DC Theatre Scene: The imminent shutdown of the National Endowment for the Arts, promised in President Trump’s 2017-2018 budget, will result in fewer and smaller new plays, bring an end to cultural exchanges with theaters in other countries, sharply curtail a program to bring theater to rural America, and increase competition for the private donations that smaller theaters depend on, DC-area theatermakers told us.
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I haven't thought about the effect this will have on the smaller companies and programs not funded directly but the NEA. Or even the affect that this administration and its reactionary promises has had already. It makes sense though; people who donate, donate. If bigger projects lose NEA funding those donors will give to them and give less to the smaller ones because of proportionality. People who donate to the arts are usually the ones who also care about supporting social issues as well as cultural issues so they are the ones who will give to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU and so on and put a little less money into the arts because they have to spread their money around more. We know that without the NEA many valuable programs and shows will either be lost of be much harder to put up and to run, but I notice that I really have no concept of just how much harder. I don't raise money or solicit donors for a living so I have no baseline comparison besides that one bake sale in middle school and everyone likes cookies so that went well. I wonder how many people actually have an accurate idea; I wonder how many are over dramatizing the loss and how many who are scared of the loss and think it is going to be bad aren't even close to how bad it might actually be.
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