Government Funding For The Arts Essay Research

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Government Funding for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is a government sponsored foundation.

The duty of the National Endowment for the Arts is to foster the growth of the

arts evenly through the national, state, and local levels of the country. With

all of the budget slashing that is now taking place the arts is the first place

that people look to take money from. This not only happens on the national

level but also in our schools. Many people don’t see the arts as important.

It is the most important thing that our society has.

Art, in each and every form that it comes in, shows us who we are. Our

pictures that we paint, our songs which we compose, our theater for which we

write, act, and dance for, our buildings which we design, as a whole, explains

our culture. Future historians will look back at these things and judge us by

our accomplishments in these areas. When we look back in history, we recall it

through the greatest past achievements in art: the Sistine Chapel, the great

pyramids of Egypt, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, and the works of Plato.

Shouldn’t we be able to show feats just as grand?

Most Americans do agree with me. In 1992, a study called the “Americans

and the Arts VI” was conducted; it ended with these results:

* 60% of the people support the federal support of the arts.

* 63% of the people support the state’s support of the arts.

* 84% of the people regard art as a reflection of life and

times of a nation.

* 75% of the people think that the government can be helpful to

artists in funding their work and in helping them gain recognition.

* 69% of the people would raise their taxes $5 a year if it were to

go to the arts.

* 64% a $10 increase and 56% a $15 increase.

* 90% of the people feel that the arts should be a regular part of a

child’s education.

* 54% of the people would cut spending on school sports programs

before the arts programs (Philp 5).

Another survey shows that 73% of the population would favor arts support even

during a recession (O’Steen 229).

In 1965, when the National Endowment for the Arts was brought into being,

President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “Art is a nation’s most precious heritage.

For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves and to others the

inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the

people perish” (Philp 5). The National Endowment for the Arts, returns its

money from the people, back to the people. Many of the organizations and people

supported by govern-ment grants might otherwise be bankrupt and out on the

streets. The government’s arts endowments to the NEA in 1995 was a measly $167

million and was barely helped by the $56.4 increase to all arts foundations

(Grimes C19).

With a still majority of Republicans in Congress, the outlook of the NEA

and other nationally funded arts agencies is bleak. The House Budget Committee

is chaired by John Kasich (R-Ohio) who co-authored the Penny-Kasich Amendment

which calls for a ten percent cut in support for the NEA, the National

Endowments for the Humanities, the Institute for Museum Services, the

Smithsonian Institute, the National Gallery of Art, and the Corporation for

Public Broadcasting (Janowitz 56). Dick Armey (R-Tex), the National House

Speaker, says, “My own view of the matter is [that] the NEA offends the

Constitution of the United States. My own view is [that] there is no

constitutional authority for this agency to exist” (Janowitz 56). The only hope

is with President Bill Clinton (D-Ark). Mr. Clinton calls for small increases

in some of the arts foundations. He also assigned three goals to the

President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, which he revived:

* to increase public understanding of the arts and the humanities

and build grassroots support for them;

* to identify new sources of funds, especially from individuals,

foundations, and corporations; and

* to use public meetings and publications to address urgent issues

in the nation’s cultural life (Brademas 804).

The NEA and other government sponsored foundations are essential organs

to the life of us as a society, nation, culture, and civilization. With the

destruction of these agencies, the government is destroying our ability to show

our inner vision.

Works Cited

Brademas, John. “Valuing Ideas and Culture” Phi Delta Kappan. June

1995 v76 n10 p804(3).

Grimes, William. The New York Times. May 1, 1996 v145 pC19.

Janowitz, Barbara. “Is the NEA’s Number Up?” American Theatre. Feb.

1995 v12 n2 p56(2).

O’Steen, Kathleen. Variety. Feb. 22, 1993 v350 n4 p229(1).

Philp, Richard. “The True Mandate: Fund the Arts” Dance Magazine. Jan.

1995 v69 n1 p5(1).