Government funding of the arts: For or against?

[tedrbr]

Originally posted by Maverick
Had you brought this up instead of the old but we waste more $ over here argument I could understand your viewpoint a bit better. I honestly did not consider museums at all in this case. I would argue that a historical preservation museum such as the Air Force museum in Dayton or the Patton in Ft. Knox serve a historical value that is different from an artistic venue but the Smithsonian is another issue even if it was started with private money. It's a pity that it is only in one spot and such a crowded one at that.

(Letsee if I can do hyperbole as well as others here:)

"What about the taxpayers that don't want to fund historical sites and want to melt down all those old planes for scrape to help pay down the public debt?  That's what happened to most of that equipment in the 1940's and 1950's.  Why should my tax dollars go to restore, refurbish, or maintain something from World War II?  It's old!"  

Arguing against NEA on monetary basis is a joke.  It's a pittance.  
Most people go nuts over the NEA because something, somewhere it has funded (or that they have "heard" they funded but other's against the NEA) offends them in some way, and they use the money argument as the justification.

Well, chose just about any subject matte, you'll be able find people offended by it.  Go through the line items in the 2007 (if you were actually willing to spend some time and effort on the matter) and you'll find lot's of things to be offended by in the appropriations of your tax dollars.  

I see the narrow minded are fixating on only one or three specific NEA funded efforts, with either a religious agenda, an anarchy agenda,  or i wanna be ticked about everything I can agenda.

So, what GOOD comes out of the NEA's $170,000,000 budget?  Well, I expect few of you naysayers will stop venting your spleens long enough to look at the NEA website, or the list below, but I submit it anyways.

Dance[/B}

Alabama Dance Council, Inc.
Birmingham, AL
$10,000
To support the presentation of the 2007 Alabama Dance Festival. The statewide festival will feature performances by River North Chicago Dance Company, showcases of Alabama artists, master classes, and dance education workshops.

Alaska Dance Theatre, Inc.
Anchorage, AK
$10,000
To support residencies by choreographers. The choreographers will each create works for Alaska Dance Theatre, and teach master classes at the School of Alaska Dance Theatre, area high schools, the University of Alaska-Anchorage, and for the general public.

Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc. (aka Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater)
New York, NY
$90,000
To support a North American tour of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The company will offer performances and outreach activities across the United States and in Canada.

American Dance Festival, Inc.
Durham, NC
$60,000
To support Pioneers and Frontiers: Tradition and Beyond II. The project will include the commissioning and presentation of American and international modern choreographers and a range of education and outreach activities.

Andanza, Inc.
San Juan, PR
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of new works by choreographers Lolita Villanúa and Carlos Iván Santos. The project will include original music played live by local composers, and will premiere at the Luis A. Ferré Center for the Performing Arts in San Juan.

Art Sweats, Inc. (aka David Dorfman Dance)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of a new work by artistic director and choreographer David Dorfman. The project will include classes, workshops, lecture-demonstrations, open rehearsals, and post-performance discussions.

Ballet Austin, Inc.
Austin, TX
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of a new work titled The Mounds. Artistic director and choreographer Stephen Mills will work with visual artist Trenton Doyle Hancock and composer Graham Reynolds.

Ballet Theatre Foundation, Inc. (aka American Ballet Theatre)
New York, NY
$80,000
To support the creation and presentation of The Sleeping Beauty by American Ballet Theatre. The new piece will be re-imagined by artistic director Kevin McKenzie and will be presented at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Ballet West
Salt Lake City, UT
$20,000
To support the presentation of a work by choreographer Jirí Kylían. Petite Mort will be presented at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. The piece will be performed as part of Ballet West's education and outreach programs for Utah elementary and secondary students, teachers, and individuals with special needs.

Bates College (on behalf of Bates Dance Festival)
Lewiston, ME
$20,000
To support extended artist residencies as part of Bates Dance Festival's 25th anniversary. Dancing Our Community will include Bridgman/Packer, BoanDanz, David Dorfman Dance, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Bebe Miller Company, PearsonWidrig Dance Theater, and Doug Varone and Dancers.

