Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. www.cqresearcher.com Funding the Arts Should government support artistic and cultural expression?

he Trump administration wants to end federal

funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other T cultural agencies. While those agencies receive only a fraction of the federal budget, the administration says other needs are more pressing and that government arts spending represents a A supporter of artistic and cultural activities in New wealth transfer from poorer to richer citizens. The proposal has York City protests on April 3, 2017, against a Trump administration proposal to eliminate federal funding for cultural agencies such as the National Endowment revived an argument that raged during the “culture wars” of the for the Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR. 1980s and ’90s, when conservatives and liberals sparred over whether the government has a role in supporting the arts and whether federal money should help pay for art that some deem offensive. Funding advocates say exposure to the arts helps students perform better in school and that theaters, symphonies and museums help bolster local economies. The arts continue to have powerful supporters, including local politicians and civic leaders I who serve on arts boards in nearly every congressional district. THIS REPORT N Nonetheless, some cash-strapped state and local governments are THE ISSUES ...... 583 S BACKGROUND ...... 590 cutting school and public arts programs. I CHRONOLOGY ...... 591 D CURRENT SITUATION ...... 596 E CQ Researcher • July 14, 2017 • www.cqresearcher.com AT ISSUE ...... 597 Volume 27, Number 25 • Pages 581-604 OUTLOOK ...... 599 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 602 EXCELLENCE N AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD THE NEXT STEP ...... 603 FUNDING THE ARTS

July 14, 2017 THE ISSUES SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Volume 27, Number 25 EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Thomas J. Billitteri • Should the government 584 Arts Studies Required in [email protected] 583 subsidize the arts? Half of States ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS: Kenneth • Should arts education be Twenty-five states and the Fireman, [email protected], District of Columbia require Kathy Koch , [email protected], restored? Scott Rohrer, [email protected] • Do the arts promote high school students to take economic growth? at least one arts class to ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR: Val Ellicott graduate. SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Arts Funding a Sliver of Thomas J. Colin BACKGROUND 585 Federal Budget [email protected] The arts receive a fraction of CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Marcia Clemmitt, 590 Arts Ambivalence 1 percent of federal spending. Sarah Glazer, Reed Karaim, Barbara Mantel, Americans often prized Chuck McCutcheon , Tom Price practicality over beauty for More Americans Oppose public spaces. SENIOR PROJECT EDITOR: Olu B. Davis 588 Cutting Arts Spending Fewer than a third of Ameri - INTERN: Robert DePaolo Birth of the NEA cans favor cutting federal 590 President Lyndon B. Johnson FACT CHECKERS: Eva P. Dasher, created the National Endow - support for the arts, while Michelle Harris, Betsy Towner Levine, ment for the Arts and Na - 44 percent oppose cuts. Robin Palmer tional Endowment for the Chronology Humanities in 1965. 591 Key events since 1943. Growth and Criticism 592 Disputes began to plague the Agencies Seek Community 592 Input for Public Art NEA in the 1970s. Collaboration is key to An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. preventing controversy. Rising Controversy SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, 594 GLOBAL LEARNING RESOURCES: Republican efforts to defund Karen Phillips the NEA continued through Arts Requirements Draw 594 Controversy the mid-1990s. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ONLINE LIBRARY AND “While the goals are admirable, REFERENCE PUBLISHING: the costs are unreasonable.” Todd Baldwin

CURRENT SITUATION At Issue: Copyright © 2017 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Pub - 597 Should the National Endow - lications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright and other Strong Support 596 ment for the Arts be abolished? rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec i fied in writing. No one expects Congress to No part of this publication may be reproduced eliminate arts programs this year. electronically or otherwise, without prior written FOR FURTHER RESEARCH permission. Un au tho rized re pro duc tion or trans mis - Local Projects sion of SAGE copy right ed material is a violation of 598 For More Information federal law car ry ing civil fines of up to $100,000. Some cities are seeking ways 601 Organizations to contact. to support local artists. CQ Press is a registered trademark of Congressional 602 Bibliography Quarterly Inc. OUTLOOK Selected sources used. CQ Researcher (ISSN 1056-2036) is printed on acid-free paper. Pub lished weekly, except: (March wk. 4) (May The Next Step wk. 4) (July wks. 1, 2) (Aug. wks. 2, 3) (Nov. wk. 4) Unending Debate 603 Additional articles . 599 Squabbles over arts funding and (Dec. wks. 3, 4). Published by SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Annual seem destined to return Citing CQ Researcher periodically. 603 full -service subscriptions start at $1,131. For pricing, Sample bibliography formats. call 1-800-818-7243. To purchase a CQ Researcher report in print or electronic format (PDF), visit www.cqpress. com or call 866-427-7737. Single reports start at $15. Bulk purchase discounts and electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals postage paid at Thousand Oaks, California, and at additional mailing offices . POST MAST ER: Send ad dress chang es to CQ Re search- er , 2600 Virginia Ave., N.W., Suite 600, Wash ing ton, Cover: AP Photo/Sipa/Albin Lohr-Jones DC 20037.

582 CQ Researcher Funding the Arts BY ALAN GREENBLATT

revive battles fought in the THE ISSUES 1980s and ’90s over govern - ment support for the arts. At he Public Theater has the time, critics sought to been presenting free strip federal arts agencies of T Shakespeare plays in their funding, saying it was New York’s Central Park for not the government’s role to 60 years, but its latest produc - subsidize art and that some tion, this summer, may be its agencies were funding art - most controversial. 1 A staging works of dubious value. Al - of Julius Caesar recasts the though those efforts largely dictator to resemble President failed, the NEA has changed Trump, complete with golden some of its policies to address hair and a red tie. There’s even critics’ concerns. Federal arts an added reference to killing agencies again find their ex - t t a people on Fifth Avenue, as l istence under attack, howev - P

r

Trump once said he could do e er, and some cash-strapped c without losing popularity . 2 n state and local governments e p

Some conservatives com - S are cutting school and public / s

plained that because Caesar is e arts programs. g killed in the play, the produc - a The administration insists m I

y

tion could be seen as foment - t the federal government can t ing violence against Trump. e no longer afford to fund arts G Dan Bongino, a former Secret Critics of federal arts funding say it is not government’s programs, which it sees as a Service agent, warned that the role to subsidize the arts, especially controversial so-called wealth transfer from play conceivably could lead artworks like sculptor Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker,” poorer to wealthier citizens. someone who is mentally ill displayed along Manhattan’s High Line, a popular “I put myself in the shoes 3 pedestrian space. The Trump administration insists the to try to kill the president. federal government can no longer afford to fund arts of that steelworker in Ohio, Liberals scoffed, noting that programs, but arts backers say federal funding the coal-mining family in West a 2012 production that toured amounts to a tiny fraction of 1 percent of Virginia, the mother of two nationally and featured a Caesar the federal government’s annual budget. in Detroit,” Budget Director modeled after President Barack Mick Mulvaney said at a White Obama prompted no such outcry. 4 ment the same day — and posted a House news conference in March, when “If you read the play, Shakespeare’s pop-up notice on its Web page — making asked about the proposed cuts. “Can against assassination,” says Michael Bron - clear that “no taxpayer dollars” paid for I really go to those folks, look them ski, a media studies professor at Harvard the production . 6 in the eye and say: ‘Look, I want to University. “To have a kneejerk reaction The NEA might have been feeling take money from you, and I want to that this is defaming the president or skittish because the president’s pro - give it to the Corporation for Public it can lead to violence against the pres - posed 2018 budget calls for eliminating Broadcasting?’ That is a really hard sell, ident seems to me to be too much.” funding for the NEA and other cultural and in fact, it’s something we don’t Nevertheless, amid the controversy, agencies, including the National En - think we can defend anymore.” 8 Delta Air Lines and Bank of America dowment for the Humanities (NEH), Arts advocates say federal spending announced they were pulling their fi - the Institute of Museum and Library for the NEA amounts to only 45 cents nancial support from the production. Services and the Corporation for Public per capita annually. Theaters, sym - On June 11, the president’s son, Donald Broadcasting (CPB), arguing that they phonies and museums help bolster Trump Jr., tweeted, “I wonder how represent an unnecessary expense. 7 local economies, and student exposure much of this ‘art’ is funded by taxpay - Although some lawmakers have said to the arts improves academic perfor - ers?” 5 The National Endowment for the that much of Trump’s budget is dead mance, they say. According to Amer - Arts (NEA), the lead federal agency pro - on arrival on Capitol Hill, arts agencies icans for the Arts, a Washington-based viding support for arts organizations and their supporters worry that his arts advocacy group, local, state and throughout the nation, rushed out a state - proposal to eliminate arts funding could federal governments spend a total of

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 583 FUNDING THE ARTS

for the NEA’s and NEH’s elimination, Arts Studies Required in Half of States argued in a “budget blueprint” that served as an influential framework dur - Half the states and the District of Columbia require high school ing the Trump administration’s budget students to take at least one arts class to graduate. Depending on deliberations. “Government should not the school or school district, classes may include fine arts, visual use its coercive power of taxation to or performing arts or other forms of creative expression. compel taxpayers to support cultural organizations and activities.” 12 States Requiring High School Students to Art may be a good thing, but it Take an Arts Class to Graduate, 2017 doesn’t follow that government subsi - N.D. N.H. dies for it are also good, conservative Wash. Mont. Minn. Vt. columnist George F. Will wrote in Maine S.D. Wis. March. “Attempting to abolish the NEA Ore. Idaho Wyo. Mich. N.Y. Mass. Iowa is a fight worth having,” he wrote, ar - Neb. R.I. Pa. guing that the agency has dispensed Ill. Ind. Ohio Conn. Calif. Nev. Utah Colo. Kan. Mo. W.Va. N.J. grants of questionable value and that Ky. Va. Del. the private sector can and does do a Okla. Tenn. N.C. better job of funding the arts. 13 Ariz. Ark. Md. N.M. S.C. D.C. Miss. Will conceded almost immediately, Ala. Ga. Texas La. however, that the fight would be futile

Fla. because the NEA spreads its grant money Alaska around to every state and because peo - ple who sit on nonprofit arts boards Hawaii tend to be powerful and well-connected. Echoing Will, Michael Tanner, who favors abolishing the NEA, says: “It’s very pop - Source: “ArtScan at a Glance,” Arts Education Partnership, Education Commis- ular. In each district, there’s a little sion of the States, updated, March 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybcykop2 money spread around. Its beneficiaries $5 billion on the arts per year, while with a somewhat overlapping mission. are very vocal.” Tanner is a senior fellow arts programs generate $27.5 billion in NEH grants generally go to cultural in - at the libertarian Cato Institute think tax revenue annually in return and sup - stitutions, such as museums, colleges tank in Washington. port $166.3 billion worth of economic and libraries, as well as public broad - The arts community, of course, views activity each year. 9 Advocates also point casting and individual scholars, to pro - the broad dispersal of funds around out that, compared to European gov - mote scholarship and learning about the the country as a plus. The NEA, in par - ernments, American taxpayers contribute humanities, particularly history. It also ticular, has been conscious about earlier only a fraction of U.S. arts funding. The supports publication of literary classics complaints that its grants mainly benefited Paris Opera alone receives the equivalent through the Library of America and some big coastal cities such as New York. of more than $100 million in government forms of music such as jazz and folk. “We see our funding actively making support . 10 In addition, state and local Congress created the NEA and NEH a difference with individuals of all ages support for t he arts dwarfs the NEA’s in 1965, after decades of debate about in thousands of communities, large, contributions. The New York City De - whether the federal government should small, urban and rural, and in every partment of Cultural Affairs alone has a support nonprofit arts organizations. congressional district in the nation,” said bigger budget than the NEA . 11 After social conservatives failed to shut Jane Chu, who chairs the NEA. 14 The National Endowment for the Arts down the NEA in the 1980s and ’90s, Trump’s desire to kill the agency promotes citizen access to the arts — the issue had lain mostly dormant until might get no further than earlier at - performing arts such as theater and visual Trump revived it. tempts have. Shortly after the president arts such as works that might be seen “Private individuals and organizations announced his intention to eliminate at a museum. It provides grants to arts should be able to donate at their own the federal culture agencies, Congress organizations and state and regional arts discretion to humanities organizations in May increased funding for the NEA agencies to encourage attendance at arts and programs as they wish,” the Her - and NEH, from $148 million to $150 mil - events. The National Endowment for the itage Foundation, a conservative Wash - lion each, as part of its budget for the Humanities performs a similar function ington think tank that has long called rest of fiscal 2017. 15

