A local artist at the U of O Duck Store Trade Show
By: Arianna Magana
Funding for the Arts involves public or private parties who give money to art organizations that allow Americans to enjoy art in the form of events, grants, non-profit organizations, school education, and artistic expression. The NEA originated in 1965 to implement these goals and since then there have been numerous attempts to get rid of this sector of government spending. Americans for the Arts website states that prioritization for the Arts began in 1961 by President Kennedy. In 1966 the bill creating the National Council of the Arts was put into law and in 1965 President Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act which then formed the National Endowment for the Humanities and the NEA.
According to the NEA website, funds received from the government for the Arts started at 2 million in 1966 and has grown to 149 million for the current 2017 year. This current portion of government spending represents less than 0.02 percent. These funds are then distributed to the states respectively in the form of art programs, grants, and funds for direct use in public schools/universities. This issue has been more prominent since March 16, 2017, when President Donald Trump released the budget outline and in the outline, a proposal to eliminate federal funding for the NEA. These funds amongst other budget cuts will be used to recover from national debt and allocated to other departments such as national defense..
Stated by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, the benefits of public investment for the arts include economic drivers, educational assets, civic catalysts, and cultural legacies. Chris Harder, director of Business Oregon stated that arts and culture are a key role in sustaining a healthy environment and the impact of these leads to business growth and investment. In the year 2015, Oregon’s art and culture provided the economy with $687 million dollars and 22,00 jobs according to the Arts and Economic Prosperity study from American for the Arts. Alicia Schatteman and Ben Bingle, authors of “Government Funding of Arts Organizations: Impact and Implications” argue that art organizations all over the country rely on government funds for revenue and that this resource dependency can be troublesome for them but this can be resolved with resource diversification. This leads to the question of does the government have a legitimate role to play in the arts? Government funding for the arts is stable revenue for the NEA and makes it possible for programs to thrive but the arts won’t come to a stop without the governments money.