Monday, October 15, 2007
The arts-funding balancing act
Seattle Times Newspaper: "It's an eternal question, followed by plenty more: Should the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs give a few big grants to some causes that appear most important? Do they parcel out a little bit to a very large number of groups, in the interests of fairness, but dilute the grants' impact? Should they fund major groups that are the city's arts cornerstones? Or do they take aim at the grassroots community efforts, which may have less artistic merit but good outreach effects? And what about arts education, a subject that is foundering in many of our schools?"
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2 comments:
No matter which way they choose to go, it seems there are never enough dollars for the arts. Especially in schools. It's interesting that the program manager for Seattle Public Schools mentioned that most principals wanted to see arts back in the curriculum. Back home, it always seemed that the arts were getting screwed over. Not because of a lack of money, but because it ended up going to more "prestigious" activities. My high school dumped funding into football, even though we never won, instead of giving money to drama or choir or band, all of which consistenly won state awards. At least the city gave money to various arts organizations.
this is a great article that addresses some very important questions. even so i think that it is too difficult and complex to answer or solve these. the important thing though is that it is being brought up. i thought that the section on Big vs Small made some great points. i feel like often times more funding is given to the institution or facility then to the actual art itself. What we have to remember is that art is not dependent on these institutions. Yes, they may provide a nice comfortable atmosphere, but if the facilities are sucking up all the funds there will be no art to go inside them. The idea of art should not be confined to fit within these institutions, but rather transcend them and going beyond the limits. i don't think i am the only one to say that some of the best art i have seen have been in locations where you are taken out of your element, outside of a building or in an abandoned one.
as to the rest of the article, everything metioned is very important and should be thought through. The proper allocation of resources is important for anything to survive, including the arts.
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