584 CQ Researcher Those were not huge increases, but they signaled continuing support in Con - Arts Funding a Sliver of Federal Budget gress for the arts, with arts programs The arts and public broadcasting received a razor-thin slice of the seen as benefiting communities both in fiscal 2016 federal budget — $741 million, or less than 1 percent of terms of individual enrichment and as a the total $3.9 trillion outlay. The Corporation for Public Broadcast - tool for driving economic development. What’s more, arts funding is not a ing, which helps to fund National Public Radio and the Public huge part of the overall federal budget. Broadcasting Service, received $445 million. The National Endow - Funding for the NEA, NEH and the Cor - ment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities poration for Public Broadcasting, which each received $148 million. subsidizes National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Total Federal Federal Spending on the Arts and amounts to less than $750 million per Spending Public Broadcasting, Fiscal 2016 $3.9 trillion year, or a fraction of 1 percent of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 16 budget, arts advocates point out . (See $445 million graph, right. ) National Endowment for the Arts But the agencies’ funding fight for $148 million fiscal 2018 will be more intense than it National Endowment for the Humanities was in fiscal 2017, they believe. Nego - $148 million tiations over next year’s budget are ex - pected to stretch at least into the fall. “We remain very, very wary and cautious Sources: “CPB’s Past Appropriations,” Corporation for Public Broadcasting, undated, http://tinyurl.com/yaf2fobz; “National Endowment for the Arts Appropriations History,” about the prospects for the fiscal year National Endowment for the Arts, undated, http://tinyurl.com/jreutxx; “Appropriations 2018 budget,” says Robert Lynch, president Request For Fiscal Year 2016,” National Endowment for the Humanities, undated, of Americans for the Arts, an advocacy http://tinyurl.com/yawyk3l8; “Budget,” Congressional Budget Office, undated, group for arts organizations. http://tinyurl.com/zvsl2eh In the meantime, arts organizations — museums, theater companies, sym - and promoting economic development possible,” Stafford says. “The only way phony orchestras — are urging sub - in specific neighborhoods in those we can survive is through arts funding.” scribers and patrons to contact their mem - cities. “To make a city, you can’t just Artists such as Stafford have been bers of Congress and encourage them have housing,” says Todd Schliemann, making the case to their audiences to maintain arts and culture funding. a New York-based architect who de - that governments should continue sup - The Trump administration believes signs science museums. “You have to porting the arts. “As our elected of - that “if NEA funding gets cut, that have a mixed-use component that in - ficials in Washington work on the [money] will be made up by the private cludes cultural things such as museums federal budget . . . the survival of sector,” says Susan Baley, executive di - and performing arts.” funding for the arts hangs in the bal - rector of the Swope Art Museum in As the arts funding debate plays out ance,” the San Francisco Symphony Terre Haute, Ind. But “it’s hard to see in Washington, here are some of the wrote in an email to audience mem - that happening.” questions policymakers are asking: bers in April, providing them with Arts advocates say federal funding the phone numbers of members of is crucial because arts organizations often Should the government subsidize the Bay area congressional delegation. tout those grants as a way to attract the arts? “We need your help to advocate for other donors. “Eliminating these agencies Terell Stafford, a prominent jazz the arts TODAY!” 17 is not going to make a difference to trumpet player, runs the Jazz Orchestra Supporters say arts organizations the [federal] deficit, but it makes a of Philadelphia, a big band that features boost local economies by providing tremendous difference to these organi - local musicians and presents concerts jobs, bringing in tourists and attracting zations that rely on them,” Baley says. celebrating musicians with ties to the local visitors who spend money on To make the case for continuing city. The nonprofit orchestra relies on things like meals and parking. “The support, advocates attribute a variety government grants to cover some of economic footprint of the arts is so much of benefits to the arts, from improving its costs. bigger than anyone actually realizes ,” educational outcomes to drawing peo - “Music is not an easy thing to make says Lynch, the Americans for the Arts ple to cities with vibrant arts scenes a living by, and we need all the support president.

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 585 FUNDING THE ARTS

The NEA provides funds to support are “generally enjoyed by people of new audiences, but to create a product those local and regional arts organi - higher-income levels, making them a that pleases those who dole out the zations. But federal funds account for wealth transfer from poorer to wealthier free cash,” wrote David Marcus, director only a portion of the amount con - citizens.” 20 of a New York theater company that tributed by local and state arts agencies But supporters of the arts say people does not receive government subsidies. as a whole. And it accounts for a at all income levels, including those “The [arts] industry receives more free smaller share than individual donations who cannot afford to attend live per - money than it did a decade ago, and — or even the amount raised through formances, enjoy the arts through public has fewer attendees.” 22 crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, radio and television programs. “I grew Too much of the money dispensed according to a study by Ramana Nanda, up loving musicals,” said Lin-Manuel by NEA or NEH is still being sent to organizations concentrated in coastal states such as New York and California, the cultural critic and editor Roger Kim - ball complained, including money de - voted to large institutions capable of massive private fundraising, such as the Metropolitan Museum. “Doubtless many initiatives could be worthy, but

s a lot of the funded projects are inane, a k i l repellent or both,” he wrote. 23 G

e However, these days few arts non - c u r profits rely heavily on federal funds for B / c

i ongoing expenses but use grants to g

a fund specific projects, such as museum M m

l exhibitions. “The number of arts orga - i F

/ nizations that count on NEA dollars for s e

g regular maintenance of their program - a m

I ming is declining,” says Roland Kushner,

y t

t who teaches arts administration at Muh - e

G lenberg College in Pennsylvania. “It’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, creator and star of the popular musical Hamilton , more likely to be connected with issues said that when he was growing up, his family rarely had money to see Broadway such as access and education.” shows. “But because of PBS’ ‘Great Performances,’ I saw Into the Woods. And it changed my life,” he said. Critics say arts funding largely benefits While both sides agree arts and cul - wealthy Americans who are most likely to patronize the arts, but supporters ture spending makes up a microscopic say people at all income levels can enjoy the arts through free portion of the federal budget, support - museums and public radio and television programs. ers and critics disagree over whether a Harvard professor of business ad - Miranda, creator of the hit Broadway that is an argument for keeping or ministration. “Crowdfunding has en - musical Hamilton , but he added that killing agencies such as the NEA and abled a democratization of access” to because his family rarely “had money NEH. Those who favor abolishing them the arts, Nanda said. 18 In 2016, while to go see Broadway shows. I think I say if Congress cannot eliminate such the federal government devoted less saw three, maybe, before I was an relatively small programs, it will never than $1 billion to arts agencies, indi - adult. But because of PBS’ ‘Great Per - get serious about cutting spending. Arts vidual Americans gave $18 billion to formances,’ I saw Into the Woods. And supporters maintain that spending on arts and culture nonprofits. 19 it changed my life.” 21 arts and culture offers needed support, “This seems like the quintessential Some conservatives argue that not only for arts organizations but for thing the private sector should do, and government-subsidized art does not state and regional arts councils and certainly does to a far greater degree,” have to respond to market demands, commissions. says Cato’s Tanner. giving recipients of those funds an un - For example, say NEA supporters, In 2013, when the House Budget fair edge over their unsubsidized com - the agencies’ support often serves as Committee unsuccessfully proposed petitors. “This means that the real way a seal of approval on projects, helping eliminating funding for arts and cultural to succeed as an arts organization is to attract other donors. Last year, every agencies, the panel said such activities not to create a product that attracts $1 of NEA funding was matched by up

586 CQ Researcher to $9 in support from other entities, ac - respectively, by 2009. And more than a membership organization for visual cording to Aaron Knochel, an art education 40 percent of secondary schools no arts instructors. “It’s not like chemistry. professor at Penn State University. 24 longer required courses in the arts for Art has multiple answers.” “It’s an incentives system,” Lynch graduation, according to the Education Some academic researchers are says about NEA funding. “It should be Department study. 25 (See graph, p. 588. ) skeptical of such studies. Most studies a conservative’s delight. It’s something While schools are cutting arts edu - that show arts education leading to they should hold up as a model.” cation, Greene’s research and other improved performance in other areas But Tanner says the federal govern - scholarly studies suggest that art edu - measure correlation, not causation, ment should not be acting as a sort cation programs, including field trips they say. In other words, the researchers of venture capital fund, offering seed to museum or theaters or in-class work say, the type of students who partic - money that helps attract other support. “I don’t think government should be s

picking and choosing winners when r e it comes to art,” he says. y M

h t i e

Should arts education be restored? K / r

The Crystal Bridges Museum of Amer - a t S

ican Art in Bentonville, Ark., was founded y t i

and has been richly supported by Alice C

s

Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune. a s n

As part of its educational mission, the a K /

museum sponsors free field trips for s e

school groups — not just waiving ad - g a m I

mission fees but reimbursing schools y t t

for transportation and teachers’ time. e Despite the free ride, some Arkansas G The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., founded by schools — particularly schools that Alice Walton, an heir to the Walmart fortune, sponsors free field trips for school serve lower-income students — have groups as part of its educational mission. Although scholarly studies suggest stopped taking trips to the museum, that arts education offers many benefits to students, some schools have says Jay P. Greene, an education pro - stopped taking advantage of such free museum visits and are cutting fessor at the University of Arkansas. arts programs to focus on core subjects such as reading and math. “The museum analyzed its own data on painting or music, offer many benefits ipate in arts programs may be those and found that the more wealthy the to students. 26 who are going to succeed anyway, school kids are, the more likely they “There is some evidence that music thanks to their own initiative, parental are to take them up on free field trips,” education, for instance, can actually involvement or the overall quality of the Greene says. “It’s a cruel irony, because boost IQ,” says Steven Holochwost, a schools they attend. poor and rural kids were the most en - research scientist at the Science of Learn - “There’s plenty of correlational evi - riched from those trips,” gaining not ing Institute at Johns Hopkins University. dence — smart kids take piano lessons, just subject knowledge but skills such “The arts yield benefits in terms of im - for example,” says Ellen Winner, a psy - as the ability to draw inferences. provement in academic education and chologist at Boston College who studies In addition, the amount of classroom also executive function.” the effects of the arts on development. time and other resources devoted to Holochwost and other education “Kids who take lots of art in high arts education have been declining for scholars say the arts offer a wealth school have higher SAT scores than years, especially during lean times such of skills that transfer to other subjects, those who don’t, but that is not causal.” as the 2007-09 recession. A 2012 study such as mastering self-directed learn - However, a widely cited 2009 study by the Department of Education found ing (when working on individual pro - by James Catterall, a University of Cali - that although math and visual arts pro - jects) and collaboration (when stu - fornia, Los Angeles education professor, grams were still widely offered, the dents play in bands or are parts of found that lower-income students who percentage of elementary schools of - other groups ). 27 attended schools with rich arts pro - fering dance or theater instruction had Art “inspires critical thinking,” says gramming tended to perform better in declined from 20 percent at the start Kim Huyler Defibaugh, president of terms of grades in school and future of the 21st century to 3 or 4 percent, the National Art Education Association, college attendance. 28

