The Government Funding for Music 1
September 20, 2006 by Brooke
Filed under Independent Labels
Every year, there is a debate concerning government funding and the arts and here’s the question.
Is it the government’s responsibility to fund fine arts, especially music? The answer is no.
Many Americans don’t want to hear that at all but truth is truth. The government funds the arts when they have money left over from budgets. The arts are not a priority.
The governments’ mindset about a nation and how it should operate is in the U.S. Constitution. You will not find an article or amendment addressing the fine arts or welfare. Heck, they just barely have amendments in there that concern voting and civil rights.
The argument from artists is that Fine Arts programs enhance the spirit and the soul of people and music has an influence on all people. This is extremely true.
But the powers that be don’t spend their time listening to the radio. Some of these guys don’t know what a checkout counter is (see George Bush Sr). Their more concerned about running the country and charging you more taxes.
Stay tuned, there is a part two to this which examines why the government started funding Fine Arts programs.
Here’s the deal — government should be funding fine arts programs…. the government should hardly be funding anything. Anything the government funds - it controls. What we need in this country is less government control.
The larger government gets the smaller freedom gets… that’s the way it’s always been.. our country, as great as it is, is no different
What a wonderful article. I enjoyed reading this and totally agree with all that was said. I wish that the government would take a closer look at this funding even if you do not think they should. If they did there might not be as much violence out there. But then again you never really know. I do think if it were more readily available that more kids would be interested in learning those areas of the fine arts.
Kids would be more willing to do things if we put music back in school. I think that many kids are missing out on things that could keep them interested in more positive things. But the government and school systems do not seem to care about that. Which is really sad, thus the decrease in good musicians coming out today.
In the UK music is optional at school, and the music curriculum is pretty pathetic. We do, however, have something called ‘New Deal For Musicians’ - but you have to have been unemployed for more than 6 months, and claiming benefits, to take advantage of it.
Unfortunately that means people too proud to be unemployed long enough to do it end up working in dead end jobs, instead of getting a chance to do something they love.
So true Saubryn, there are many talented people that never get the chance to show their talent because they have to make ends meet in a dead end job, and their talents are wasted pretty much. We were all given talents and should be able to share those talents with others.
There have been many things taken out of schools that should still be there, as we continue to remove spiritual things and not be able to use those gifts we are doing an injustice to everyone.
Well, for me, i think that the government is not required to provide funds. but i still think that they should try to help. yeah, it is not good to be very dependent with the government, but it is a good way of helping. and the government has funds which also came from the people.
by lalajean on November 19th, 2007 12:56 am
What a wonderful article. I enjoyed reading this and totally agree with all that was said. I wish that the government would take a closer look at this funding even if you do not think they should. If they did there might not be as much violence out there. But then again you never really know. I do think if it were more readily available that more kids would be interested in learning those areas of the fine arts.
- yes, i agree with you lalajean. i think that our government should focus on this one. and it is not bad to support it. they can provide funds that will help those children who would be interested on this.
attagirl, regarding your comment about Saubryn’s post, i also agree with you. i think that many people are not getting recognized. there are a lot of talented people and they should share their talents and show it. but only few are given chances to do that. we should not let our talents become wasted.
It is true that we should put music back. because music has really a great effect to the people especially kids. we should do this for the kids to learn many things and for them not to engage in bad things which i think music can prevent. the government should open their eyes to this and think about the people.
Heh! Can’t artists give a better argument than that? People don’t expect the government to enhance their spirit and soul. I certainly don’t. :p The government has little to no responsibility to music which is now more or less profit oriented.