Merikk Duhaime

Duhaime 1

Ms. Crist
10 November 2016
English 4
Service Research Paper
The majority of the fundings for the arts come from the government, taken from taxes, as
well as any profit they may have produced when showcasing or selling their work. Some people,
however, dont want their taxes going towards art funding. They may find the artists work that
they are indirectly funding to be controversial, or they just think that the arts in general arent
important. Art is incredibly important, and to mold young artists into successful ones, there must
be proper funding in schools and communities for it to thrive. Due to lack of funding for art
programs in schools, fewer students are able to participate in the arts.
Art programs were not federally funded until the 19th century, when Franklin Delano
Roosevelt decided it was essential to save the economy through government funding for jobs
such as these (Driscoll, Flynn 1). However, before government funding was implemented,
funding for the arts consisted of work-for-hire contracts, better known as commissioning
(Driscoll, Flynn 1). This changed in the 1930s under FDRs New Deal. Another president that
was mentioned in Driscoll and Flynns article for increasing funding for the arts was President
Lyndon Johnson, who created the National Endowment for the Arts. The funding for art
remained stable and unquestioned until the late 1980s, when conservatives began to wish for a
decrease in funding because they viewed some of the artwork as controversial and even sexually
explicit.

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In the late 1980s, there were numerous artworks that sparked controversy, not only due
to what they depicted but also because they were federally funded pieces. Some were deemed
sexually explicit, others blasphemous, but overall they brought up the question of whether
funding should be revoked. This resulted in Congress prohibiting funding for arts projects that
promote, disseminate or produce materials which in the judgment of the National Endowment
for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities may be considered obscene,
including but not limited to, depictions of sadomasochism, homoeroticism, the sexual
exploitation of children, of individuals engaged in sex acts and which, taken as a whole, do not
have serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value (Driscoll, Flynn 1). This decreased
funding for the arts overall, but mainly for any topics that Congress deemed too inappropriate
and controversial.
Lastly, the amount of funding for the arts has changed dramatically over the decades,
inadequate funding becoming all the more common in the 21st century. One of the reasons for
the funding being spread so thin, as stated in Wilkersons article, is that there are too many
organizations dividing up the revenue (103). However, he goes on to mention that this may be
the case in metropolitan areas, but few residents of smaller, noncoastal cities would agree with
the proposition that there is too much art in the galleries and too many performances on stage
(103). These quotations show that what may be adequate funding in one city, may be much too
low for another. As for how the future of art funding, the predictable future of public funding in
the arts is shaky at best, and some speculate that federal funding may even cease to exist in
future years (Wilkerson 104).

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To conclude, art programs need better funding in order for both the programs, and the
students that participate in them, to succeed. It is near impossible for young artists to thrive if
they do not have the proper classes and programs to educate themselves and promote growth as
an artist. Communities must come together to agree on how much money is needed to fund these
programs, and where said money will come from. Whether they be from federal taxes,
commissions, or something different entirely. Even if an artwork that was funded by the peoples
taxes is shown to be controversial, they must decide whether it would really be worth it to halt
art funding just to prevent the possibility more inappropriate pieces being created.

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Works Cited
Driscoll, Sally, and Simone Isadora Flynn. "Arts Funding: An Overview." Points Of View: Arts
Funding (2016): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.
Wilkerson, Michael. "Using The Arts To Pay For The Arts: A Proposed New Public Funding
Model." Journal Of Arts Management, Law & Society42.3 (2012): 103. Advanced
Placement Source. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.