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 587 FUNDING THE ARTS

often used it for things like extra tu - More Americans Oppose Cutting Arts Spending toring. They did not spend it on arts More American adults — 44 percent — oppose reducing federal education or debate or chess.” support for the arts and public broadcasting than favor such cuts Although this dynamic is frequently decried by arts education advocates, (32 percent), according to a March poll. A majority of Republicans Winner says it makes sense. “Maybe (56 percent) favor such cuts, compared with only 15 percent of they recognize that if your aim is to Democrats. improve performance in math and read - ing and writing, the best route is a Percentage Who Favor or Oppose Cutting Federal Support for direct one: more time on these subjects, the Arts and Public Broadcasting rather than the claimed indirect route through the arts,” she says. Overall: In Favor of Cuts: But Greene, the Arkansas professor, notes that arts instruction remains pop - 56% 44% ular with parents, particularly in upper middle class communities. Schools may 32% have cut back, but most still offer art 23% classes of one form or other 15% “The pendulum has got about as far as it can go squeezing the arts,” Favor Oppose No opinion Republicans Democrats Greene says. “These programs are in - Sources: “The March 2017 AP-NORC Center Poll,” http://tinyurl.com/y95dn9t7, herently popular. Parents want their and “Taxes and the Budget,” http://tinyurl.com/y7fx9kvd, The Associated kids to play in bands, they want their Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, April 2017 kids to learn the arts.”

Many districts have continued to cut In addition to budget constraints, Do the arts promote economic back on fine arts education even after arts programming often is cut due to growth? the economy began to recover from the classroom time pressures. Given federal In recent years, a majority of states recession. Prompted by an $18 million and state mandates for annual testing have enacted tax incentives to attract film budget shortfall, the school district in in core academic subjects such as read - and television productions. Georgia, for Charleston County, S.C., last year over - ing and math, other subjects often are instance, offers film producers tax rebates hauled its arts curriculum, laid off teachers as lower priorities. “Many schools have worth 20 percent of their costs . 30 Re - and eliminated drama and dance pro - responded to those pressures by nar - publican Gov. Nathan Deal says the grams. 29 It simply wasn’t possible to rowing their efforts significantly and incentives helped bring 245 productions keep a full slate of full-time arts teachers, cutting the amount of time devoted to to the state in 2016 with spending to - according to district administrators. “When non-tested subjects,” Greene says. taling $2 billion. 31 a principal has to decide between courses In addition, according to the Edu - In May, Georgia doubled down on for core content and electives such as cation Department study, an “equity its investments in the arts as an economic world languages or fine arts, principals gap” now exists in arts education, with development strategy, enacting new tax tend to fund core content-area teachers schools serving lower-income students credits for the music industry. Sponsors first,” says Kathleen Magliacane, the dis - less likely to offer substantial arts pro - claim the credits, which will apply to trict’s human resources director. gramming than more affluent schools. recordings made in Georgia and to Such decisions are common. “Due to Under the No Child Left Behind Act large-scale tours that rehearse and start budget constraints, things need to be — a 2002 federal law that mandated in Georgia, will create 10,000 jobs. 32 prioritized,” says Steven Geis, president annual testing in math and language However, a study last year from the of the National Association of Elementary skills between grades 3 and 8 — “the University of Southern California found School Principals, explaining the rationale poorest schools were the hardest that such incentive credits for film and behind such cuts. “Approximately 85 per - pressed,” says Dennie Palmer Wolf, a TV companies had no measurable effect cent of a district’s budget is (salaries for) principal researcher at WolfBrown, an on job growth in 26 states that had teachers. What are you going to cut, a arts research and consulting firm in implemented them. 33 And a recent [regular] classroom teacher or one of Cambridge, Mass. “To the extent prin - report from the Pew Charitable Trusts the specialist classes?” cipals had discretionary money, they lists Georgia among 23 states that do

588 CQ Researcher not evaluate whether their investment development strategy,” says Jennifer nology and finance, says Kushner, of is paying off. Henaghan, deputy research director for Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. “Despite the significance of the pro - the American Planning Association. “It’s “The arts make tremendous contribu - gram, Georgia lacks a process for eval - becoming more and more important tions to community development,” he uating the film tax credit and other to get those elements for communities says. “Some of those benefits are eco - incentives,” according to the report. of all sizes.” nomic. In Bethlehem, former steel com - “Evaluations could help lawmakers de - Indeed, a federal arts grant helped panies have been repurposed as arts termine how well these policies are to trigger an economic comeback in spaces. It’s played a significant role in working for the state’s budget and Whitesburg, Ky., devastated by downturns the revitalization of Bethlehem from economy and for businesses too.” 34 in coal mining. “We have 18 full-time its industrial past. And Bethlehem is “The research on this . . . is not employees and five part-time employees,” not alone.” particularly favorable to the states that said Ada Smith, a program director and Since undergoing a $5.5 million reno - are putting out benefits,” says Douglas fundraiser for a film workshop that has vation 20 years ago, the Newberry Opera Noonan, an economist at Indiana received NEA funding. “We have over House in South Carolina has hosted University-Purdue University Indianapo - a million-dollar payroll annually.” 37 performances by such name acts as lis. “They’re boondoggles for large pro - But for every popular venue that Willie Nelson and Olivia Newton-John. ducers that have mobile productions. helps revitalize an area, how many Such performances may attract an older It’s hard [for states] to recoup the arts organizations fail to boost the local crowd to Newberry, but they’ve also positive side of things.” economy or go out of business? No helped increase occupancy rates in near - There is no question that the arts one seems to know, says Stephen Shep - by housing developments and drawn contribute to the economy. In 2014, pard, an urban economist at Williams companies such as M.M. Technics, a arts and cultural production amounted College in Williamstown, Mass. German metal supply company, and to $729.6 billion worth of economic “You hear about the success stories, ThermaFlo Engineering Co., a water activity according to the U.S. Bureau but the problem is you never hear heater manufacturer, according to Molly of Economic Analysis, or 4.2 percent about the failure stories,” he says. “When Fortune, the opera house’s executive of overall GDP. 35 “There’s a lot of a nonprofit museum goes out of ex - director. “When companies are looking great research showing that arts provide istence, its records are completely lost. to move to the Upstate (region), state not only a great cultural asset, but No one is collecting that data.” or county officials point out there’s a support 4.6 million jobs,” says Randy Noonan says it is difficult to know huge quality of life here for your work - Cohen, vice president of research and whether arts organizations help attract ers,” she says. policy for Americans for the Arts. investment, or whether a rising eco - Positive effects may occur within His organization’s surveys have nomic tide in an area naturally lead some localities, Noonan says, but he’s found that the average patron spends to more support for such nonprofit not convinced the same strategy can $31.47 on top of any admission price entities. It is unclear whether arts- and work everywhere. And, while some when attending a cultural event. 36 “It’s culture-driven investments are going places may draw a crowd for a time, a huge economic force,” says Phil Dun - to “have a bigger bang” than bringing fashions inevitably change and an initial lap, director of education for Jazz St. in auto dealerships or any other type boost from a cultural organization may Louis, a nonprofit performing arts pre - of investment, Noonan says. not sustain itself for more than a few senter. “If arts and culture events went “The arts can be a useful part of years. “There’s a lot of good anecdotal away, tens of thousands of jobs would the mix, but they are not going to evidence about the success stories, but be lost.” save your town, if you think that’s when you start averaging things out, it Many arts organizations such as Dun - the one thing you need to do,” says becomes a very diluted story,” he says. lap’s tell stories about how their pres - Michael Rushton, a professor of arts However, Sheppard, the Williams ence helped turn around struggling administration at Indiana University economist, examined the effects of communities. What were once nearly at Bloomington, citing other factors cultural nonprofits in 300 metropolitan abandoned neighborhoods or small such as schools, public safety and in - areas. 38 Overall, he says, they had downtowns are now thriving, with pa - frastructure. a net positive impact on income “that trons coming in and spending money, However, arts organizations, more doesn’t fade away over time. That’s followed by other businesses drawn than other types of businesses, can in - a positive message to support the as - to such areas. crease the quality of life in an area, sertion that there should be some pol - “We’re finding that arts and culture helping to attract highly mobile knowl - icy to support these organizations,” are an important part of any economic edge workers in sectors such as tech - he says.

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 589 FUNDING THE ARTS

America , the French observer Alexis Symphony Orchestra League released a de Tocqueville wrote that Americans poll of its members showing that 91 per - BACKGROUND “habitually prefer the useful to the cent opposed federal subsidies. 46 beautiful, and they will require the But during the Cold War the U.S. gov - beautiful should be useful.” 42 ernment became a major funder of the Arts Ambivalence In the 1930s, during the Great De - arts after they began to be viewed as a pression, the federal Works Progress weapon in the U.S.-Soviet competition mericans have had ambivalent feel - Administration, which put jobless Amer - for influence around the globe. The arts A ings about the arts nearly since icans to work building roads, bridges could be used to promote democratic the arrival of the first European settlers. and dams, also employed thousands values such as openness and tolerance. During colonial times and the early of writers and artists. Four federal arts The State Department sponsored overseas years of the republic, preachers and projects encompassed theater, music, tours featuring symphony orchestras and politicians worried that the arts could the visual arts and writing. 43 Among jazz musicians, while the CIA underwrote serve as a distraction from more prac - the celebrated federally subsidized the - performers, artists and writers, often tical endeavors. atrical productions was the 1935 through foundations. “I remember the enormous joy I got when the Boston Symphony Orchestra

n won more acclaim for the U.S. in Paris a

m than [Secretary of State] John Foster t r

a Dulles or Dwight D. Eisenhower could H

e have bought with a hundred speeches,” s

o 47 R one CIA operative recalled . / s

o Meanwhile, interest in the arts was t o

h growing rapidly at home. Sales in mu - P

e sical instruments increased fivefold be - v i

h 48

c tween 1940 and 1960. Thanks in r A

/ part to the so-called GI bill, which s e provided college scholarships to military g a

m veterans, university attendance also sky - I

y t

t rocketed, including a huge increase in e

G students majoring in the arts. Controversy over sexually explicit photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, who had Universities, which built museums received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, prompted the Corcoran on campus and began presenting major Gallery of Art in Washington to cancel a planned exhibit of his works in 1989. In performances, were becoming “the new protest, other artists projected Mapplethorpe’s images onto the Corcoran’s façade, and several galleries showed the photographs, attracting large crowds. Medicis,” as an American Council for the Arts in Education report called “Until the 20th century, the United “voodoo” Macbeth , set in Haiti and di - them, referring to the art patrons of States government possessed no official rected by a 20-year-old Orson Welles, Renaissance Florence, in Italy. 49 arts policy,” wrote historian Donna who went on to direct Citizen Kane Binkiewicz. 39 Congress was reluctant and other classic films. 44 The play was to discuss arts funding or policy, and a critical and popular success and was Birth of the NEA even avoided discussions about in - performed before 150,000 people around stalling art works in the Capitol. 40 the country. 45 resident John F. Kennedy, who In 1835, when James Smithson, an Congressional efforts to create a per - P made the arts a symbol of his ad - English chemist, offered to donate manent federal arts agency never got far ministration, had praised their value roughly the equivalent of $15.5 million during the first half of the 20th century. during his 1960 campaign, saying “the today to create what eventually would That was due partly to opposition from encouragement of art in the broadest become the Smithsonian Institution, fiscal conservatives, but also to concerns sense is indeed a function of govern - several senators denounced the idea by some in the artistic community that ment.” 50 Kennedy invited 155 promi - as unconstitutional, and it took Congress they could lose artistic freedom by pro - nent artists and scientists to his inau - 10 years to accept the gift. 41 In his ducing works under the shackle of bu - guration, which featured a reading by influential 1835 study Democracy in reaucratic regulation. In 1953, the American Continued on p. 592

