Posted: 1/19/17 at 1:34pm
HogansHero said: "I of course would love to see much more arts funding by the federal government and despise the idea of it being reduced for any reason, it is important to put it in context: the federal contribution to NFP arts programs is about 1.2% of the total revenue they receive. Compared to some other ideas being bandied about, this is survivable even though on an individual basis it will be devastating to some. But not getting a grant in the first place devastates arts organizations every year under even the most generous fed budgets.
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While you strike a good point, will the arts in general survive if this were to happen?? Art on a whole has never been all that valued in the good' ol U.S. of A because our population for many reasons, some explainable some not, has tended to view them as unnecessary/frivolous/an extracurricular activity rather than the backbone of any society that they really are. They're treated like careers or even silly hobbies, that aren't as important as careers/hobbies in math, science, IT, etc are, especially now. I'm glad there's been an upsurge in interest in the arts recently, but just because interest is there, doesn't mean the money is, and I'm not even talking about the NEA or any federal level spending on them with that, I'm talking about how it's still almost like pulling teeth to get someone to spend money on an "art" of some kind rather than spending the same amount of money they would normally spend on something that practically has no benefit to society or just humanity in general. ART IS THE EYE INTO THE SOUL OF HUMANITY AND THINGS UNSEEN. I'm not saying other fields aren't important, we need ALL fields and occupations for society to thrive, not just survive, but art is what helps the thriving. There's a reason why controlling regimes of any kind target the arts first. Because they educate, they emulate humanity in some way, they connect the dots to real life.
There's also a reason why shows have never been able to be fully funded by ticket sales. Because America has never valued art in any form as they should. That's partially why why the NEA was created. It's why theatre companies/shows have donors and investors. People still are wary of spending their money on a show ticket, but will spend the same amount on a sporting event.
And since it IS such a small amount in comparison to everything else in the budget, think about this...why do they feel the need to call it wasteful spending and attempt to dismantle it, hmmm? THINK...this absolutely targeting the arts, because it won't stop with just the NEA, PBS, and the Humanities. Here's to the next four VERY bumpy years y'all. Then again, we were gonna come to our demise no matter who we elected, it was just a matter of who we'd come to it faster under...My only hope is we get info the fastest we've ever gotten in in human history and therefore because of that we can stop **** before it even starts.