Better Family Life, Inc.
St. Louis, MO
$10,000
To support a national dance festival, Black Dance-USA: A Celebration of Movement. The project will consist of dance workshops, a concert by a regional or national dance company, discussion sessions, dance films, lecture-demonstrations, and African percussion and song classes.

Big Tree Productions, Inc. (aka Tere O'Connor Dance)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of an evening-length work by artistic director and choreographer Tere O'Connor. The work will be created in collaboration with composer James Baker, and lighting and set designer Brian Macdevitt.

Boston Ballet, Inc.
Boston, MA
$30,000
To support the staging of Polyphonia by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. The work will premiere at The Wang Theatre. The score, assembled from piano works by Gyorgy Ligeti, will be performed live by one of Boston Ballet's staff soloists.

Capoeira Foundation, Inc. (aka DanceBrazil)
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of The Ritual of the Roda. The new work will be created by DanceBrazil's artistic director and choreographer, Jelon Vieira.

Career Transition For Dancers, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support a series of career-counseling seminars for dancers. The National Outreach Project will take place in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, and Cincinnati.

Carolina Ballet, Inc.
Raleigh, NC
$10,000
To support the creation and presentation of Monet Impressions, works by choreographers Robert Weiss and Lynne Taylor-Corbett.  Monet Impressions will be presented in conjunction with the North Carolina Museum of Art's Monet in Normandy exhibit.

Chicago Human Rhythm Project
Chicago, IL
$10,000
To support the Tap 2007 dance festival. The project will include educational, performance, and outreach activities. The festival will take place around four main events, culminating in a weekend of performances, lecture-demonstrations, and classes.

[tedrbr]

Musical Theater

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

5th Avenue Theatre Association
Seattle, WA
$60,000
To support a production of West Side Story, with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, with accompanying outreach and educational activities. Associate artistic director William Berry will direct the production in collaboration with Seattle's Spectrum Dance Theatre led by Donald Byrd.

Arden Theatre Company
Philadelphia, PA
$30,000
To support a production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide with accompanying educational and outreach activities. Originally adapted by Hugh Wheeler from Voltaire's 1759 novel, a new musical version, with book by John Daird, lyrics by Richard Wilbur, and additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, and Leonard Bernstein, will be directed by producing artistic director Terence J. Nolen.

Arizona Theatre Company
Tucson, AZ
$50,000
To support a full-scale production of the 1924 jazz-age musical Lady, Be Good! with score by George and Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson. Artistic director David Ira Goldstein will direct performances in Tucson and Phoenix as part of the theater's 40th-anniversary season.

Guthrie Theater Foundation
Minneapolis, MN
$75,000
To support a production of the musical play 1776, with book by Peter Stone and music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards, with accompanying educational activities. Associate artistic director John Miller-Stephany will direct the Guthrie's first musical production in its new three-stage theater complex.

Japan Society, Inc.
New York, NY
$30,000
To support the re-creation and production of Delusion of the Fury, a Japanese Noh-influenced musical theater work by the late composer/theorist Harry Partch, with educational activities. Director John Jesurun will create the production with musical director and choreographer Dean Drummond.

[tedrbr]

Visual Arts Touring

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Craft in America, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA
$100,000
To support the touring exhibition Craft in America, featuring works that exemplify aesthetic achievements in the fields of craft, folk, and native arts, with accompanying catalogue. The exhibition will provide historical context for a selection of objects created from the mid-1850s to the present.

Edmundson Art Foundation, Inc.
Des Moines, IA
$215,000
To support the touring exhibition After Many Springs: Art in the Midwest in the 1930s, with accompanying catalogue and education programs. The Des Moines Art Center exhibition examines the intersections between painting, photography, and film that grew out of the Midwest during the Great Depression.

Massillon Museum
Massillon, OH
$20,000
To support the touring exhibition Visions of Midwestern Impressionism, with accompanying catalogue. The project will focus on the years between 1880 and 1930, investigating if there was a truly Midwestern Impressionist style, and examining the similarities and differences among Midwestern artists and the larger American Impressionist movement.