590 CQ Researcher Chronology

rated with dung, New York City 1940s-1950s 1980s-1990s Mayor Rudy Giuliani attempts to State Department and CIA fund Controversial grants spark in - evict the Brooklyn Museum of Art. the arts as a diplomatic tool. creased opposition to NEA. • 1943 1985 With unemployment below 2 per - President Ronald Reagan begins an - cent, Congress kills the Works nual granting of the National Medal 2000s-Present Progress Administration, which in - of Arts to outstanding artists. NEA budget again grows. cluded the first major government effort to put artists to work. 1986 2000 NEA creates an arts-in-education NEA receives $105 million in fund - 1948 program for elementary and sec - ing, its first increase in eight years. Smith-Mundt Act authorizes use of ondary schools. culture as Cold War propaganda 2007 tool. 1989 Congress approves largest percentage Exhibitions involving controversial increase in NEA funding in 28 years. 1959 photographs by Andres Serrano and Philadelphia establishes the first Robert Mapplethorpe stir nationwide 2009 local percent-for-art program to debate over arts funding. . . . Federal stimulus law includes fund public art. $50 million for NEA to distribute 1990 to preserve nonprofit arts jobs • An amendment to abolish the NEA threatened by recession. fails in the House. . . . Congress bars federal funding for art deemed 2011 1960s-1970s obscene. House votes to strip federal funding First federal agencies devoted from National Public Radio, but the to the arts are established. 1992 Senate doesn’t act on the proposal. NEA funding peaks at $176 million. 1963 2013 President John F. Kennedy creates 1994 House proposal would eliminate the President’s Advisory Council GOP’s Contract With America calls NEA funding, but it fails to pass. on the Arts. for abolishing the NEA. 2015 1965 1996 The Every Student Succeeds Act Congress establishes the National NEA funding drops below $100 mil - urges states to offer arts educa - Endowment for the Arts (NEA) lion for the first time since 1977. tion as part of a “well-rounded” and the National Endowment for education. the Humanities. 1997 Congress eliminates NEA grants to 2017 1974 individual artists. An appropriations bill to fund the President Richard M. Nixon increases government through September NEA funding to $64 million, eight 1998 increases NEA funding slightly times the amount when he took Supreme Court rules that the (May 5). . . . President Trump’s office in 1969. NEA decision to deny funds to budget calls for eliminating funding artists for failing to maintain stan - for the NEA and other cultural 1976 dards of values and decency is agencies (May 22). . . . Delta Air Some 10,000 artists are working constitutional. Lines and Bank of America pull under the auspices of a federal pro - funding from a controversial Public gram known as the Comprehensive 1999 Theater production of Julius Caesar Employment and Training Act. Offended by an exhibit featuring a that some saw as a portrayal of portrait of the Virgin Mary deco - Trump (June 11).

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 591 FUNDING THE ARTS

Agencies Seek Community Input for Public Art Collaboration is key to preventing controversy. he controversy dragged on for eight years. The federal agencies began incorporating artists’ input in the landscape- General Services Administration (GSA) paid $175,000 for design process for public spaces, in an effort to reach broad T a sculpture by Richard Serra, a 120-foot-long, 12-foot-high agreement from the start on how works of art could best fit metal wall called “Tilted Arc,” which was placed in a Manhattan within a particular site. plaza. Hundreds of local workers, many of whom used the plaza “Artists started to sit down with planners and architects to as a lunch spot, signed petitions to get rid of the installation. figure out how really to create an artwork that is specific to When the GSA agreed, Serra sued, saying it had been constructed that building,” says Patricia Walsh, manager of public art for that specific site and should not be moved. He eventually programs for Americans for the Arts, an advocacy group in lost, and the by-then rusted piece was put in storage. 1 Washington. “That became the norm, particularly for a lot of That was back in the 1980s when such battles were common. major cities.” Monumental sculptures drew complaints in dozens of commu - Consultation has become a mantra in public art circles, in nities. 2 Huge, abstract works dropped into public plazas were part to avoid the mistakes of the past. It’s common to see derided as “plop art.” close coordination between public works departments, publicly “You almost never hear members of the public saying, ‘Hey, owned utilities, developers and a city’s arts program. “What let’s all voluntarily chip in and pay a sculptor $100,000 to fill we’re seeing is that there is a high demand from private de - this public space with what appears to be the rusted remnants velopers, city agencies and social services to work with artists,” of a helicopter crash!” columnist Dave Barry wrote as Serra’s says Jennifer Cole, executive director of the Metro Nashville case was coming to a close. “It takes concerted government Arts Commission. action to erect one of those babies.” 3 Many cities are trying to make sure not only that artists are A lot has changed since then. In response to criticism, arts talking with design professionals but that the public is heard

Continued from p. 590 of a federal arts agency. In his 1965 State 1966, the Ford Foundation, the nation’s the celebrated poet Robert Frost. Early of the Union address, Johnson called for biggest arts funder, was planning to in his term, Kennedy hosted cellist a national foundation for the arts. give 61 orchestras $80 million dollars. Pablo Casals for a well-received recital Rep. Harold Gross, an Iowa Repub - A foundation executive reached out to at the White House. 51 lican, mocked the idea, offering an amend - the NEA to make sure this wouldn’t John Crosby, a columnist for the ment to expand the definition of artistic duplicate any of the new agency’s New York Herald Tribune , gushed, pursuits to include belly dancing, baseball, plans. But since the NEA had only “President Kennedy is the best friend football, golf, tennis, squash, pinochle $2.5 million to distribute during its first culture . . . has had in the White House and poker. 54 He also complained that nine months across all the arts, Roger since Jefferson.” 52 taxpayers’ pockets were being picked, Stevens, the agency’s first chair, assured In 1963, Kennedy created the Presi - sending the president a telegram request - Ford it could go ahead. 57 dent’s Advisory Council on the Arts. “For ing that he veto the bill. The NEA would soon receive a sig - the first time, the arts will have some “Let’s . . . balance the budget before nificant boost. President Richard M. formal government body which will be subsidizing the longhairs and the little Nixon, who had been elected in 1968, specifically concerned with all aspects twinkletoes,” Gross wrote. 55 decided significant arts funding would of the arts,” the president’s statement de - Such arguments had prevailed in improve his image among the sort of clared. 53 Following Kennedy’s assassi - Congress for nearly 20 years, but in Eastern elites who were active on arts nation that year, his successor, Vice Pres - 1965, Johnson signed the bill creating organization boards. “Support for the ident Lyndon B. Johnson, promoted arts the National Endowment for the Arts arts is, increasingly, good politics,” pres - policy as part of Kennedy’s legacy. and the National Endowment for the idential aide Leonard Garment informed Arts organizations, which had once Humanities. 56 Nixon. “You will gain support from been skeptical about federal involvement groups who have hitherto not been in the field, by then largely had decided favorable to this administration.” 58 Over they could use a champion in Washington. Growth and Criticism the course of his presidency Nixon And Johnson’s landslide re-election in boosted the NEA’s budget nearly eight - 1964 helped sweep out members of Con - rivate foundations remained the fold — from $8.5 million in 1969 to gress who had long opposed creation P primary patrons of the arts. In $64 million in 1974. 59

592 CQ Researcher y o r l E c M

. R

t r e b in the process, through open meetings or neighborhood outreach. o R /

In San Francisco, the Municipal Transportation Agency asked s e g

the public to vote this spring via the Web on poetry and visual a m I

art pieces that would adorn a hundred of its buses over the y t summer. t e

As its name suggests, the point of public art is to connect G the public with art — making institutional settings more Sculptor Richard Serra sued the General Services pleasant and welcoming, as well as providing members of Administration (GSA) in the 1980s when it decided to remove his installation, “Tilted Arc,” from Federal Plaza in the public with more exposure to art. “Having a gallery ex - New York City. He lost his suit, and the GSA removed the perience on a bus democratizes the experience of the gallery,” controversial work, which it had purchased. says Darcy Brown, executive director of SF Beautiful, a nonprofit that works with the transportation agency on its art manager for the city of Seattle, says. “Not everybody is art program. excited about spending public money for art.” That doesn’t mean everyone ends up happy with the final result. Maybe it’s the nature of public art that it will inevitably — Alan Greenblatt be contentious, because no piece is going to satisfy everyone’s taste. And even when people don’t find a work offensive or 1 Alice Goldfarb Marquis, Art Lessons: Learning From the Rise and Fall of ugly, some still complain that the government has wasted money Public Arts Funding (1995), p. 197. 2 Ibid. , p. 198. on what they consider frills. 3 Dave Barry, “The Naked Truth,” The Washington Post , Dec. 19, 1990, “There’s a lot of pushback, of course,” Kristen Ramirez, public http://tinyurl.com/y9e6mtno.

Nancy Hanks, Nixon’s first NEA chair, stituents were able to push back,” says During the Carter administration, a proved to be an effective lobbyist for Noonan, of Indiana University-Purdue majority of visual arts grants went to the organization, building coalitions with University Indianapolis. “At the state abstract artists, something Republicans groups such as the 4-H and the Boy level, the arts are incredibly resilient.” began to criticize. 67 Works of dubious Scouts, which helped show that arts During the Jimmy Carter adminis - merit frequently drew congressional are part of the wider community . 60 tration of the late 1970s, Joan Mondale, criticism, such as a 1977 project by an Only a few states had their own arts Vice President Walter Mondale’s wife, “anti-object” artist named Le Ann councils or commissions when the NEA became such a strong advocate for Wilchusky, who tossed crepe paper was founded. However, the agency federal art support that the press streamers from a small plane as an gave grants to promote state groups, dubbed her “Joan of Art.” 63 She helped exercise in “sculpting in space.” The which helped build support for the persuade Congress to increase the per - project had cost taxpayers $6,000. 68 arts beyond New York City, which had centage of federal construction funds A 1978 study commissioned by the received a disproportionate share of devoted to public art from 0.375 percent NEA found that arts consumers remained early NEA funding. to 0.5 percent . 64 Vice President Mondale disproportionately well-educated, with In lean budget times, such as during called up the White House budget di - teachers and other professionals making and after the recession that ended in rector to reverse a $5 million cut to the up the bulk of audiences. “We could 2009, states have cut back support for NEA’s budget, saying “my wife would find no evidence that audiences were arts agencies. In 2011, Republican Kansas divorce me” if it went through . 65 becoming more democratic,” the study Gov. Sam Brownback eliminated the But the NEA was becoming hard concluded. 69 And Ronald Berman, a Kansas Arts Commission, costing the state to manage. Grants were extended to former NEA chair under Nixon, com - $800,000 in matching NEA gr ants. 61 But artists and organizations based on the plained in 1979 that the NEA had yet the following year he created a new recommendations of panels of experts to fund a single work of art worth re - commission, and the state is receiving and artists, but each discipline had be - membering, despite having spent almost federal arts dollars again. 62 come its own fiefdom, with little over - $1 billion. 70 “Kansas tried to abolish its arts arching strategic vision. Myriad conflicts When Republican Ronald Reagan agency, throwing away federal matching of interests emerged, as panel members became president in 1981, he sought dollars, but still failed because con - found ways to reward their friends. 66 to cut the endowment’s funding by

