Wednesday, April 13, 2011
An Open Letter to the United States Congress from Tim Robbins
ARTSblog: "In 1976, when I was 17 years old, I received a check for 50 dollars from the National Endowment for the Arts. I was a member of a touring theater company that performed free shows in low-income neighborhoods throughout New York City. We rehearsed for five weeks and performed for eight so my per hour income was paltry if not pathetic but I remember a great sense of pride when I cashed that check.
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This is a great letter, though I would be surprised if it made a difference. I hate to be cynical, but people have been stressing the importance of arts and arts education for years, yet the arts are still the first thing in schools to get funding taken away. This letter makes a lot of great points, but they are not points that I believe the government is unfamiliar with. I doubt that anyone actually wanted to cut arts funding, but it might have been the least worst option. I don't like to look at it that way, and I certainly wish that the funding wasn't cut, because I believe that the arts are important, and that they deserve government support. But I also know that the arts do not need government support to survive. Art in the past has thrived from private donors, dedicated artists, and giving communities, and in some ways, I think that is the best way for the arts to get support.
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