Phillips Collection
Washington, DC
$180,000
To support the touring exhibition American Impressionism: Paintings from the Phillips Collection and accompanying education programs and materials. The exhibition highlights 50 paintings from the golden age of American Impressionism (1885-1920).

Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix, AZ
$215,000
To support the touring exhibition Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschien, with accompanying catalogue. This first retrospective of Blumenschien's (1874-1960) work will contribute to the American public's knowledge and understanding of the artist's interpretation of the American West.

[tedrbr]

Arts on Radio and Television

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

American Documentary, Inc.
New York, NY
$220,000
To support the selection, acquisition, packaging, and promotion of films for broadcast on the public television series P.O.V. ("point of view"). As the longest running PBS series devoted exclusively to the art of independent, non-fiction film, P.O.V. brings documentary artworks - rarely found in the mainstream media - to national audiences.

Art 21, Inc.
New York, NY
$140,000
To support the fourth year of Art:21 - Art in the Twenty-First Century. A public television series about contemporary visual art and artists in the United States, the project will yield four one-hour programs as well as ancillary outreach activities.

Artemis Media Project
Foley, AL
$5,000
To support the production of a radio documentary about traveling black college swing bands of the 1930s and 1940s. A co-production with Murray Street Productions, Swingtime: Black College Bands on the Rhythm Road will explore the social, musical, and historical legacy of these bands and their role in the development of American musical culture.

Beale Street Caravan, Inc.
Memphis, TN
$10,000
To support the production and national broadcast of the public radio series Beale Street Caravan. Weekly, one-hour programs featuring performances by blues artists will be broadcast on more than 312 public, community, and college radio stations nationwide.

Bowery Arts and Science, Ltd.
New York, NY
$15,000
To support post-production costs of a music performance film by Robert Levi. Hidden Music: Billy Strayhorn's Secret Songs will be a one-hour public television program featuring newly discovered jazz and vocal compositions written by the co-composer and arranger for the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

[tedrbr]

Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth

52nd Street Project, Inc.
New York, NY
$63,000
To support Playmaking, a playwriting and dramatic performance program. Students living in the Clinton (Hell's Kitchen) neighborhood of New York City will develop new plays in collaboration with professional theater artists and directors.

AjA Project
San Diego, CA
$15,000
To support the Journey program. The series of after-school photography workshops is targeted to serve refugee youth, ages 12 to 17, living in the San Diego area.

Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture
Philadelphia, PA
$18,000
To support Arabic Rhythms: A Percussion Instruction and Music Appreciation Program. Professional musicians will offer weekly group instruction, individual apprenticeships, rehearsals for public performances, and master classes in Arabic percussion to advanced students (ages 8-15) who also will participate with their teachers in weekend outreach workshops for peer-age audiences.

Alleghany County Schools
Sparta, NC
$15,000
To support Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM). The program will include after-school instruction in Appalachian traditional folk music and dance for students in third through eighth grades; a performance at a day-long summer gathering; interactive Web site pedagogical forums for artists, teachers, and administrators; and publication of teaching resources in Old Time Herald, a folk music quarterly magazine.

Allegro Foundation
Charlotte, NC
$12,000
To support dance classes targeted for children with physical and learning disabilities. Working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg public schools, the foundation will provide weekly dance instruction by specially trained peer tutors.

[tedrbr]

Literature Fellowships for Translation Projects

Christopher Burawa
Chandler, Arizona
$20,000
To support the translation from Icelandic of the selected poems of Jóhann Hjálmarsson, incorporating poems from his most recent books. Jóhann Hjálmarsson is the author of 18 books of poetry, three chapbooks, six books of translations, and two volumes of critical essays on Icelandic literature. Hjálmarsson was awarded the 2000 Nordic Literary Prize for his third book of a trilogy of poems, Hljóöleikar (Sound Play), based on Eyrbyggja Saga, whose events take place in the region of Iceland where his ancestors settled. He was presented with the 2003 Icelandic Parliament Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Icelandic literature as a poet and translator.

Christopher Burawa was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1959. He was educated at Arizona State University, and studied Icelandic Language and Literature at the University of Iceland. He received the Witter Bynner Residency Fellowship for Translation in 2006.

