{"id":1499,"date":"2014-09-08T17:58:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-09T00:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2014-09-08T17:58:38","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T00:58:38","slug":"local-arts-funding-and-urban-design-responses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/local-arts-funding-and-urban-design-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"Local arts funding and urban design: responses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"we<\/a>My thanks to those who took the time to comment on my most recent post<\/a>. As usual – and this is for the good! – discussion went in unexpected directions.<\/p>\n

One commenter wrote, in response to my line that local government arts funders should respond to local tastes:<\/p>\n

Should \u201ctaste\u201d be the deciding factor of who and what get\u2019s funded in the arts? Shouldn\u2019t governmental or even foundational funding sources take into consideration the minority voice just as our constitutional government is required to consider not just the voice (taste) of the majority?
\nIf not, how will anything new ever get developed under such a qualifier? Should we fund the arts that mimic established tastes or rather should we be funding the arts which lead us to experience new things?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not an easy question. A few points.<\/p>\n

First, it is entirely possible that a voting public welcomes<\/em> an arts council that funds experimental art from diverse sources. You could even make the argument that on pure economic grounds such funding makes the most sense, since the spillover benefits of inspiring new creators are largest for funding the new and the radical (even if in many cases it leads to nothing, in some cases it might lead to something great).<\/p>\n

Second, what should we do when the public really wants funding to go to the middlebrow and the known? Departing from this might eventually lead to a decrease in funding; when taxpayers are unhappy with how money is being spent, it becomes easy to cut. What if the local arts board recognizes value in certain types of funding (or, for that matter, historic preservation) that the public simply does not see? The best analysis I know of that supports the state overriding the wishes of voters in this case is by David Throsby<\/a>, who looks at the issue in the context of ‘contingent valuation studies’ that purport to estimate the values the public places on cultural goods through surveys. There are those who think contingent valuation will never generate numbers with any kind of accuracy at all<\/a>. But what if they could? Throsby says there are still good reasons to fund projects contra the numbers they generate on voters preferences. This is far too big a topic for this post – do read Throsby!<\/p>\n

Another, in response to a thread on the higher direct public sector funding of the arts in Europe relative to the US, writes:<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be curious to see what the figures end up looking like when you factor in tax-deductible contributions from the private sector.<\/p>\n

Those contributions amount to indirect government subsidy, and they are of particular relevance to this article. The opportunity to make tax deductible contributions encourages arts funding on the local level in the most direct and personal way possible.<\/p>\n

Another thing is that this support doesn\u2019t depend on taste, rather it ends up weaving a complex web of support that often defies categorization.<\/p>\n

Whether this is a better way of doing things is another story. For example, Western European countries seem to have done a better job of helping their arts organizations weather the economic downturn, since they were not so reliant on donations from private entities that suddenly had much less to give away (although I\u2019m not so sure whether that holds true in the UK or Italy).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are two issues in play when we weigh the relative balance of direct funding for the arts from the public sector with indirect funding through public sector subsidy of private donations: the amount<\/em> of funding (and how that might fluctuate), and how the funding is allocated<\/em>. With heavy reliance on indirect funding, the donors are deciding what gets support: not just their own support, but the support from taxpayers as well. US arts nonprofits are so dependent upon this system that their reluctance to question it is understandable, but if we step back and look at it from a public policy perspective? I’ll save this one for a future post …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My thanks to those who took the time to comment on my most recent post. As usual – and this is for the good! – discussion went in unexpected directions. One commenter wrote, in response to my line that local government arts funders should respond to local tastes: Should \u201ctaste\u201d be the deciding factor of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":571,"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-1499","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\/2013\/03\/postbox.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-ob","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1494,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/local-arts-funding-and-urban-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":0},"title":"Local arts funding and urban design","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the United States, most public funding for the arts happens at the local, rather than the state or federal, government level. And there are good reasons for that; this is a big, diverse, dispersed country, and local arts councils are best placed to respond to residents' tastes and cultural\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"No services","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Detroit-empty-street.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Detroit-empty-street.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Detroit-empty-street.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Detroit-empty-street.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Detroit-empty-street.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3768,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/04\/what-do-to-with-the-nea-pull-the-plug\/","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":1},"title":"What do to with the NEA? Pull the plug?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Two opinion pieces were published this week giving different conservative takes on what to do with the NEA. I\u2019ll talk about Mark Bauerlein\u2019s\u00a0New York Times\u00a0Op-Ed in the next post; here I look at the Cato Institute\u2019s Ryan Bourne\u2019s briefing paper \u201cEnd the National Endowment for the Arts\u201d. To begin I\u2019ll\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\/2025\/04\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2962,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/02\/museums-are-not-like-highways\/","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":2},"title":"Museums are not like highways","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In a New York Times op-ed, Laura Raicovich and Laura Hanna call for a generous increase in the way the government, in particular the federal government, funds arts institutions: As policymakers in Washington gather to draft a new budget for fiscal year 2025, they could solve culture\u2019s current financial crisis\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\/2024\/02\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3039,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/07\/on-the-florida-arts-funding-cuts-beyond-the-fringe\/","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":3},"title":"On the Florida Arts Funding Cuts: Beyond the Fringe","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week Florida governor Ron DeSantis vetoed $32 million in arts funding, which in that state is managed and allocated by the Division of Arts and Culture. The\u00a0Miami Herald\u00a0reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday cited \u201csexual\u201d festivals in Orlando and Tampa as the reason he vetoed more than $32 million\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\/2024\/07\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1966,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/02\/local-state-federal-public-funding-for-the-arts-in-the-u-s\/","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":4},"title":"Local, state, federal: public funding for the arts in the U.S.","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"At the Atlantic, Andy Horwitz asks 'Who should pay for the arts in America?' He is specifically asking about nonprofit arts, whose funding comes from paying customers, donors and other sponsors, and the public sector. He observes: The current state of the arts in this country is a microcosm of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this land is your land","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/america_map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/america_map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/america_map.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2864,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/03\/new-rushton-working-paper-on-equality-and-public-funding-for-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1499,"position":5},"title":"New Rushton Working Paper on Equality and Public Funding for the Arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A short, low-tech paper available for free download here on SSRN. 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