The one good thing\u00a0our former president\u00a0seemed to do during his presidency was de-politicize arts funding in the US. To my complete and total surprise, the NEA budget was safe from cuts during his tenure and gradually expanded, and we were spared the pathetic spectacle of redneck congressmen grandstanding against funding for \u201ccontroversial\u201d art that in some way challenged their world view. Not what I expected from a man who can’t read.<\/p>\n
Why am I not surprised that that 2 weeks after ole Dubya left, his old pals in congress have discarded the single positive aspect of his bloody and evil legacy. Tom Coburn and his cronies are fighting to cut all funding for the arts from the stimulus bill, in spite of the fact that the arts are and have always been one of the most effective engines for economic renewal and development.<\/p>\n
Let me make this clear-\u00a0cutting arts funding\u00a0isn’t a matter of bad politics- it’s bad economics.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Every dollar invested in the arts generates more economic activity than spending in virtually any other area of government expense or investment- that seed money helps engage artists, who spend their money on instruments, concert clothes, cars, parking, marketing and so on. They give concerts, which bring people into our city centers, where they go to restaurants, hotels and shop. Those shopkeepers and restauranteurs hire people who themselves tend to be active cultural participants- heck most of those waiters are<\/em> actors or musicians. Arts dollars have been\u00a0shown again and again to circultate faster and more times than defense dollars, infrastructure dollars, sports dollars. Only education investments, science investments\u00a0and health investments pay off in the GDP with anything like the effectiveness of\u00a0core arts funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, cheers\u00a0 to Elaine<\/a> for finding us a good way do something about this. Write your senator here<\/a>.<\/p>\n And, this is the kind of brain smashing stupidity we’re dealing with.<\/p>\n Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has introduced an amendment to prohibit any funds in the economic stimulus bill from going to museums, theaters, or arts centers.<\/p>\n The language of the amendment, (Amendment No. 175, as filed) is, \u201cNone of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, stadium, community park, museum, theater, arts center, or highway beautification project, including renovation, remodeling, construction, salaries, furniture, zero-gravity chairs, big screen televisions, beautification, rotating pastel lights, and dry heat saunas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n