Sheep!

From Gawker:

According to “art community consultant” Patrick Courrielche, who supports those Obama Joker posters, the NEA organized a recent conference call to assemble an army of artists who will maybe possibly (hopefully?) use their work to inspire service in key social arenas, such as health care and energy.

…The call’s participants were “encouraged” to use their myriad mediums
to concoct “creative ways to talk about the issues facing the country.”
Now, it’s not unusual for the government to use art in times of
economic need. Long ago, the New Deal‘s
Works Progress Administration set up the Federal Art Project, which had
artists beautify the Depression-pocked landscape and remind them of
essential needs, like good dental care. But the WPA and NEA are
different beasts, and Courrielche worries that the NEA, which offers
grants to artists and often drums up even more money for grantees, will
use this initiative to pick and choose ideologically motivated artists.

First-ly, “Art Community Consultant”? Oh come on now. I was told from Day 1 in this business that “consultant” meant “unemployed” in the arts. And kind of everywhere, right?

Regardless, it’s interesting. Of course artists should be involved in politics and educational outreach.  Whether it would be/could be a government propaganda “machine”? Don’t know. Sure, people are stupid and might vote for whomever/whatever The Jonas Brothers tell them to, but is that any different than the myriad of people who said they’d vote for Hillary Clinton because they recognized her last name? You have to work with what you’ve got! Read on at Gawker.