The Government’s Funding of the Arts 2

The U.S. Government and Fine Arts are strange bedfellows and it’s all rooted in the 1960’s.

Before then, most schools were lucky to have a music program. Most musicians learned their craft while playing or through private instruction in their neighborhoods. They would go on to form rock, doo-wop or soul groups, usually with one of the member’s semi-sharp in music composition. There were no grants that they could get and many times, they had to rehearse in neighborhood garages. There were no recreation centers or city complexes to go to.

 

Because of the upheaval of the 1960’s, most artists wanted to make statements. They found ways to do more with less and before you know it, the whole world was listening. How did these guys do this when they started out with no arts programs and nothing!

 

Well, as always, when the government sees a good investment, they invest! To control the exploding arts scene, the government made funding the arts as a part of community revitalization programs which meant that the U.S. government would fund arts programs and provide block grants to communities. This is where your hippie musicians come in because they took full advantage of the program. Many hippies went from condemning the government, to being paid by them to being millionaires overnight.

It was the government’s way of controlling and censuring the arts subliminally.

Stay tuned for part 3!