Category: issues

Florida arts groups are barcing for the worst – that state arts funding will be eliminated. “Even in the dark days of the early 1990s, when the National Endowment for the Arts was under attack, no state government joined the chorus to eliminate arts funding within its own borders. Florida in particular was among some that increased support to compensate for the reduced role of the NEA. But that was before the economic shudders of the dot-com bust, the Sept. 11 attacks, Wall Street scandals and wars on terrorism and Iraq caused tax revenue collections to plummet.” However, “this is not an economic issue. The legislators have turned it into a policy issue.”

New York Gov. George Pataki proposes cutting the state’s arts budget as part of a series of cuts of the state budget. “He wants to trim the grants to arts organizations by 15 percent, from about $44.4 million to $37.8 million. But critics want far deeper cuts. The grants totaled more than $50 million a decade ago but have ebbed and flowed with the state’s economy. New York spent more than any other state on the arts last year, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.”

In Minnesota, “immigration difficulties and terror worries have led to the cancellation of scores of events since Sept. 11, 2001. Other artists have canceled in protest of U.S. policies, adding to the mounting financial and artistic costs.”

When he quit business, new NEA chairman Dana Gioia says he vowed not to be involved with bureaucracy again. “Appointed to his four-year term by President Bush, Gioia sees the bureaucratic dimension of his job as ‘a necessary obstacle. There’s no other way of administering these grants… except through a bureaucracy.’ The key, he says, is to remain ‘conscious of what your mission is. The constituency of the arts endowment is not merely artists. It’s all Americans’.”

LA Times reader Rachel Rosenthal doesn’t like NEA chairman Dana Gioia’s emphasis on only funding arts institutions at the expense of artists. “Yes, art should be taught in school; yes, it’s good to reach out; yes, art should be part of the fabric of social life. But by denying direct support to artists, what you are doing is forcing individual creative artists to mold their output to fit the tastes and policies of existing presenting organizations (theaters, galleries, concert halls) instead of following their own muse. This is a distorting and painful situation for most creators, and it favors interpretive artists: actors, musicians, curators.”

Clive Davis is disappointed by the behavior of Britain’s cultural leaders over the issue of the war. “At a time when cultural figures should have been leading a considered debate, Britain’s cultural elite (and a fair part of America’s too) responded with a mixture of hysteria, self-righteousness and wilful ignorance. If you think I am exaggerating, consider just some of the evidence. Exhibit 1 is the poetry (for want of a better word) of Harold Pinter, a once-respected figure who has turned into the literary equivalent of a sad old man with a ‘The End Is Nigh’ sandwich board.”

A new study reports that in Denver “more people in the Denver area patronize the performing arts than professional sporting events, according to an unprecedented new study of attitudes and attendance patterns. It also shows that among the primary performing-arts disciplines, theater far outdraws dance, opera and the symphony.”

Across America, states are considering drastically reducing or eliminating arts funding. “State arts funding plunged from $410 million two years ago to around $350 million in 2002-03, and this year looks to be worse. But the proposed cuts have a long way to go before they become law, and by the time they are approved in early summer, reductions may be significantly less severe. In fact, some believe the dramatic announcements are calculated to shock the arts community into accepting more modest cutbacks.” But it’s not all a bluff…

No matter whether the Florida senate, house or governor wins out, Florida’s arts groups will see drastic reductions in the state’s arts budget. Proposals range from a 50 percent cut to cancelling out funding altogether. Arts officials are outraged: “People use the state money to leverage for other grants and local contributions. I see this as a panic reaction to Florida’s economy at the moment.
Obviously, we find this hurtful. It doesn’t pay attention to how many dollars arts groups circulate in the community. This just makes a tough job harder.”