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 593 FUNDING THE ARTS

Arts Requirements Draw Controversy “While the goals are admirable, the costs are unreasonable.”

ore than 50 years ago, Philadelphia adopted an or - advocacy group in Washington. “You almost have to have public dinance setting aside a small percentage of the cost art in airports to be competitive.” M of government capital projects for art — the nation’s Even 1 percent of a multibillion project such as an airport first such requirement. Now, hundreds of cities and counties, expansion can add up to a lot of money. Some places cap the and about half the states, have followed suit, even including overall amount that can be collected while others limit the size Guam, a tiny U.S. territory in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. of projects covered by the requirement, such as not requiring Most so-called percent-for-art programs apply only to gov - the set-aside if a project costs less than $5 million. ernment-funded projects. The idea is that having a small percentage In February, Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio of construction funds — typically ranging from 0.5 percent to signed legislation increasing the scope of that city’s percent- 2 percent — set aside for art will help spruce up highways, for-art program for the first time since it was created in 1982. bridges and the like and make them more inviting. Rather than applying only to the first $20 million of a project, “Why do we have parks all over the place? Why do we care the law now applies to the first $50 million. 4 It also stipulated about our environment?” says Erika Lindsay, communications that more funds should be directed toward local artists. manager for the Office of Arts and Culture in Seattle, which has “Public art plays a crucial role in capturing the extraordinary one of the nation’s oldest percent-for-art programs. “We want energy and diversity of this city,” de Blasio said. places where we feel comfortable, where we enjoy ourselves.” But some taxpayer groups argue percent-for-art requirements The federal government has had percent-for-art programs, subsidize a lot of bad art and divert money that could be off and on, since the 1930s. 1 For the last four decades, the better spent on roads and sewers. In 2011, Wisconsin suspended General Services Administration has set aside half of a percent its three-decade old percent-for-art program, as part of a large of the projected cost of each new federal building to commission cut to its overall budget for arts spending. When the city works from artists. 2 The requirement also is increasingly common council in Madison considered creating its own percent-for- on college campuses. art requirement this spring, Christian Britschgi, an assistant Supporters of the percent-for-art concept say it makes public editor at the libertarian-leaning Reason magazine, complained: spaces more beautiful and welcoming. Since the terrorist attacks “Madison, Wis., might become the next town to subsidize of 2001, airports, which have large capital budgets, have invested godawful sculptures. ” 5 heavily in public art in hopes of brightening up terminals to And in 2015, Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker please frazzled travelers. 3 “Public art is very popular for airports,” vetoed percent-for-art legislation, saying, “While the goals of says Robert Lynch, president of Americans for the Arts, an this program are admirable, the costs and structure are unrea - more than half, from $175 million to like Bush . . . to embarrass the president,” That summer, the Corcoran Gallery $85 million. 71 He appointed a task say Paul DiMaggio, a New York University of Art in Washington decided to cancel force to come up with ways to justify sociologist who has studied arts policy. its plans to show a traveling solo exhibit the cut, but the effort did not pay A pair of controversies in 1989 thrust of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, off, with appointees — including Rea - the NEA into the national spotlight. who had received NEA funds prior to gan’s friend from Hollywood, actor The NEA had given financial support his death earlier in the year. Some of Charlton Heston — defending the to the Southeastern Center for Con - the photographs were sexually explicit, agency. 72 temporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C., including portrayals of sadomasochism. which hosted a traveling exhibit of works As a protest, other artists projected by photographer Andres Serrano . 73 Mapplethorpe’s images onto the Cor - Rising Controversy One image, entitled “Piss Christ,” coran’s facade. The Washington Project showed a crucifix submerged in urine. for the Arts displayed the show in its f Nixon found the arts a useful bridge North Carolina GOP Sen. Jesse Helms galleries, attracting large crowds . 76 The I to elite opinion makers, the NEA complained, “He is not an artist. He next year, as soon as the show opened became a useful target for conservatives is a jerk. And he is taunting the Ameri can at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts under Reagan’s successor, Republican people, and I resent it.” 74 Sen. Al Center, the museum and its director George H.W. Bush. D’Amato, a Republican from New York, were cited on obscenity charges — the “It was a way for social conservatives tore up a copy of the photo on the first and only time in U.S. history such within the Republican Party who didn’t Senate floor. 75 charges had been brought against an

594 CQ Researcher sonable in light of the many legitimate demands and constraints on the Commonwealth’s capital investment plan.” 6 s But support remains firm for percent-for-art programs in most s o r C

communities that have had them for a long time. And other y

communities that feel they cannot afford to devote 1 percent d n A

of their capital funding to art have been exploring alternative / s

ways to promote public art. Last year, for instance, Indianapolis e g began requiring that developers who receive tax incentives from a m I 7 the city devote 1 percent of their project budgets to art. y t t

Other communities are seeking ways to support public art, e G short of redirecting a set percentage of their capital budgets. The mural Children of the World Dream Peace is part of Greensboro, N.C., for example, has created a Public Art Endowment an installation at the Denver International Airport. to pay for permanent installations. In Buffalo, the Albright-Knox Communities fund public art in a variety of ways, Art Gallery runs a public art initiative in collaboration with the including by requiring developers to spend a city and Erie County to commission works of art to place percentage of their capital budget on art. around the area. 8 2 “Art in Architecture Program,” General Services Administration, http://tinyurl. “Certainly not every community, and probably most com - com/y8rjz7yf. munities, don’t have $100,000 to drop on a big name artist’s 3 Scott McCartney, “Airport for Art Lovers,” The Wall Street Journal , Sept. 18, piece,” says Jennifer Henaghan, deputy research director for 2013, http://tinyurl.com/ybopb8oo. 4 the American Planning Association, a city planners’ trade asso - Lauren Lloyd, “NYC increases Percent for Art program funding for the first time in 35 years,” The Architect’s Newspaper , Feb. 20, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ycx46s76. ciation. “But art can involve a range of skills and a range of 5 Christian Britschgi, “Wisconsin Ordinance Would Waste Tax Dollars on costs. Doing a community mural, you’re still getting that sense Public Art,” Reason , May 31, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y9alfgqu. of local identity, without a big price tag.” 6 Shira Schoenberg, “Gov. Charlie Baker vetoes ‘percent for art’ program,” Springfield Republican , Nov. 6, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/y7h5nwfs. — Alan Greenblatt 7 Brian Eason, “Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett signs ‘percent for art’ into law,” Indianapolis Star , May 9, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/ybp3vmfk. 8 “The Public Art Endowment, Community Foundation of Greensboro, 1 Alan J. Stein, “Seattle’s 1 Percent for Art Program,” HistoryLink.org, Oct. 18, http://tinyurl.com/ydafs8mv. “About the Public Art Initiative, Albright-Knox 2013, http://tinyurl.com/yaapub63. Art Gallery, http://http://tinyurl.com/ydfclsmg.

art gallery . 77 A jury found them not ments barring the NEA from funding arts agenc ies. 84 (The 1965 law creating guilty on all charges. 78 works deemed as obscene and man - the agency had required that at least Socially conservative groups such dating that the agency uphold “general 20 percent be passed through to such as the American Family Association fo - standards of decency and respect.” 81 agencies. ) 85 In 1996, Congress cut cused their ire on the NEA, complaining A group of avant-garde artists who NEA funding from $162 million to that it supported works that debased became known as the NEA Four (Holly $99 million. values. Congressional Republicans also Hughes, Karen Finley, John Fleck and Although an amendment to abolish took up the cause, with Rep. Dick Tim Miller) sued the agency, arguing it the NEA in 1990 had been defeated Armey, R-Texas, complaining that the had violated their constitutional right to on a lopsided 64-361 vote, conservative agency sponsored “artists whose forte free expression by denying them grant groups continued to call for the NEA’s is ridiculing the values of Americans money. 82 But the Supreme Court ruled abolition. But congressional leaders who are paying for it.” 79 in 1998 that the NEA’s denial of funds realized they could not overcome NEA The NEA reacted by imposing stricter had not amounted to censorship . 83 support among movers and shakers standards on artists, denying funding During the 1990s, Congress was who served on arts organization boards to artists who smeared chocolate on unable to abolish the NEA, but it and who hailed from every state. 86 their bodies or urinated onstage. 80 clipped the agency’s wings by blocking “After Republicans couldn’t eliminate But that wasn’t enough to satisfy con - it from dispensing grants to individuals it in 1996, they just gave up,” DiMaggio gressional critics. In 1989 and 1990, and requiring that 40 percent of its says. “The flow of anti-NEA press releases Helms succeeded in passing amend - funds be sent to state and regional basically just stopped in the 1990s.”

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 595 FUNDING THE ARTS

There were occasional arts contro - fights, and the NEA, it turned out, was Earlier that day, Delta Airlines and versies involving public officials, in - never to be one of them.” 89 Bank of America had withdrawn their cluding Republican New York Mayor support from of the controversial Julius Rudolph Giuliani’s threat in 1999 to Caesar production, with Fox News evict the Brooklyn Museum of Art over calling it a “disgusting New York City an exhibit that contained a work he play [that depicts] the president brutally 87 CURRENT 91 considered sacrilegious. And House assassinated.” Republicans occasionally pushed the But even critics of the NEA and idea of defunding the NEA during the SITUATION NEH do not expect Trump to succeed presidency of Barack Obama, but the in eliminating the agencies this year, idea never got very far. especially since the short-term ap - The debate about art and arts fund - Strong Support propriations bill enacted in May pro - ing seemed to have died down. The vided them with a slight increase. NEA now devotes much of its attention resident Trump’s call to eliminate However, it is unclear how the debate to audience development, with more P funding for the National Endow - over future spending levels will play policies in place designed to filter ment for the Arts has made the agency out. Even if they remain intact, the out potentially controversial grants. It a front-burner issue for the first time agencies could suffer some cutbacks. also has lost relative importance as in more than 20 years. When Kevin Still, even if the NEA and NEH were a patron, with its funding dwarfed Kline received the Tony Award for best eliminated, that wouldn’t get the fed - eral government out of the business of supporting arts and culture. Arts money is sprinkled throughout nu - merous agencies. For instance, cultural institutions in Washington such as the Kennedy Cen - ter, the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian receive direct federal r e d

l support. The Indian Arts and Crafts e f

n Board, run by the Interior Department, e s

o operates three regional museums and M offers assistance to federally recognized m i

T 92

/ tribes. The Forest Service supports e

g folk arts and craft demonstrations and a

m 93 I artists’ residency programs. The De - e r i partment of Defense spends more than W /

s $400 million annually supporting mil - e

g 94

a itary bands. In fact, NEA supporters m I have long pointed out that the agency y t t

e receives far less financial support than G Marc Broussard, right, performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on military bands. April 29, 2017. Arts supporters say art and culture are good for business. Most states are still in the process Arts programs generate $27.5 billion in tax revenue annually and support of drafting education plans to meet $166.3 billion in economic activity per year, according to Americans for the Arts, the latest federal requirements. “They’re a Washington-based arts advocacy group. game, but they really don’t know what by the amount given by individual leading actor in a Broadway play (“Pre - it will look like,” Lynn Tuttle, director donors and state arts commissions sent Laughter”) on June 11, he thanked of arts education policy and profes - and councils. 88 “a couple of organizations without sional development for the Arizona “So we coasted,” Mark Swed, classical whom half the people in this room Department of Education. “You have music critic for the Los Angeles Times , wouldn’t be here — and that would state boards and state educational lead - wrote earlier this year, arguing that Obama be the National Endowment for the ership that for 15 years have had only had appointed “caretakers” to run the Arts and the National Endowment for one version of accountability. If you’re 90 agency. “The president had to pick his the Humanities.” Continued on p. 598

596 CQ Researcher At Issue:

Shoyes uld the National Endowment for the Arts be abolished?

