The Senate attacks arts funding in the stimulus package; the Atlantic defends it.
Mike Boehm reports that the arts portion of the stimulus package came under attack in the Senate:
Americans for the Arts, which has been fighting for a crumb or two of the federal economic stimulus package to land on the table of nonprofit arts organizations, reported that its side took a drubbing to the tune of 73 votes to 24. The arts advocacy and lobbying organization labeled the amendment to the Senate’s $827-billion stimulus proposal “egregious” in its exclusion of “any … museum, theater [or] art center” from sharing in the bailout. At least the arts are in popular company: Also excluded are any “gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, swimming pool, community park … and highway beautification project.”
The Atlantic‘s Ben Adler tries to explain why arts spending is stimulative:
Arts are actually a great form of economic investment, particularly public art, and they should be amply funded in the stimulus package. Every year nonprofit arts organizations generate $166.2 billion in economic activity, support 5.7 million jobs, and send almost $30 billion back to government, according to Americans for the Arts. There is hardly a person more likely to go out and spend her stimulus check than a starving artist. [ . . . ]
The money for artistic projects is almost by definition ready to be injected into the economy. It may take years to draw up a plan for a highway, obtain the right of way and fend off legal challenges before the bulldozers start rolling. But to buy a canvass and some paintbrushes, or even some metal for a public sculpture, is comparatively straightforward. That puts quick money into the pockets of the companies that build, sell and ship those artistic materials as well. [ . . . ]
A well-designed public space can boost real estate values and create opportunities for small local business to thrive. Public art in urban environments can also help physically and socially knit together communities. In Houston, Echelman hung a bright orange sculpture from the bottom of a highway on-ramp that flew over a public park. That area, once desolate, has become a popular destination. Judy Baca, an artist in Los Angeles has hired inner-city youth to help her paint public murals, partly to help improve relations between rival gangs. “It has the additional benefit of crime prevention and enhancing the opportunities of under-privileged kids,” explains Robert Lynch, CEO of Americans for the Arts. “The process is as important as the product.”
Feinstein Joins Senate Majority in Excluding Arts from Stimulus Package (Culture Monster/LA Times)
Why Stimulus Spending Should Go to Public Art (The Atlantic)
