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Letter to the Editor: American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009

I’ve blogged about “Why You Should Support the Arts” – but in light of recent media attacks on arts funding (see below), I thought it wise to bring “the facts” to the attention of Houston’s news people … so I wrote the following and submitted it to KTRK, KHOU, KPFT, Houston Chronicle, and Houston Press:

Dear [Media Rep],

As a fan and active participant in Greater Houston’s diverse cultural community, I want to bring to your attention the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, being considered by Congress right now.

$50 million dollars for the arts hangs in the balance as a growing number of media negatively portray the arts funding included in the House version of the bill. These ill-informed statements include:

  • “True to form, Congress has loaded the [bill] with hundreds of billions in wasteful spending. The bill includes $650 million for digital TV coupons, $140 million to study the atmosphere and $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. None of these proposals would create jobs or boost our economy. They’re just old-fashioned waste.” - Op-ed in the Indianapolis Star
  • “The National Endowment for the Arts, for example, is in line for $50 million, increasing its total budget by a third. The unemployed can fill their days attending abstract-film festivals and sitar concerts.” -National Review Editorial
  • “I just think putting people to work is more important than putting more art on the wall of some New York City gallery frequented by the elite art community.” [U.S. Rep Jack] Kingston said. “Call me a sucker for the working man.” - Congressional Quarterly report

Why You Should Support the Arts

Many people tend to think of the arts as frivolous, pretty things to see, hear, read or do if you’re rich or on vacation. Some actually think the arts are simply unessential.  They’re all wrong.

There are approximately 100,000 nonprofit arts organizations, which spend $63.1 billion annually. These organizations – ranging from large institutions like museums and orchestras to small community-based organizations in suburban, urban and rural areas – don’t just employ performers, artists and curators: they provide jobs for accountants, administrators, designers, plumbers, laborers, maintenance people, union workers and engineers.  In fact, arts organizations support more full-time jobs than those in accounting, public safety officers, and lawyers, and just slightly fewer than elementary school teachers.

In a report released in mid-January, the National Governor’s Association stated:

Arts and culture are important to state economies. Arts and culture-related industries, also known as “creative industries,” provide direct economic benefits to states and communities: They create jobs, attract investments, generate tax revenues, and stimulate local economies through tourism and consumer purchases.

But arts organizations do more than help stimulate local economies – they significantly contribute to local culture and quality of life. Residents can experience and learn about the histories, traditions and aesthetics of people around the world, as well as of members of their own community with whom they may not normally interact.  Visitors can be exposed to aspects of a place they may not have been aware of, such as a small-yet-thriving cultural group or an alternative music scene. The “local flavor” that arts organizations lend to a community create a culture that frequently lures potential employers/employees to relocate to the area: cities with thriving creative communities like San Francisco and Austin often attract the best-and-brightest because of this.

Origins of Virtue and Outliers

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If we are to recover social harmony and virtue, if we are to build back into society the virtues that made it work for us, it is vital that we reduce the power and scope of the state. … It means devolution: devolution of power over people’s lives to parishes, computer networks, clubs, teams, self-help groups, small businesses – everything small and local. It means a massive disassembling of the public bureaucracy. Let national and international governments wither into their minimal function of national defence and redistribution of wealth (directly – without an intervening and greedy bureaucracy). Let Kropotkin’s vision of a world of free individuals return. Let everybody rise and fall by their reputation. I am not so naive as to think this can happen overnight, or that some form of government is not necessary. But I do question the necessity of a government that dictates the minutest details of life and squats like a giant flea upon the back of the nation.

… Just as trade between countries is the best recipe for friendship between them, so exchange between enfranchised and empowered individuals is the best recipe for cooperation. We must encourage social and material exchange between equals for that is the raw material of trust, and trust is the foundation of virtue.

- Matt Ridley, The Origins of Virtue

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