Culturally Impoverished: US NEA Spends 1/40th of What Germany Doles Out for Arts Per Capital

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/culture/culturally-impoverished-us-nea-spends-140th-what-germany-doles-out-arts-capita



***SNIP

1. Germany: Germany’s cultural budget was approximately $1.63 billion USD in 2013. According to Ian Moss, research director of Fractured Atlas, Germany’s art funding in 2007 equated to roughly $20 per German citizen, which “dwarfs the 41 cents per red-blooded American provided by the NEA. What artist wouldn't want to live there?” Moss told Huffington Post. Since the 1970s, Germany has implemented a federal program for art purchases and the collection of contemporary art in a bid to support artist organizations and bodies. In fact, publicly funded cultural institutions are used to educate people to promote interest in art. In 2013, the German culture budget rose by 8 percent even despite an overall federal budget decrease by 3.1 percent.

2. Northern Ireland: The Arts Council of Northern Ireland announced it will award over £13 million ($21 million USD) to arts projects through northern Ireland, including theater and literature for its tiny 1.8 million population. The Arts Council is the development and funding agency for the arts in Northern Ireland. It distributes public money and National Lottery funds to develop art projects and events throughout the country for both individual international artists to perform in Ireland as well as organizations.

3. France: France has always had a vast appreciation for art and culture, which it considers almost holy. Home to some of the most prominent art displays in the world, French museums generate over 20 million viewers a year. The budget of the French Ministry of Culture for 2013 was close to €7.4 billion ($10 billion USD) with €3.5 billion ($4.73 billion USD) dedicated to the cultural field alone. Despite such a large distribution, these figures actually represent a 2.3 percent drop in art, which has prompted protests and strikes across the country in recent times.

4. Sweden: The Swedish Arts Council is a government authority that implements national cultural policy by allocating generous funding to performing arts, music and literature. Every year, huge sums of public money are dished out to punk rock and indie music bands, which American Republicans have criticized. In 2011, the Swedish government spent 2.60% of its central government spending on culture alone. The Swedish Arts Grant Committee allocates approximately 100 million SEK to the arts ($15 million USD) for its modest 9 million people. Moreover, the Nordic Culture Fund supports artistic and cultural cooperation between all the Nordic countries. The fund goes a step further, even supporting architecture, design, visual arts, performing arts, film, literature, music and multicultural projects.


***WE HAVE TO SPEND MONEY ON THE BUSINESS OF WAR!11 FREEDOM AIN'T FREE -- RAH-RAH!

[Bluenorthwest]

1. Republicans hate American culture and arts, Democrats are more suspect of the arts than

they are of Republicans. So the bipartisan compromise is virtually no funding for arts and culture.

[Laelth]

2. We have squandered LBJ's legacy.

We accomplished so much in 1964, 1965, and 1966. It was a very short window of progress, but LBJ got a lot done. Here's a partial list:

"Among Johnson’s liberal achievements are Medicare; Medicaid; Legal Aid; federal funding for education including creation of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Public Broadcasting Act; the Revenue Act of 1964; the Economic Opportunity Act; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and the Voting Rights Act of 1965."

Many of these programs have been crippled by our forty-plus year march to the right. It's tragic, really.

-Laelth

[xchrom]

3. +1

[libtodeath]

4. It is disgraceful and especially so when you compare it to all we spend on weaponry

that destroys cultures and history.