button, eyebrow, lip and nose. Betcha can’t guess where my next piercing goes! Be postmodern, B-E postmodern, B-E-P-O-S-T-M-O-D-E-R-N, Be postmodern, B-E postmodern Yeah!
Make Art and Jesse Helms
Make Art Make art! Hey! Alright! Hey! You need to be an artist! Make art! To activate change and relive creation, Come on everybody with some inspiration! Make art! Hey! Alright! Hey! You need to be an artist! Make art! To exercise your mind and communicate, Take your sexual energy and sublimate! Make art! Hey! Alright! Hey! You need to be an artist! Make art! To subvert the status quo with the power of suggestion Use artistic language to force the question! Make art!
Newt Newt Gingrich, you’re so smart. Save the budget, cut the art! Jesse Helms, you’re so cool. Starve the artists. Close the school. Why don’t you become our members? Watch Bob Ross and paint by numbers. Isn’t that what art’s about? You make our country look so proud. Pride. Pride. We want pride. Pride in self. Pride in country. Pride in all that we do. We are artists. That’s who! Aren’t you?
Sensitive Art Guy
Girls! OK! Oh sensitive art guy! I’m neat, I’m safe, I’m really clean, and in the sack I’ll make you scream! [And the girls went, "Oh!"]
Mass Art Cheer
We pay more money than you, We pay more money than you, so that means ours is better! Hey! We have less studio space, We have less studio space, but we pay more money than you, so that means ours is better! Hey! You have more housing than us, You have more housing than us, but we pay more money than you, so that means ours is better! Hey! You do commercial art, You do commercial art, but we pay more money than you, so that means ours is better! Hey! You’ll make more money than us, You’ll make more money than us, but we pay more money than you, so that means ours is better. Hey!
Isms
Who’s got the isms? Who’s got it? Who’s got it? The museum got the isms! Museum, they got it! Malcolm Rogers got the isms. Malcolm Rogers, He’s got it! Hey! One, two! Impressionism! Classicism! Commercialism! Realism! Colonialism! Hey! One, two! Who forgot the isms? Who forgot it? Who forgot it? The museum forgot some isms. The museum, they forgot it. Malcolm Rogers forgot the isms. Malcolm Rogers, he forgot it. Hey! One, two! Radicalism! Postmodernism! Feminism! Multiculturalism! Conceptualism! Hey! One, two! Hey, you take down those isms! You take them, and run for a Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown! Go, Rhinos!
Boom
Community theater, kids art too! Congress will take it away from you! Sesame Street, Fine Art too, Congress will take it away from you! They give money to Bombers blow em up, blow em up, boom! Get all art out of school rooms! Defense rev it up rev it up boom! A superpower in cultural doom! All that money keeps the military new! Ask for a funding till your face turns blue! Big guns, shoot ’em up, shoot ’em up, boom! Eliminate artists, better do it soon! Blow ’em up, rev ’em up, shoot ’em up, boom!
Tribal Tattoo
Tribal tattoo I shaved my head and pierced my lip! My tribal tattoo looks so hip! I’m so different, can’t you see? Even if everyone looks like me. Yay!
Rhinos
Rhinos 1, 2, 3, and 4! We can count right up to 4! Cause we use our left brain! But mostly we try to refrain! Prozac, Kodak, Sniffing Glue. These are all so good for you. Pasty skin and testy hair We pretend we just don’t care. SMFA, one, two. SMFA three four. One, two, three, four, one, two. SMFA!
All This Art’s Been Done Before
Richmond Art Cheerleaders
Lowered Standards
Lowered standards, Lowered standards, Lowered standards! Our children don’t have to be really smart. So let’s just cut the music and the art. Lowered standards. Lowered standards, lowered standards! Those mountaintops don’t have to be purdy. The air we breathe can be gray and dirty. Lowered standards, lowered standards, lowered standards! It’s much too hard to see children starving, but eating supersize isn’t all that alarming. Lowered standards, lowered standards, lowered standards! So what’s the point of fighting to be free if we turn our minds away from what we see? Lowered standards, lowered standards, lowered standards!
Ego
I got ego, yes I do, I got ego, how about you? Audience. I got ego, yes I do, I got ego, how about you? I’m special, hey, hey, I’m special! My art’s hot cause I say it is, don’t matter if it’s good. You’re gonna buy it anyway, don’t look under the hood. It’s quantity, not quality, that counts in my black book. All I need’s a catchy line and then a rockin’ hook. I got ego, yes I do. I got ego, how about you? Audience, I got ego, yes I do. I got ego, how about you? I’m special, hey, hey, I’m special! Money is my universe. It keeps my standards down. I’m focused on the bottom line and not the world around. I got ego, yes I do, I got ego, how about you? Audience, I got ego, yes I do, I got ego, how about you? I’m special, hey, hey, I’m special!
Flow
Flow, you know, it’s the way to go! You put a brush in your hand and you do a handstand and then you say, Oh no! That blue has got to go! Flow, you know, can be fast or slow! When you bang on your drum, not sure if you’re done, or when to stop or go! Is this the wrong tempo? Flow, you know, can cycle high or low! When you’re writing that book and you take a long look No mo! Don’t tell. You have to show! The creative, block, and tackle! The creative, block, and tackle! Go...team!
Real Job
Why Don’t You Get a Real Job? I interpret the world for you! (But why don’t you get a real job?) Beauty, fashion, cities too! (But why don’t you get a real job?) Without me, your world is gray. How much money did you make today? My candlesticks are one of a kind! (At Target, they’re $2.99!) Photograph that in black and white! (But my iPhone can shoot it right) Should I put my talent into telemarketing? Spend my nights making your phone ring? You’ll go to hell without Chanel And discover me posthumously! Without your art I’m in the dark! Yeah, yeah, I do have a real job!
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