MICHAEL D. TANNER ROBERT B. EKELUND JR. SENIOR FELLOW , C ATO INSTITUTE PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ECONOMICS , AUBURN UNIVERSITY WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER , JULY 2017 WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER , JULY 2017

liminating the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) onservatives have long advocated the elimination of is not going to help balance the federal budget. We c the half-century-old National Endowment for the Arts e (NEA), whose budget of $150 million is only a minuscule are talking about a minuscule amount of money by Washington standards — a paltry $150 million. Yet, by the same logic, fraction of government spending. This, in a nation where the eliminating the NEA is hardly going to mean the end of art in ever-growing contribution of the arts to gross domestic product America. (GDP) is now above 4 percent of GDP. After all, private philanthropy contributes more than $17 billion The Trump administration proposes totally eliminating funds annually to the arts. Ticket and merchandise sales bring in an - shared by 19 different art forms (opera, dance, music, museums , other $12.7 billion. In fact, government sources at all levels and others). Small grants from the agency — most of which contribute less than 4 percent of arts funding. are under $20,000 — are used primarily to educate Americans Art would continue to do just fine without a dime of gov - in all aspects of their culture. ernment money. What is the fundamental objection to the NEA? Opponents But doesn’t government funding provide an imprimatur of argue it is an elitist, non-market organization that taxes all to approval that can be leveraged for additional support? Perhaps . support the interests of the wealthy few. That view is simply But that’s exactly why the government should not be in the incorrect. art-funding business. The government shouldn’t be approving First, the NEA is not allowed to subsidize individual artists, or disapproving any type of expression. so it spreads around small grants to various projects. NEA It is true that the NEA’s ability to withhold funding based grants are imprimaturs of quality for projects originating in on content has been limited since the Supreme Court’s 1998 every congressional district in the United States. A quarter of decision in NEA v. Finley. But that doesn’t mean the NEA its grants go to rural areas. As such, the NEA is a goad to doesn’t pick and choose guided by prejudices and precon - private enterprise, employment and GDP in the most under - ceived notionys. es served areas. no Even when its decisions don’t reflect politics or a particular By my calculation, matching grants to museums alone worldview, its funding can be determined by the artistic vogue ($4.25 million for 125 grants in 2016) produced an estimated of the day — abstract or avant-garde art, performance, mini - $17 million to $20 million in private funds. By comparison, malist, you name it, rather than figurative art or realism in the Small Business Administration (SBA), with a budget of general — as has been the trend over the last few decades. $719 million in 2017, performs similar functions by helping Like other viewers and consumers, I have my own preferences business projects. It would make just as much sense to elimi - and biases about the types of art I like. The government nate the SBA! shouldn’t signal its own likes and dislikes. Elitism is a charge without merit. Put aside the fact that Nor should we count on the NEA to nourish new artists most NEA grants focus on neglected arts and supporting or t hose trying to challenge the art establishment. Following ongoing cultural projects. Consider, instead, evidence that arts a series of embarrassments in the 1990s, the NEA stopped attendance is countercyclical: In periods of high unemploy - funding individual artists. Today, its money goes to arts or - ment, arts participation rises, and vice versa. ganizations and educational programs that have their own This means that it is the poorer, younger and minority built-in rigidities. In many ways, the NEA simply rubber - segments of society, not the wealthy, who benefit most from stamps the artistic status quo. That is ultimately bad for the programs supported by the NEA both in ordinary times and arts and artists. in economic downturns. The fight to defund the NEA shouldn’t be about money. Finally, opposition to the NEA is misplaced. The Marine Band, The NEA is little more than a drop in an ocean of red ink. the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian all receive It is hardly the most egregious use of taxpayer money. But it government support and, I dare say, will continue to receive it. is a prime example of how government intrudes into areas American culture promulgated by the NEA is for all Americans, where it does not belong. If we truly care about art, we because culture and education change lives, and our country, for the better. shouldno want the government to keep its hands off. www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 597 FUNDING THE ARTS

Continued from p. 596 campus in the city’s Tremé neighborhood deputy research director for the Ameri can used to doing it one way, it’s hard to that will provide a place for musicians Planning Association. “Someone who do it another way.” and artists to live and work. 95 produces pottery doesn’t have to be In December, 36 people were killed relegated to an industrial district. They in a fire at an Oakland warehouse that can be downtown, or downtown- Local Projects had been turned into an artists’ col - adjacent.” lective known as the Ghost Ship. 96 Most major cities have a variety of ost cities of any size run a public In response, California launched a pilot programs in place to encourage or di - M art program, commissioning works program to identify communities for rectly support the arts, including artist- to augment or decorate schools and designation as culture districts, where in-residence programs in municipal roadsides. ( See sidebar, p. 592. ) Many housing and workspaces could be pro - agencies or commissions for works of mayors are convinced the arts are a key vided for artists. The state is considering art to adorn public spaces. part of economic development strategies. subsidizing loans to renovate such live- Lately, even one of the most traditional Some cities are looking for innovative work spaces. 97 kinds of public art — statues of war heroes sitting on horses — have be - come highly controversial. Cities in - cluding New Orleans, St. Louis and Richmond and Charlottesville, Va., have held contentious debates this year over the question of removing Confederate monuments, which some view as im - portant recognitions of history but oth - ers see as endorsements of the racist history of slavery. Nationwide, dozens of Confederate symbols have been removed from pub - y

r lic spaces, an effort prompted by the a l

C shooting of nine African-Americans by

. A

a white supremacist at a Charleston, y

h 99 t S.C., church in 2015. The effort has o m i gathered renewed momentum this year, T /

s thanks in part to a widely replayed e g

a and reprinted speech by Landrieu on m I

May 19, in which he laid out his reasons y t t

e for removing four statues that celebrated G

/ the Confederacy. P F “The movement which became A A poster advertises The Public Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius known as The Cult of the Lost Cause Caesar , which recasts the dictator to resemble President Trump. When the . . . had one goal — through monuments president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted, “I wonder how much of this and through other means — to rewrite ‘art’ is funded by taxpayers?” the NEA rushed out a statement saying it had not funded the controversial production. history to hide the truth, which is that the Confederacy was on the wrong ways to support and retain local artists. With the growth of the so-called side of humanity,” Landrieu said . 100 Cities that rely heavily on the arts makers movement, with people making The decisions to remove Confederate such as Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tenn., crafts in small batches by hand, devel - monuments have sparked protests. Alaba - and New York have plans to subsidize opment agencies in cities such as Bal - ma passed a state law in May barring housing for artists. Mitch Landrieu, the timore and Indianapolis are sponsoring local governments from removing historical Democratic mayor of culture-rich New large workspaces as incubators for artists’ monuments or markers that have been Orleans, announced a five-year housing and handicraft businesse s. 98 in place for 40 years or more . 101 plan last year to provide housing support “Cities are changing zoning rules for “When you look at history, every for “artists and culture bearers.” Con - some types of artisan-focused manu - region of the country has different sto - struction is underway on a $37 million facturing uses,” says Jennifer Henaghan, ries to tell about the formation of the

598 CQ Researcher state and what took place,” says Re - arts community . . . adds immeasurably publican state Sen. Gerald Allen, who to the stability, cohesion, intelligence, Notes sponsored the prohibition. “When you beauty and resilience of the nation,” start removing monuments and statues Philip Kennicott, art and architecture 1 Haley Richardson, “Joseph Papp and Shake - and portraits or buildings, then in a critic for The Washington Post , wrote speare in the Park, 1962 and 1965,” WNYC, 103 sense you lose history.” in March. July 31, 2011, http://tinyurl.com/ybmslbzg . Advocates say that since the com - 2 Ty Burr, “‘Julius Caesar’ controversy isn’t a bined NEA and NEH budgets cost less tempest in a teapot,” The Boston Globe , June 12 , than $1 per person per year, and given 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y9v6sue9 . how states, cities and nonprofit arts 3 Osita Nwanevu, “Today in Conservative Media : OUTLOOK The Play’s the Thing,” Slate , June 12, 2017, organizations leverage their dollars, the country should be able to afford to http://tinyurl.com/yaf6et5g . 4 keep the arts alive. 104 Rohan Preston, “Uproar over Trump-themed ‘Julius Caesar,’ but none for Obama version at Unending Debate “There’s a philosophical question, Guthrie 5 years ago,” Minneapolis Star Tribune , whether you care about society pro - June 12, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y85qjz4f . dvocates for the arts say they not ducing art, which is how most people 5 Twitter feed of Donald Trump Jr., June 11, A only help boost today’s economy judge societies,” says Holochwost, the 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybabgsxj . but can help young people prepare Johns Hopkins researcher. “Do we want 6 “National Endowment for the Arts’ Statement for jobs in the future. With jobs in - to be the most affluent society in history on the Shakespeare in the Park by the Public creasingly being automated, especially that also produced no art?” Theater’s Production of ‘Julius Caesar,’ ” Na - those that do not require much analysis But given the practical nature of tional Endowment for the Arts, June 11, 2017, or thinking, Kai-Fu Lee, a former Google the American psyche, many people http://tinyurl.com/yd34dp32 . 7 and Microsoft executive, says perhaps consider art a luxury, and even if they David Montgomery, “Trump wants to kill more people should focus on careers value it, they don’t think the government federal arts funding. What difference would that make?” The Washington Post , June 8, 2017, in the arts. should pay for it. “Art is really important http://tinyurl.com/y8vx4sow . “Art and beauty [are] very hard to to who we are — as important in 8 “White House Press Briefing; President Trump replicate with AI (artificial intelligence),” some ways as education and religion Releases Budget Plan,” CNN, March 16, 2017, 102 Lee said. in forming character,” says Tanner, the http://tinyurl.com/yc8kbpkv . While millions more people may not Cato Institute fellow. “But it’s not what 9 “Arts and Economic Prosperity 5: The Economic be able to earn living wages at art, the government should do. It’s something Impact of Nonprofit Arts & Cultural Organizations kind of skills used in the arts, such as propaganda societies do, like the Soviets & Their Audiences,” Americans for the Arts, creativity, are exactly “what business is and the Nazis.” June 17, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ycqmhrbc . looking for,” National Art Education This debate appears unending. If 10 Frank Cadenhead, “A Healthy Paris Opera,” Association president Defibaugh says. art is good for society, then the gov - Musical America, Dec. 6, 2016, http://tinyurl. “They want people who can think cre - ernment should help support it, arts com/yccheq2c . 11 Robin Pogrebin, “Arts Groups on Edge as atively and critically for jobs that don’t advocates contend. But if the govern - New York City Re-evaluates Cultural Funding,” even exist yet.” ment is picking up the tab, it might The New York Times , May 8, 2017, http://tiny People who lobby for government make the art so sanitized or safe that url.com/k433zno . arts funding have learned that they it hardly pleases anybody. 12 Romina Boccia et al. , “Blueprint for Balance: often can be most effective by high - That debate preceded the creation A Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2018,” The lighting the practical benefits of pro - of the National Endowment for the Heritage Foundation, March 28, 2017, moting the arts or arts education. Arts, helped fuel the so-called culture http://tinyurl.com/ycwu8zbg . “We realized a long time ago that wars of the 1980s and ’90s and has 13 George F. Will, “Abolish the National En - we needed to show not only that returned with President Trump’s pro - dowment for the Arts,” The Washington Post , the arts are good for the soul, but posal to eliminate funding. March 15, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yb4vqy6g . 14 that they have an economic impact,” It is an argument that seems destined Jane Chu, “Statement from National Endow - ment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu on the says Lynch, president of Americans to recur periodically. “I don’t anticipate FY 18 Budget,” National Endowment for the for the Arts. the argument about support for the Arts, March 16, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/mhm3r9b . Of course, people also make the arts to go away,” Lynch says. “We have 15 Ted Johnson, “Budget Bill Retains Funding “soul” argument. Arts lovers say art an almost 400-year history of taking for Arts Agencies, Public Broadcasting,” Variety , can raise the spirits and help society steps forward, and then taking steps May 1, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y8y6yzl8 . grapple with its deepest concerns. “The backward.” 16 Philip Bump, “Trump reportedly wants to

