CMU School of Drama


Monday, March 06, 2017

Federal blow to the arts: How the NEA’s measly millions keep America’s museums alive

Salon.com: Some politicians have never made a secret of their desire to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as its companion agency the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The Conversation

Each of these agencies have traditionally been regarded as bastions of “liberalism,” making them prime targets for conservatives in the culture wars.

1 comment:

Sarah Boyle said...

I grew up outside of DC, being spoiled with not only a lot of excellent museums, but a lot of excellent free museums. My family also listens to NPR on the radio all the time. So I am quite biased to the benefits of public arts funding. I think that this article made a particularly good argument in providing evidence that cutting federal funding does not in fact increase private donations. Even when federal funding is small, it is a sort of seal of approval. Other countries already have much better government funded arts programs than the United States (like Switzerland for example). I don’t fully agree with the author on the point that comparatively, this programs are a small portion of federal funding, because to be fair, we have a staggering amount of national debt and there are serious ramifications to cutting Medicaid and social security. I believe that supporting arts programs not only benefits American culture, it also is government involvement that people can feel the benefits of on a national and local level. The arts should ideally be accessible to everyone.