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This Monday I
was delighted to spend a couple of hours with REH’s lovely and talented wife,
here in town attending a national meeting of Americans for the Arts. We heard the new chairman of the National
Endowment for the Arts speak, and as a poet he was quite effective, choosing
his nouns and verbs eloquently to draw our focus quickly and intently, but as
the person seated next to me said, Actions Speak Louder Than Words. Because of controversies regenerated
every political funding season, arts funding in this country has been subjected
to a process not unlike surgery to stop hemorrhaging, and the image and culture
must change, he said. Consensus
must be rebuilt. We’ll hope that
doesn’t mean dumbing down art just to make it palatable. It was pointed out that this year’s high
school seniors were not yet born during the Magelthorpe exhibitions but to hear
tell, it is a raging epidemic of terrorist proportions. In addition to
promoting art and artist work generally and via the NEA, this website features
some community-building resources that some of you might be interested in
reviewing. Please check out their
site @ http://www.artsusa.org/default.asp. Under News you
can use, there is information about art grants and a Youth Tool kit to help
design programs for kids at risk, especially, but let’s not forget that art
programs have been decimated in the public schools by funding cuts. You may have seen some of their ads in
broadcast and print media Art: Ask
for More. As a former volunteer
for a local arts festival, I am a true believer in enriching individuals and communities
through the arts. Please check out
the Animating Democracy initiative at this site,
promoting art as a means to foster civic dialogue on contemporary issues. Specifically,
following what Stephen was asking for in terms of local living economies
measuring up dollar for dollar against giant retail, please look at the pdf
downloads under Arts and Economic Prosperity at http://www.artsusa.org/EconomicImpact/. REH has addressed the economic impact
on FW several times and here is what he has been talking about. - KWC Arts & Economic Prosperity: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit
Arts Organizations and Their Audiences,
released on June 10, 2002, reveals that America's nonprofit arts industry
generates $134 billion in economic activity every year, including $24.4 billion
in federal, state, and local tax revenues. The $134 billion total includes
$53.2 billion in spending by arts organizations and $80.8 billion in
event-related spending by arts audiences:
The $134 billion in total economic activity has a
significant national impact, generating the following:
The most comprehensive economic impact study of the
nonprofit arts industry ever conducted, it is based on surveys of 3,000
nonprofit arts organizations and more than 40,000 attendees at arts events in
91 cities in 33 states, plus the District of Columbia. |
