Posted by Connie Mettler on September 21, 2009 at 6:19pm
Let's see now. If you put on a performance partially funded with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in San Francisco that was named Perverts Put Out would you be surprised if some people were also put out?
Here's a good story from the Houston Chronicle that refutes the outrage: Arts fair becomes target of stimulus critics:
San Antonio festival’s funding called ‘grounds for impeachment’. It seems that stimulus funds were also used for an accordion festival. Do you like that better?
"Perhaps conservatives have something against accordions.
That's one possible interpretation of how the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio became one of this summer's national poster children for big government spending as the right wing came down on $29 million in economic stimulus funding handed out by the National Endowment for the Arts — including $775,000 that went directly to Texas arts groups," says the Chronicle.
I think I've heard this one before. I live near a beautiful state park in northern Indiana, Pokagon. Ever since I was a kid I have loved the stone buildings and pavilions in that park that are as graceful as they day they were built by -- you guessed it -- federal stimulus money called the WPA.
Read the article and tell me what you think. Do the arts deserve this money? Should festivals be receiving money that goes into artists hands?
I listened to the phone conversation with the NEA and I have problems when politicians want the NEA to promote their programs that are better left to our represenatives. Should the NEA be asking artist to make art for heathcare reform? No. Believe it not all artists are thrilled about Obama. Keep it seperate.
I actually hadn't finished my comments above and somehow posted it prematurely.
Continuing my thoughts from above....
That does not mean that all government funded art is bad, but it does mean that artists whose work is bad gets funded when they should not. I am very much in favor of a free enterprise system where work is based on merit, not the needs of the artist. If my work is so poor that I need government help to produce it, then I should not be making art and should move onto some other endeavor.
I also think that during the days of the WPA the standards were different for the selection of artists who worked on those projects. There was a lot of good work done under that program, but that still does not mean that the program was good. Dependency on the government for anything other than protection is not good for people in general or society as a whole. We become stronger when we have to make it on our own.
As for accordions, no one has anything against them. But they will not stimulate the economy.
I am very much against funding any art with government money. Art needs to stand alone on it's own merits. People do know good art when they see it and that usually means that the artist can sell it. However art that needs to be funded by the government is generally very bad and not art at all. With the advent of government funded art we now see pieces being made that are offensive and ugly, such as the piece "Sensation", a depiction of the Virgin Mary with elephant dung.
Comments
Continuing my thoughts from above....
That does not mean that all government funded art is bad, but it does mean that artists whose work is bad gets funded when they should not. I am very much in favor of a free enterprise system where work is based on merit, not the needs of the artist. If my work is so poor that I need government help to produce it, then I should not be making art and should move onto some other endeavor.
I also think that during the days of the WPA the standards were different for the selection of artists who worked on those projects. There was a lot of good work done under that program, but that still does not mean that the program was good. Dependency on the government for anything other than protection is not good for people in general or society as a whole. We become stronger when we have to make it on our own.
As for accordions, no one has anything against them. But they will not stimulate the economy.