Bogdana Carpenter
Ann Arbor, MI
$20,000
To support the translation from Polish of a selection of poems by Julia Hartwig. A generous selection of some 140-160 pages will be translated, emphasizing Hartwig's latest volume, Bez Pozegnania (No Farewell), but also including selections from her earlier volumes. Julia Hartwig was born in Lublin, Poland, in 1921. During World War II, she studied Polish literature, philology, and philosophy at the underground University of Warsaw. From 1990 to 1993, she served as vice-chairman of the Society of Polish Writers. She has also received the Austrian Georg Trakl Prize, the Prize of the Turzanski Foundation, and has been a finalist for the Nike Prize.

Bogdana Carpenter is a Professor of Polish and Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan. She has translated Zbigniew Herbert, Czeslaw Milosz, and Wislawa Szymborska into English, and has received many awards for her work including the Witter Bynner Poetry Translation Prize.

Thomas Cooper
Chapel Hill, NC
$20,000
To support the translation from Hungarian of The Snake's Shadow by Zsuzsa Rakovszky, a historical novel set in 17th-century Central Europe against the backdrop of religious wars between Protestants and Catholics. An immediate success in Hungary following its publication in 2002 and already translated into German and French, this 500-page novel is Zsuzsa Rakovszky's first work of prose fiction. It was soon followed by her second novel, A hullócsillag éve (The Year of the Falling Star). Rakovszky is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Magyar Irodalmi Díj (Hungarian Literary Prize), the most prestigious literary award in Hungary.

Thomas Cooper is the editor of the contemporary authors project for the Petofi Literary Museum in Budapest. He also lectures on Hungarian studies at the University of North Carolina.

[tedrbr]

That all is just a small selection each from just HALF the categories under the NEA awards.


Most of the awards to to marginal, regional, or very select areas of the arts which would NEVER get the kind of funding to go forward from private sources.  Much of it has little commercial value, so is un-fundable.   Others are very controversial.  Some in remote or poor areas.  

6 cents out of every $1,000 dollars of taxpayers money goes toward funding thousands of such projects every year.   It's a pittance.

[AKIron]

I really wonder sometimes if those who espouse socialist/communist ideals realize they are doing so and have they not observed the brutality inflicted by these societies?

[Thrawn]

Originally posted by tedrbr
That all is just a small selection each from just HALF the categories under the NEA awards.


Most of the awards to to marginal, regional, or very select areas of the arts which would NEVER get the kind of funding to go forward from private sources.  Much of it has little commercial value, so is un-fundable.   Others are very controversial.  Some in remote or poor areas.  

6 cents out of every $1,000 dollars of taxpayers money goes toward funding thousands of such projects every year.   It's a pittance.

So, who the hell are you to decide for another man how his hard earned money is spent?  You think ****ing career-counseling seminars for dancers is worth spending money on, use your own.

Jesus Christ, some family can't afford to put their kid through their first year of college because some people who can't dance need to learn how to find a job and don't want to pay for it?

[midnight Target]

You guys seem angry.. maybe you need a poem?

[Tachus]

Very interesting thread.


Instead of asking if we approve, maybe would should ask couple of other questions.

1. Why should the government fund the arts?

The sad truth for art lovers is, there would be no significant impact on our culture, our society, or (most importantly) our economy, without those "arts" that could not survive without government support.

The same cannot be said for many of the other funding efforts that have been mentioned in this thread. So, even if you argue from a Utilitarian perspective there really is little support for this position. Outside of taking the position, which states, "We need the arts, they're important, and it doesn't cost much compared to other things. (Especially if those are things we don't like to begin with.)

BTW, The amount of money spent on the arts by the government, really has no bearing on this argument. It can be a fraction of what is spent or it can be half of what is spent. It just doesn't matter. Now, if we are just answering the question, whether we agree or disagree, that's another matter. I might agree as long as the amount is small, and then change my mind if that amount grows. However, if we move to the issue of whether the government "should" fund the arts, the amount of money really isn't the issue.