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 599 FUNDING THE ARTS

cut cultural programs that make up 0.02 percent Dec. 15, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/y9yc5psf . United States Arts Policy & the National En - of federal spending,” The Washington Post , 28 James Catterall, Doing Well and Doing Good dowment for the Arts 1965-1980 (2004), p. 11. Jan. 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yb8w2oms . by Doing Art: A 12-year Longitudinal Study 40 Stephen Benedict, ed., Public Money and 17 “Join the San Francisco Symphony in sup - of Arts Education — Effects on the Achievements the Muse: Essays on Government Funding for porting the NEA!” San Francisco Symphony, and Values of Young Adults (2009). the Arts (1991), p. 33. April 26, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ydz87hxw . 29 Adam Parker, “Budget Cuts Taking Toll on 41 Ibid. , p. 39. 18 Katherine Boyle, “Yes, Kickstarter raises more Arts in School,” The Post and Courier , July 30, 42 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in Amer - money for artists than the NEA. Here’s why 2016, http://tinyurl.com/ya5ltonf . ica (1835), Chapter XI, available at http://tiny that’s not really surprising,” The Washington 30 Bryn Elise Sandberg, “Film and TV Tax In - url.com/y7gn995q. Post , July 7, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/y7gcgm2k . centives: A State-by-State Guide,” The Holly - 43 Nick Taylor, American-Made: The Enduring Also see Christian Camerota, “How Crowd - wood Reporter , April 21, 2016, http://tinyurl. Legacy of the WPA (2008), p. 248. funding Kick Starts the Arts,” Harvard Business com/yatwuxxq . 44 Ibid. , p. 104. School, May 7, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/y83fd3g5 . 31 Dave Williams, “Film industry impact in Geor - 45 Ibid. 19 “Total Charitable Donations Rise to New gia passes $7 billion,” Atlanta Business Chronicle , 46 Gary O. Larson, The Reluctant Patron: The High of $390.05 Billion,” Giving USA, June 12 , Aug. 2, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/ybygeuqt . United States Government and the Arts, 1943- 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yaz298xg . 32 Michelle Baruchman, “Georgia Music Invest - 1965 (1983). 20 Patricia Cohen, “N.E.A. Funds Benefit Both ment Act Becomes Law,” The Atlanta Journal- 47 Ibid. , p. 57. Rich and Poor, Study Finds,” The New York Constitution , May 9, 2017, http://tinyurl. 48 Alice Goldfarb Marquis, Art Lessons: Learning Times , Feb. 4, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/y7gvvje9 . com/yb2f9bfw . Gail Mitchell, “Georgia Music From the Rise and Fall of Public Arts Funding 21 Erin Moriarty, “For arts’ sake: When funding Investment Act Passes State Legislature, Aims (1995), p. 25. the NEA is in jeopardy,” CBS News, April 23, to Create 10,000 New Jobs and Boost Econ - 49 Ibid. , p. 26. 2017, http://tinyurl.com/kzarvrq . omy,” Billboard , March 31, 2017, http://tiny 50 Ibid. , p. 52. 22 David Marcus, “Ending Federal Funds Will url.com/ybe6zcq8 . 51 Benedict, op. cit. , p. 47. Be The Best Thing For The Arts In Decades,” 33 Michael Thom, “Lights, Camera, but No 52 Ibid. , p. 48. The Federalist , Feb. 8, 2017, http://tinyurl. Action? Tax and Economic Development 53 Larson, op. cit. , p. 178. com/ybyy8eaz . Lessons From State Motion Picture Incentive 54 Tyler Cowen, Good and Plenty: The Creative 23 Roger Kimball, “It Costs Taxpayers a Bundle, Programs,” The American Review of Public Successes of American Arts Funding (2006), but Is It Art?,” The Wall Street Journal , July 10 , Administration , June 15, 2016, http://tinyurl. p. 140. 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y9usf2hq . com/y8bclau3 . 55 Larson, op. cit. , p. 216. 24 Alyssa Robinson, “Why Conservatives Want 34 “How States Are Improving Tax Incentives 56 Lyndon B. Johnson, “Remarks at the Signing To Defund Federal Arts Funding,” Utah Public for Jobs and Growth,” Pew Charitable Trusts, of the Arts and Humanities Bill,” The American Radio, June 5, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ydg3yyvu . May 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybbtmpl8 . Presidency Project, Sept. 29, 1965, http://tiny 25 Basmat Parsad, Maura Spiegelman and Jared 35 “Arts and Culture Grow for Third Straight url.com/yc8dx7nx . Coopersmith, “Arts Education in Public Ele - Year,” Bureau of Economic Analysis, April 19, 57 Marquis, op. cit. , p. 64. mentary and Secondary Schools: 1999-2000 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yckdovgb . 58 Ibid. , p. 93. and 2009-10,” U.S. Department of Education, 36 “Arts and Economic Prosperity 5,” op. cit. 59 “National Endowment for the Arts Appro - April 2012, http://tinyurl.com/yaj79trq . 37 Moriarty, op. cit. priation History,” National Endowment for the 26 For background, see Beth Baker, “Arts Ed - 38 Peter Pedroni and Stephen Sheppard, “The Arts, http://tinyurl.com/jreutxx . ucation,” CQ Researcher , March 16, 2012, pp. Economic Consequences of Cultural Spending,” 60 Marquis, op. cit. , p. 98. 253-276. in Michael Rushton, ed., Creative Communities: 61 Elizabeth Blair, “Kansas Cuts Public Funding 27 Steven J. Holochwost et al. , “The Socioemo - Art Works in Economic Development (2013), For The Arts,” NPR, June 13, 2011, http://tiny tional Benefits of the Arts: A New Mandate p. 166. url.com/68atchc . for Arts Education,” William Penn Foundation, 39 Donna M. Binkiewicz, Federalizing the Muse: 62 “Kansas receiving arts funds, for now,” Wichita Eagle , April 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y7b44ufo . 63 Kevin Duchschere, “ ‘Joan of Art,’ wife of About the Author former VP Walter Mondale, dies at 83,” Min - Alan Greenblatt is a staff writer at Governing magazine. neapolis Star Tribune , Feb. 4, 2014, http://tiny Previously he covered politics and government for NPR and url.com/yabl7vey . 64 CQ Weekly , where he won the National Press Club’s Sandy Marquis, op. cit. , p. 137. 65 Hume Award for political journalism. He gradu ated from San Ibid. 66 Allan Parachini, “Conflict of Interest Issue Francisco State University in 1986 and received a master’s in NEA Grants?” Los Angeles Times , July 27, degree in English literature from the University of Virginia 1990, http://tinyurl.com/ybd2sg8h . in 1988. His CQ Researcher reports include “Gentrification,” 67 Binkiewicz, op. cit. , p. 195. “Future of the GOP ,” “Immigration Debate,” “Media Bias ” and 68 Michael Straight, “Reflections on a Golden “Downtown Revival.” Fleecing at the Arts Endowment,” The Wash - ington Post , Oct. 16, 1977, http://tinyurl.

600 CQ Researcher com/y7bnr4z5 . 69 Marquis, op. cit. , p. 142. 70 Ibid. , p. 139. FOR MORE INFORMATION 71 Ibid. , p. 163. 72 Americans for the Arts , 1000 Vermont Ave., N.W., 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20005 ; Benedict, op. cit. , p. 58. 202-371-2830 ; www.americansforthearts.org . Membership organization representing 73 Ibid. , p. 63. and advocating for arts organizations. 74 Andrew Hartman, A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars (2015), Fractured Atlas , 248 W. 35th St., 10th Floor, New York, NY 10001 ; 888-692-7878 ; p. 192. www.fracturedatlas.org . Nonprofit that provides logistical services to artists and 75 Marquis, op. cit. , p. 209. arts organizations. 76 Hartman, op. cit. , p. 193. 77 Benedict, op. cit. , p. 71. Heritage Foundation , 214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, DC 20002 ; 202- 78 Grace Dobush, “25 years later: Cincinnati 546-4400 ; www.heritage.org . Conservative think tank that helped shape the Trump and the obscenity trial over Mapplethorpe administration’s budget; opposes public arts programs as a waste tax dollars. art,” The Washington Post , Oct. 24, 2015, http:// tinyurl.com/hvlmyzd . National Art Education Association , 901 Prince St., Alexandria, VA 22314 ; 703- 79 Hartman, op. cit. , p. 196. 860-8000 ; www.arteducators.org . Research and advocacy organization representing 80 Eric Pianin, “Helms Wins Senate Vote to visual arts instructors. Restrict NEA Funds,” The Washington Post , Sept. 20, 1991, http://tinyurl.com/y7hp6qug . National Assembly of State Art Agencies , 1200 18th St., N.W., Suite 1100, 81 Courtney Randolph Nea, “Content Restric - Washington, DC 20036 ; 202-347-6352 ; nasaa-arts.org . Professional association of state and territorial arts agencies that promotes public support for the arts. tions and National Endowment for the Arts Funding: An Analysis from the Artist’s Per - National Center for Arts Research , Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750356 , spective,” , William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal Dallas, TX 75275 ; 214-768-4498 ; http://mcs.smu.edu/artsresearch2014 /. Collects and 1993, http://tinyurl.com/yb8ms9xh . disseminates data and research that help arts and cultural organizations assess 82 Hartman, op. cit. , p. 197. challenges and increase their impact. 83 Mel Gussow, “Artists See No Decency In Ruling On Grants,” The New York Times , July 2 , National Endowment for the Arts , 400 7th St., S.W., Washington, DC 20506 ; 1998, http://tinyurl.com/y9yp39fy. The case is 202-682-5400 ; www.arts.gov . Independent agency that is the primary federal funder National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley , of the arts. 524 U.S. 569. 84 Paul DiMaggio and Becky Pettit, “Public William Penn Foundation , 2 Logan Square, 100 N. 18th St., 11th Floor, Opinion and Political Vulnerability: Why Has Philadelphia, PA 19103 ; 215-988-1830 ; www.williampennfoundation.org . Seeks to the National Endowment for the Arts Been improve education for low-income children in the Philadelphia area and sponsors Such an Attractive Target?” Princeton University research on the benefits of arts education. Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies Working Paper, January 1999, http://tinyurl. 92 “Our Mission,” Indian Arts and Crafts Board, 99 Alan Greenblatt, “The Next Cities That Might com/yaojojp6 . http://tinyurl.com/y7da6v5n . Remove Confederate Monuments,” Governing , 85 Cowen, op. cit. , p. 88. 93 “Becoming an Artist in Residence,” Forest June 1, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y8nwszqo . 86 Benedict, op. cit. , p. 17. Service, http://tinyurl.com/zm5fvgc . 100 “Transcript of New Orleans Mayor Landrieu’s 87 Isaac Kaplan, “Censorship, ‘Sick Stuff,’ and 94 Leo Shane III, “Latest budget plan won’t stop Address on Confederate Monuments,” The Pulse , Rudy Giuliani’s Fight to Shut Down the Brook - the music for military bands,” Military Times , May 19, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y8nwszqo . lyn Museum,” Artsy , Dec. 23, 2016, http://tiny March 6, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yact4ek6 . 101 Joe Sterling, “A new Alabama law makes url.com/ybaaq4mc . 95 Teresa Wiltz, “To Keep Their Artists, Cities sure Confederate monuments are here to stay,” 88 “How the United States Funds the Arts,” Explore Affordable Housing,” Stateline , Feb. 1, CNN, May 26, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yd8stkhc National Endowment for the Arts, November 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y9eqy5nh . 102 Dave Gershgorn, “Your art degree might 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zdlztvd . 96 Sam Levin, “Oakland warehouse fire is save you from automation, an AI expert says,” 89 Mark Swed, “Obama left the NEA vulnerable. product of housing crisis, say artists and ad - Quartz , May 16, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yaovf6ub . Could Sylvester Stallone save it?” Los Angeles vocates,” The Guardian , Dec. 5, 2016, http:// 103 Philip Kennicott, “It’s not an attack on the Times , Jan. 7, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/yaf6dywz . tinyurl.com/j4danp9 . arts, it’s an attack on communities,” The Wash - 90 Jessica Gelt, “Kevin Kline gives a shout- 97 Guy Marzorati, “State Weighs Funding Artist ington Post , March 16, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ out to the NEA and NEH,” Los Angeles Times , Housing Improvements in Wake of Ghost y86qnwck . June 11, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybsox8ae . Ship Fire,” KQED, May 25, 2017, http://tiny 104 Carolina A. Miranda, “What does the NEA’s 91 Ian Millhiser, “Fox News upset Shakespeare url.com/y7qqd53f . $148-million budget buy? 7,789,473 taco bowls in the Park isn’t a safe space for Trump sup - 98 Consuelo Poland, “Meet the Artist-Run In - but not even one mile of the 405 Freeway,” porters,” ThinkProgress, June 11, 2017, http:// cubator Empowering Makers in Indiana,” Cre - Los Angeles Times , March 18, 2017, http://tiny tinyurl.com/y7tavg7r . ators , Feb 24, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/zqhvjzm . url.com/y6v4agry .

