Comments on: What, No Taxpayer Bailout For The Arts?

By: artboyusa

artboyusa — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:41:26 +0000

“Whose bright idea was it to come up with tax payer funded art in the first place?…” blame the Brits, I’m afraid. After the war Attlee’s Labour government set up something called the Arts Council, whose job was to use taxpayer’s money to pay writers to write, composers to compose and artists to make art. The big mover behind the foundation of the Arts Council was our old pal John Maynard Keynes, who liked hanging out (and occasionally having sex) with creative people. Most Europrean countries quickly followed suit with their own arts subsidy programs and the US set up the NEA in the early 60s.

Smart artists and good artists avoid all these government handouts. Personally, I’m always gratified when people pay good money for my pictures. If they don’t, it only makes me work harder and be tougher on myself. Once that market element is removed, the artist loses an important spur to his/her creativity. Look at France; once French culture was one the glories of the world, now it barely exists. One reason is that France has more cultural handouts, prizes and subsidies than almost anywhere but the result is they have no living culture, only an historical one.

By: sheehanjihad

sheehanjihad — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:48:06 +0000

Thank you proreason, and to you too! It is, if nothing else, going to be a very interesting year.

By: proreason

proreason — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:27:42 +0000

“They are our government in minature…..spending other people’s money on things they dont need or want to satisfy their personal agendas.”

Nicely profound, SJ. Very well said. And an insight I’ve never heard before. Happy New Year to you.

By: sheehanjihad

sheehanjihad — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:55:28 +0000

Whose bright idea was it to come up with tax payer funded art in the first place?

Liberals is who! They discovered that they couldnt survive trying to sell tripe for “art” because the public as a whole rejects their idea of what real art is.

So, they force the public who hates everything they do to pay for them to continue to insult the intelligence of the very people they are ripping off.

If there wasnt a taxpayer subsidy, most if not all “modern art galleries” would go out of business in under three months.

They are our government in minature…..spending other people’s money on things they dont need or want to satisfy their personal agendas.

By: Confucius

Confucius — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:09:56 +0000

Try Bush or Paulson.

By: pdsand

pdsand — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:09:38 +0000

“Many organizations that spent years building large endowments to provide more stable sources of support have seen them decimated. A number of our most loyal donors have watched their own investment portfolios be depleted and cannot provide their traditional funding.”
Sounds like these broadway fatcats suffered from a little bit of GREED. These board of director types went around putting what were probably tax-deductible donations in the STOCK MARKET just to make some MONEY! Didn’t they know that the decisions they made on broadway affected the food on the table of Joe the twinkle-toed dancer on main street? It makes my blood boil to think about it.
Well I hope no one in that crowd ever asks for some fancy accomodation in their dressing room again. And I trust they will be willing to take down all those lights on their theaters out front to save electricity, and use old hand-me down costumes and no make up in order to save money. Oh and you can forget about champagne galas to announce awards for the arts. Just a pot of coffee (maxwell house) ought to do it. The taxpayers are serious when it comes to what changes we expect to see if they’re going to bail these guys out.

By: Liberals Demise

Liberals Demise — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:46:59 +0000

Columbia U. has a liberal arts program, right?

By: VMAN

VMAN — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:14:11 +0000

Hi everyone I just created a large statue of Obama and his entire cabinet out of dog poop. Could anyone tell me where I might get a grant for it? I won’t even ask for more money for the flies.

By: 12 Gauge Rage

12 Gauge Rage — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:46:32 +0000

Whose bright idea was it to come up with tax payer funded art in the first place? I could deal with poor tasteless art a lot better if it’s funding came from private donations instead of what we have now. Because then I could say it’s their money wasted, not mine. But every year we get inundated with more tasteless tax funded garbage that’s promoted as sensational, cutting edge, provocative, and original art. What a repulsive joke! Such art will never appeal to me or anyone else with a sense of decency. As the old saying goes, “It’ll never look good because you can’t polish a turd.”

By: Liberals Demise

Liberals Demise — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:45:32 +0000

Standing on the American Flag so you can sign a book is not art! A picture of a guy with a bullwhip stuck up his ass is not art! The Crucifix immersed in piss is not art! This is but a scant begining of what these lugheads call art. Our tax money is not meant to support bizarre porno/homo tastes and fetishes. Get a real job and get off the government handout, you bums!! As for the NEA……what a endless pit. Might as well give the money to the ARTS A-Holes!! “MONEY FOR NOTHING”

By: Gladius et Scutum

Gladius et Scutum — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 01:59:12 +0000

When I was in High School some friends were invited to act in a play with the Prop. Theater Group (that is the correct punctuation). At a party there, I found out that all the principle actors, the director, founder, et al, were members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (Maoist). They were funded by the Illinois Arts Council.

The famous science fiction writer Gene Wolfe was surprised when he received an unsolicited grant from the Illinois Arts Council for his short story “In Looking-Glass Castle”. It described a future society in which nearly all the men had been hunted down and executed. Men were only ever refered to as “pigs”.

And of course, because the arts are subjective, rather than objective – emotive rather than logical, we are to ‘appreciate’ whatever crap they proffer. Or at least not object to it.

Having the capitalists “pay for the rope” as well as sell it, is part of the idea.

By: yadayada

yadayada — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:46:33 +0000

waaaaaa! no one wants to my piss christ, or poohtrait of the Virgin Mary any more waaaaa!
typical libtards- if your crap doesn’t sell, it isn’t because it’s crap. it’s because everyone else has a narrow mind.

don’t the “arts” include other entertainment sections of our culture, such as cinema, T.V. and sports? michael mcsupersizeme moore and algore made documentaries and sold books. let them all get together and support themselves. I say abolish all federal funding to the NEA (both of them)

By: VMAN

VMAN — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:28:49 +0000

I love how these art trolls talk about immediate tax breaks for corporate America when the money is directed toward them but give a tax break to corporations to create new jobs or bring factories back to this country and they cry like stuck pigs. What a bunch of hypocrites!!!!

By: Jean

Jean — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:17:39 +0000

For the most part, these “arts organizations” are thinly veiled propaganda outfits propped up by the wealthy liberals who donate. They stay alive not by drawing in an audience, but by pandering to the prejudices of this elite group. For the last eight years, under the guise of “art” they’ve churned out anti-Bush tirades hyperbolic and idiotic enough to alienate even most Democrats. After removing any possibility of appealing to a democratic, politically varied audience, they want the government to save them from financial ruin. Let ‘em crumble.

By: cjokry

cjokry — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:04:19 +0000

This would be funny if he wasn’t so dead serious. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that watching people prance and pretend is a luxury that tends to go by the wayside when the media scares everybody into thinking that we’re going to lose our jobs any minute.

By: BillK

BillK — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:50:37 +0000

I love the logic of banner ad code; because of the references to “bail out” above, S&L’s banner ad provider is currently showing me the “Thank You America for Investing in Chrysler” ad right below the article. :D :D