2. If the government does fund the arts, why should they do so without some control?

I'm surprised by the number of people that want to have things given to them, without any "strings" attached. (Well actually, I'm not surprised people want this, I'm surprised by the fact that they think it's their "right" to have it.)

This really comes down to a Respect of Persons issue. How can you justify, taking what is mine, and giving it to someone else, while the whole time saying, "You have no say in how it's spent." I can't understand how people can come to a place where they believe their right to entitlement (regardless of how great that need might be, or is perceived to be.) out weighs my rights.

Of course it will be argued by some, I don't like the military, or I don't like our highway system, or I don't like the police force, or I don't like public schools and the government spends my tax dollars on that. Yes, but as I pointed out above, these things in large measure are believed by most to be necessary for out society to continue. The same cannot be said about art. Well what about __________ (fill in the blank), it's not necessary for our society to continue, but we spend money on that, so let's spend money on the arts. I have a better idea, let's stop spending money on "it" and stop spending money on the arts as well.

Lastly, if the public really cares about the arts, then let the public fund them. If the public don't care then so be it. Of course there is a portion of the populace that believe the public are to dumb to know what is best for them, and since they don't know enough to support the arts, we will make them support them for their own good (by taxation and redistribution).
What an arrogant attitude to have.



Best regards,
--Tachus

[sluggish]

Too lazy to read all the posts, so sorry if I echo someone else...

Perhaps if the gubment allowed me to keep a little of the money I earn, I and everyone else could fund art and things arty themselves by purchasing and viewing art and things arty...
                                            ...I personally could really go for a Garfunkel.

(just an idea)

[john9001]

without the govt there would be no "art".

[JB88]

Originally posted by Maverick
Had you brought this up instead of the old but we waste more $ over here argument I could understand your viewpoint a bit better. I honestly did not consider museums at all in this case. I would argue that a historical preservation museum such as the Air Force museum in Dayton or the Patton in Ft. Knox serve a historical value that is different from an artistic venue but the Smithsonian is another issue even if it was started with private money. It's a pity that it is only in one spot and such a crowded one at that.

Speaking from a strictly "art" museum stand point I could see a delineation between displaying works that have already attained public approval status and historical import. Going along with that I could understand and support a secondary purpose of allowing some floorspace (wall space) for the display of other more contemporary art that has not yet been recognised by the general public.

Obviously art is your "sacred cow" and I don't mean that sarcastically. I think you could be a good spokesman for it if you would get off the financial aspect, the wasted $ aspect and simply concentrate on being a spokesman for a beneficial aspect of art to society. Mere sarcasm does not support your cause and in fact makes it look as if you can't do anything more than whine about others opinions. If art is your passion, support it here instead of just throwing out meaningless sarcastic remarks. Perhaps you might just change an opinion or two. It is possible to learn something new here on the bbs.

if anyone were to have read my initial posts, they could have caught the part where i stated that i do not think that support for individual artists is a good idea.  they would have also read the part where i said that i prefer the "Spielberg" way of making art = making money v. the lockheed or corporate welfare method.   they would have also caught the part where i expressed that endowments are critical for maintaining the integrity of art in the historical and preservational sense.  i thought i made this pretty clear.

it doesnt surprize me to hear the same tired arguements over and over again.  the same pissbloodchristpooponacanvas arguements are the ones that have been being replayed over and over again by the types of folks who would would rather react from fear than from understanding.  talk about armchair generals.  "my money this" "my money that" ...this is where many of the posters here have taken it maveric ...so you'll excuse me if i point to back to tedrbears post where he lays out what the funding of the nea costs per year.  170 million dollars.  six cents for every 1000 dollars spent.  

my point is, that it isnt really about "my money" or "your money" in this case...that's just how it's packaged.   the amount of money spent is so negligible that it takes a real dufus to try to compare the NEA to anything.

what it is really about is fear.  

and smoke screens.  

because lord knows, its easier to attack some art that got made during the reagan and bush I administrations than deal with the bottomless pit that is the soul sucking government that sits on high today.

[john9001]

no, no, the renaissance came after the dark ages.