{"id":1251,"date":"2014-04-28T09:33:38","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T16:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2014-04-28T09:33:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T16:33:38","slug":"public-support-for-the-arts-and-the-letter-of-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/04\/public-support-for-the-arts-and-the-letter-of-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Public support for the arts and the letter of the law"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dedication\"<\/a>I was recently interviewed by Nancy Fowler of St. Louis Public radio on the recent controversies<\/a> surrounding the ethics policies of the Zoo-Museum District<\/a>. I won’t repeat the whole story here, which is best covered in Ms Fowler’s piece. This is a more general observation:<\/p>\n

Public and nonprofit arts organizations rely on public support. For public agencies, that comes in terms of voter support for earmarked tax funding programs, or through the budget allocations of local, state and federal government. Nonprofits rely on public\u00a0support directly through donations and sales, and indirectly through the public policies that provide support to nonprofits, like direct grants, and the tax exemptions and credits that benefit nonprofits.<\/p>\n

To maintain public support, it is never enough for an organization in a controversy to be able to say “but we followed to the letter our organization’s official procedures and policies.” Having followed procedures is enough to get through a legal or administrative tussle, but true public support requires something more – that the public clearly sees that the agency’s principals acted transparently and responsibly in the public interest. Without that, public support for the arts erodes, and the organization’s official ethics and procedures documents won’t save it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was recently interviewed by Nancy Fowler of St. Louis Public radio on the recent controversies surrounding the ethics policies of the Zoo-Museum District. I won’t repeat the whole story here, which is best covered in Ms Fowler’s piece. This is a more general observation: Public and nonprofit arts organizations rely on public support. For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/slam.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-kb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2154,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/12\/what-to-do-about-the-nea\/","url_meta":{"origin":1251,"position":0},"title":"What to do about the NEA","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"December 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"At Bloomberg, Tyler Cowen posts some recommendations on US federal government arts policy. He has written at length about this in his book Good and Plenty; here he gives some ideas for the new administration. The thing I always enjoy about Cowen - especially in his blog - is his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"let's give some support?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Sculpture_Studio_Classroom.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Sculpture_Studio_Classroom.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Sculpture_Studio_Classroom.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Sculpture_Studio_Classroom.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2724,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2022\/04\/book-diary-april-22\/","url_meta":{"origin":1251,"position":1},"title":"Book Diary – April 22","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I am writing a book, on the \"moral foundations of public funding for the arts\". It will eventually appear in the series New Directions in Cultural Policy Research, hopefully some time in 2023. But first I have to write it. This diary will chart my progress through the year, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"my taxes paid for this?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/CO.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/CO.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/CO.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2112,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/09\/what-should-congress-do-about-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1251,"position":2},"title":"What should Congress do about the arts?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Blog neighbour Doug McLennan reviews the recent Congressional Arts Report Card produced by the Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC. He notes that there isn't really a lot of material on which to base a report card - indeed, there were no recorded floor votes that were solely concerned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"where's the vision?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Mr-Smith.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Mr-Smith.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Mr-Smith.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Mr-Smith.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Mr-Smith.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Mr-Smith.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2729,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2022\/04\/book-diary-april-27-arts-funding-and-welfarism-merit-goods-who-cares-if-you-listen-and-a-first-look-at-perfectionism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1251,"position":3},"title":"Book Diary – April 27 – Arts Funding and Welfarism, Merit Goods, Who Cares if you Listen?, and a first look at Perfectionism…","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"'I think there can't be too many pictures and statues and works of art,' Hyacinth broke out. 'The more the better, whether people are hungry or not.' Henry James, The Princess Casamassima This week (and the next few weeks) I have been wrestling with the topic of perfectionism in moral\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/James.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1380,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/06\/summer-books-bruce-katz-and-jennifer-bradleys-the-metropolitan-revolution\/","url_meta":{"origin":1251,"position":4},"title":"Summer books: Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley’s ‘The Metropolitan Revolution’","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A dozen years ago, mayors and their economic development staff made sure they had a copy of Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class on their desks. It was the big new idea that would help them understand the dynamics of contemporary urban growth, and plan for the future\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"next big thing?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/metropolitan-revolution-196x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1667,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/11\/arts-policy-and-the-election\/","url_meta":{"origin":1251,"position":5},"title":"Arts, policy, and the election (updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Barry's Blog has a post on the consequences of the election, anticipating Republican gains in the House and likely control of the Senate, calling the post 'What Tomorrow's Election Means for the Nonprofit Arts.' Good question! He writes: On the federal level, if the Democrats maintain control of the Senate,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"what's the big deal?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Voters.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}