MICHAEL RUSHTON reports on the pros and cons of increasing US government spend on culture and the challenge of justifying taxing people with no interest in the arts in order to fund them.
In a New York Times op-ed, Laura Raicovich and Laura Hanna call for a generous increase in the way the government, in particular the federal government, funds arts institutions:
"As policymakers in Washington gather to draft a new budget for fiscal year 2025, they could solve culture’s current financial crisis and radically reshape how we think about sustaining the arts. They could do this by tapping into abundant appropriations that already enjoy bipartisan support. To make this possible, first, we need to stop treating museums, theatres and galleries like sacred spaces that exist in some rarefied realm of public life. And we need to start treating them — and funding them — like interstate highways, high-speed internet and other infrastructure projects, using money that’s earmarked to maintain the country’s infrastructure."
There is not much evidence that the American public is wanting a general increase (or decrease, come to that) in government support of the arts, and so there is a hill to climb in making the case for it. And I don’t think they succeed. Let’s consider the argument they present...Keep reading on Arts Journal.
In a New York Times op-ed, Laura Raicovich and Laura Hanna call for a generous increase in the way the government, in particular the federal government, funds arts institutions:
"As policymakers in Washington gather to draft a new budget for fiscal year 2025, they could solve culture’s current financial crisis and radically reshape how we think about sustaining the arts. They could do this by tapping into abundant appropriations that already enjoy bipartisan support. To make this possible, first, we need to stop treating museums, theatres and galleries like sacred spaces that exist in some rarefied realm of public life. And we need to start treating them — and funding them — like interstate highways, high-speed internet and other infrastructure projects, using money that’s earmarked to maintain the country’s infrastructure."
There is not much evidence that the American public is wanting a general increase (or decrease, come to that) in government support of the arts, and so there is a hill to climb in making the case for it. And I don’t think they succeed. Let’s consider the argument they present...Keep reading on Arts Journal.