www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 601 Bibliography Selected Sources

Books Swed , Mark , “Obama left the NEA vulnerable. Could Sylvester Stallone save it?” Los Angeles Times , Jan. 7, Cowen , Tyler , Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of 2017 , http://tinyurl.com/yaf6dywz . American Art Funding , Princeton University Press , 2006 . Former President Barack Obama made symbolic gestures A George Mason University economist says the U.S. gov - in favor of the arts, but did little to build the NEA or an in - ernment acts as a venture capitalist for arts funding by directly fr astructure to support the arts, argues a classical music critic. supporting arts projects and helping to attract other donors by offering a sort of federal seal of approval. Timberg , Scott , “How Mapplethorpe won: The Jesse Helms art world culture wars are over,” Salon , April 5, 2016 , Hartman , Andrew , A War for the Soul of America: A History http://tinyurl.com/zfnls7d . of the Culture Wars , University of Chicago Press , 2015 . Since the big cultural battles 25 years ago, the internet has An historian puts national debates over arts and humanities made sexual images less shocking, while the NEA has largely in the context of broader arguments about social change avoided making controversial grants, a journalist says. during the closing decades of the 20th century. Will , George F. , “Abolish the National Endowment for the Articles Arts,” The Washington Post , March 15, 2017 , http://tinyurl. com/yb4vqy6g . Huckabee , Mike , “Mike Huckabee: A conservative plea A cottage industry has grown up around the NEA and for the National Endowment for the Arts,” The Washington lobbies for its funding, but it would be better if individual Post , March 22, 2017 , http://tinyurl.com/mu5bbze . patrons funded the arts, says a conservative syndicated The former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate columnist. says the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funds necessary education programs for children. Wiltz , Teresa , “To Keep Their Artists, Cities Explore Af - fordable Housing,” Stateline , Feb. 1, 2017 , http://tinyurl. Kimball , Roger , “It Costs Taxpayers a Bundle, but Is It com/y9eqy5nh . Art?,” The Wall Street Journal , July 10, 2017 , http://tiny Cities where culture is a big business such as New York, url.com/y9usf2hq . Austin, Texas, and New Orleans are stepping up efforts to A new report from a watchdog group finds that 48 percent provide affordable housing to artists and musicians. of the funds granted by federal arts agencies in 2016 went to recipients in 10 mostly coastal states. Those groups in Reports and Studies turn have funded artists who have produced work that some would find objectionable or offensive. “Arts and Economic Prosperity 5: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts & Cultural Organizations & Their Au - Knochel , Aaron D. , “Why do conservatives want the gov - diences,” Americans for the Arts , June 17, 2017 , http://tiny ernment to defund the arts?” The Conversation , Feb. 5, url.com/ycqmhrbc . 2017 , http://tinyurl.com/ycv7ps5j . The nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $166.3 billion Conservatives who want to eliminate the NEA might think worth of economic activity in 2015, helped support 4.6 million they are dismantling a centralized bureaucracy but such action jobs and provided local, state and federal governments with would affect local arts providers the most, an assistant professor a better than 5-to-1 return on their arts subsidies, according of art education says. to the advocacy organization.

Mack , Earle I. , Randall Bourscheidt and Robert L. Lynch , “State Arts Agencies Revenue: Fiscal Year 2017,” National “Funding the arts is more than preserving culture. It’s big Assembly of State Arts Agencies , February 2017 , http:// business,” The Hill , Feb. 19, 2017 , http://tinyurl.com/kgvgygb . tinyurl.com/yb6kte5a . Three arts advocates argue that the NEA pays economic State and regional arts agencies received $368.2 million dividends by supporting trade and an industry that represents from their state legislatures, with a small number of states 4.2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. accounting for an overall 8 percent increase in funding, ac - cording to the association. Marcus , David , “Ending Federal Funds Will Be The Best Thing For The Arts In Decades,” The Federalist , Feb. 8, Holochwost , Steven J. , et al. , “The Socioemotional Benefits 2017 , http://tinyurl.com/ybyy8eaz . of the Arts: A New Mandate for Arts Education,” William If arts organizations did not receive government subsidies, Penn Foundation , April 2017 , http://tinyurl.com/y9yc5psf . they would do a better job of attracting audiences because Arts education not only helps foster interest in the arts but they would have to compete in the marketplace, says the increases interest in school among the young, according to artistic director of a Brooklyn, N.Y., theater project. a report for a Philadelphia civic group.

602 CQ Researcher The Next Step: Additional Articles from Current Periodicals

Benefits of the Arts Einhorn , Erin , “No music, art in many Detroit schools: ‘A tragic situation’ to be addressed,” Detroit Free Press , “Struggling schools benefit from adding arts to learning,” July 4, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/y9bmaext . PBS , Jan. 10, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/y7p7fk7e . More than half of Detroit’s public schools offer no music Schools are seeing benefits from Turnaround Arts, a federal or arts classes because most arts programs were eliminated program created by the President’s Committee on the Arts in 2009 by state-appointed emergency managers, but a and Humanities that uses music, theater and other arts to new school board has allocated $500,000 to hire 15 arts help students in low-achieving schools. teachers.

Arndt , Jordyn , “Are the arts valuable? More like invaluable, Supporting the Arts especially now,” Star Tribune , May 5, 2017 , https:// tinyurl.com/l8wx6az . Boccella , Kathy , “Schools mixing art and science to A graduate of the Perpich Center for Arts Education in create STEAM,” philly.com , July 2, 2017 , https://tinyurl. Golden Valley, Minn., a Minneapolis suburb, says the arts com/ycsfjctc . have helped people communicate better, relate to others and Public, private and charter schools in Philadelphia are in - appreciate other cultures. tegrating components of the STEAM education movement into their classrooms and curricula, which blends the arts Taylor , Anna , “Public art aims to drive future economy into science, technology, engineering and math education. in historic Elk City,” Charleston Gazette-Mail , July 7, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/y8owr22x . Diehl , Phil , “Oceanside looks for ways to boost arts Officials in Charleston, W. Va., hope encouraging the in - spending,” The San Diego Union-Tribune , July 1, 2017 , stallation of public art in the city’s historic West Side will https://tinyurl.com/y9lo8cg5 . attract people and businesses to the area. The City Council and Arts Commission of Oceanside, Calif., near San Diego, recently began a series of community meetings Federal Funding and studies to devise an arts master plan for the city over the next year. Allen , Brian T. , “Don’t Eliminate Federal Arts Funding, Redirect It,” National Review , May 1, 2017, https://tiny Murphy , T. Michelle , “Supporting and Mentoring the Next url.com/ydx9lykv. Generation of Musicians and Performers with Mentor- The former director of the New York Historical Society Linc,” Playbill , June 29, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/yaxssr8q . Museum argues for changes in how federal arts funding is Lincoln Center Education has begun Mentor-Linc, a program spent, such as increasing support for smaller institutions. to support high school students who have graduated from the Middle Schools Arts Audition Boot Camp, launched by Bowley , Graham , “What if Trump Really Does End Money the New York City department of education in 2014. for the Arts?” The New York Times , March 16, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/h7ndt5p . The newspaper explores questions surrounding federal arts CITING CQ RESEARCHER funding, such as whether such funding wastes money and Sample formats for citing these reports in a bibliography whether arts agencies are too liberal. include the ones listed below. Preferred styles and formats Kaine , Tim , and Drue Kataoka , “Tim Kaine: People like vary, so please check with your instructor or professor. Condi Rice and Albert Einstein Show Why We Need the Arts,” Time , July 7, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/y9nokqdc . MLA STYLE A Democratic senator from Virginia and visual artist Kataoka Mantel, Barbara. “Coal Industry’s Future.” CQ Researcher 17 argue in favor of federal arts funding, saying the arts benefit June 2016: 529-552. the United States. APA S TYLE State and Local Cutbacks Mantel, B. (2016, June 17). Coal Industry’s Future. CQ Researcher, Clark , Kristen M. , and Kyra Gurney , “After outcry, law - 6, 529-552. makers scrap plans to fully slash grant aid to ‘Moonlight’ CHICAGO STYLE alumni’s school,” The Miami Herald , April 29, 2017 , https://tinyurl.com/yauglvf4 . Mantel, Barbara. “Coal Industry’s Future.” CQ Researcher , June Florida state legislators reversed a decision to eliminate a 17, 2016, 529-52. state grant for the New World Schools of the Arts in Miami. www.cqresearcher.com July 14, 2017 603 In-depth Reports on Issues in the News

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