Art, Funding and Politics
I have been reading the simmering discussions on the question of arts funding at Superfluities and Theatre Notes. The question is rife with political thorns and quagmires, and is one which brings out considerable passion in people. For what it’s worth, this is my thinking on the issue.
Since the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts during the Kennedy Administration, artists by and large have steadily drifted to the political left. Today, the situation is such that art itself has been inextricably linked with the political ideology of the left; art is a “blue state activity,” if you will. The result of this trend is that in the US, there is virtually no significant right-wing artistic expression to speak of. As a result, the funding of the arts in this country is consistently viewed by the right wing, not as “funding for the arts” in any absolute sense, but funding for the political left to express their political views through the use of art. Those who attack the arts generally hold conservative viewpoints, and their criticism is usually based, not on the issue of whether or not arts funding in and of itself is good or bad, but in the view that the artwork itself is being used to promote a political agenda and to denegrate their particular conservative beliefs. Continue Reading »
