Posted on 05/09/2025 11:29:10 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Last year, the three federal grantmaking agencies that award funds to arts and culture groups received a total of $708.8 million to award in a nation of 340 million people—or just over $2 per resident.
When Deborah Block, artistic director of Philadelphia’s nonprofit theater company Theatre Exile, received word last November that a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts had been approved for the development and production of R. Eric Thomas’ play Glitter in the Glass, she immediately set to work on getting this dramatic piece up and running. Fifteen people—including a stage manager, an assistant stage manager, a director, five designers and some others—were hired, and the playwright himself needed to be paid.
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.com ...
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As it should be.
Fundraising like any other on profit.
Taxpayer Grants are ridiculous, they can fund themselves. Just hit up the cheap leftys that visit.
“Well Observer, I wouldn’t pay $2 to see that crap.”
exactly ... and let’s see how well all of those “fund-raising” efforts are gonna go, and that’ll tell us what the REAL support for outside funding “for the arts” is ...
for sure, that’s gonna take A LOT of bake sales and lemonade stands!
There's a very old aphorism that NO GOVERNMENT ever abides by: "Look after there pennies and the dollars will look after themselves." After all, it's other peoples' money, so who cares?
The original British version is attributed to William Lowndes, an English Treasury official, in the late 17th or early 18th century. The earliest recorded use appears in a 1750 letter by Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in his Letters to His Son (published 1774), where he writes writes: "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves." Chesterfield used it to advise his son on frugality and financial prudence, reflecting the mercantile values of the time.
Car Washes and bake sales come in pretty handy. Old school. Not the crap they do these days where schools and groups wanting money have their members send grandma and grampa a prepared email begging for money from grandparents a lot of them have never even seen.
About 40 years ago I used to enjoy listening to the local NPR classical music station.
Then they had one of their annoying non-stop fundraisers and I quit listening, never to return.
You brought back memories, when I worked a car wash once a month in the summer months.
MASS MoCA lost a $50,000 NEA grant in May 2025 for Jeffrey Gibson’s exhibit “Power Full Because We’re Different”, a large-scale installation of beaded garments celebrating queer and Indigenous communities.
MASS MoCA hosts diverse, often provocative installations such as:
EJ Hill’s “Brake Run Helix” (2023), funded by a $45,000 NEA grant, featured a pink roller coaster exploring themes of joy and Black identity.
Vincent Valdez’s “Just a Dream…” (2025), a survey of American societal “failings and triumphs,” addresses politics and identity through multimedia.
These works align with contemporary art’s focus on social issues, which critics like you often label “woke” for emphasizing diversity, equity, or marginalized narratives. This reflects a broader trend in contemporary art museums, where conceptual and socially engaged works dominate over technical mastery in classical techniques (e.g., oil painting, marble sculpture).
Most of it looks like it requires zero talent, skill, training and a lot of it is just flat out ugly.
Has there been any good art made since the 1800s?
“Arts Groups” are everywhere and behind the counters at Starbucks throughout the land!!
I wonder if American Indians like being lumped in with queers.
Will it feature the Indian from "The Village People"?
Look up the Highwaymen of Florida, black artists in the Jim Crow era who sold their art out of the trunks of their cars. They specialized in Florida landscapes. My favorite of the bunch is Alfred Hair. Some of his stuff was beautiful.
“Arts,” therefore, have no incentive to attract an audience.
This is why crap masquerades as entertainment.
Very good point! I didn't think about that. Of course, Little Horse might think it's great.
“You look tired, Little Big Man. Would you like to come in my tipi and rest on soft furs?”
The thing that turned me away from PBS was the crusade to denigrate J. P. Sousa.
That was in 1979.
I never returned.
Andrew Wyeth was pretty good.
I like some of Pablo Picasso works.
I also like some of the Salvador Dali paintings.
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