{"id":2304,"date":"2018-03-04T14:07:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-04T22:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=2304"},"modified":"2018-03-04T14:07:49","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T22:07:49","slug":"tainted-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2018\/03\/tainted-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Tainted money"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"who<\/a>The New York Times<\/em> reports<\/a> on a stunt by New York<\/em> magazine art critic Jerry Saltz, in which at the Metropolitan Museum of Art he registers his protest of the plaza named for donor David Koch:<\/p>\n

Mr. Saltz was carrying a long strip of paper that had been printed to blend in with the granite used for the fountain. The words on it matched the typeface of the fountain\u2019s inscription. Mr. Saltz then attached his sign to the fountain, so that it no longer read \u201cDavid H. Koch Plaza.\u201d Instead it declared, \u201cClimate Change Denier Plaza.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not the first, nor will it be the last, protest over donations to an art or educational institution from a questionable source. How should we think about this? The Times<\/em> styles the dilemma like this:<\/p>\n

The question of what cultural institutions should do with money offered to them by individuals whose beliefs are often contrary to those of their directors and audiences is again the subject of intense discussion. On one side are those who argue that all money is tainted, so why make a fuss? And on the other are those who believe that we should not allow certain unpalatable rich people to use museums as whitewashing tools, as mechanisms for ingratiating themselves with factions of the liberal and cultural ruling class and rehabilitating an unpopular image.<\/p>\n

But even Mr. Saltz, in all of his newfound rebel spirit, does not believe that unattractive money should be rejected altogether. \u201cI know we need the money of rich people in America to fund the arts. I\u2019m very glad that the government doesn\u2019t control art in this country,\u201d he said. \u201cI just don\u2019t think that museums should sell out so easily.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But I think this is all a bit too easy. Is<\/em> all money tainted? That avoids the fact that we know distinctions can be made: profits from the tobacco industry really are<\/em> more tainted than the riches of those who have invented and developed more benign products. There really are differences. And if we want our institutions to make distinctions between the sources of the donations they receive, they will have to have some ‘line drawing’ mechanism, that outlines a fair and transparent process for determining which donors fall on which side of the border between acceptable and not. Mr. Saltz doesn’t “think that museums should sell out so easily”, and so he is interested in a different placement of that line. All right then, let’s look into how we might go about that, keeping in mind that there is not going to be an awful lot of unity on how that line ought to be drawn.<\/p>\n

And there is another consideration. In a piece earlier this year<\/a>, the same Mr. Saltz lamented the introduction of admission fees at the museum. In that same piece he is glad that in the US we do not rely on the state as the primary benefactor of the arts. So: we want to keep admission fees low, keep the state role to a minimum, and, in terms of donors, insist on clean hands. But if we want to do all<\/em> that, something has to give. Our elite arts institutions will be poorer, and the Metropolitan Museum, or the Metropolitan Opera, and others, will have less funding at their disposal, less funding for exhibits, staff, or the opulence of productions. That’s not necessarily the worse thing in the world; the ‘costs’ of running our elite institutions in the arts (and in higher education as well) depend upon what they think they can afford with the funds they have available, and they can certainly survive with less (though scaling back an organization is always more difficult than growing it). But that’s the necessary outcome of what seems to be being advocated here.<\/p>\n

Our elite nonprofit institutions are designed around funding from very, very rich donors, making very, very big donations. That is, to use the arts journal term, the ‘business model.’ It doesn’t have<\/em> to be that way, but if we are going to have the kind of elite arts institutions to which we’ve become accustomed, then admission fees, a few more dollars from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a slightly larger gift from the donors we all agree to admire, isn’t going to cover the cost of turning away major donors who have earned their riches in industry, with all its messiness. I think our debates on whether to accept Koch or Mercer money ought to treat this consequence a bit more rigorously.<\/p>\n

Footnote: I don’t usually make a point of adding this, but in this case I will say for the record that the above is my view; I do not speak for anyone else.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York Times reports on a stunt by New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz, in which at the Metropolitan Museum of Art he registers his protest of the plaza named for donor David Koch: Mr. Saltz was carrying a long strip of paper that had been printed to blend in with the granite […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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-2304","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\/2018\/03\/Met-Museum.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-Ba","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1236,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/04\/capital-inequality-and-investments-in-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":2304,"position":0},"title":"Capital, inequality, and investments in art","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"What are the effects of an increased concentration of wealth on the art market? Writing in the New York Times, Scott Reyburn looks for a link between the theories in most newsworthy economics book of the year, Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and what we are seeing at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"so have you really read this through?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/piketty-199x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1915,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2015\/12\/about-that-university-of-kentucky-mural\/","url_meta":{"origin":2304,"position":1},"title":"About that University of Kentucky mural","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"December 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"At the University of Kentucky a 1930's WPA-funded mural by Ann Rice O'Hanlon has been temporarily covered while the university administration, faculty and students deliberate on the presentation of the work and its depiction of African-Americans. The story has prompted a response from author Wendell Berry, in an opinion piece\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"history","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/UK.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/UK.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/UK.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2962,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/02\/museums-are-not-like-highways\/","url_meta":{"origin":2304,"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":3773,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/04\/what-to-do-with-the-nea-make-it-conservative\/","url_meta":{"origin":2304,"position":3},"title":"What to do with the NEA? 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He writes about the National Endowment for\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-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":528,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/museums-are-not-expensive\/","url_meta":{"origin":2304,"position":4},"title":"Museums are not expensive","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is being sued for strongly suggesting that its \"recommended\" donation for entry is in fact required of visitors. Associated Press reports: 'The museum was designed to be open to everyone, without regard to their financial circumstances,' said Arnold Weiss, one of two attorneys who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"a bargain!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/met-prices-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2817,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/02\/can-you-scale-the-house-at-the-movie-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":2304,"position":5},"title":"Can you scale the house at the movie theatre?: Updated (no, you can’t)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"US cinema chain AMC has announced it will start to have differential prices for movie seating: Three pricing tiers will soon be offered. For example, the highest-end \u201cPreferred\u201d tier are in the middle of the theaters and will be priced at a \u201cslight premium\u201d compared to its \u201cStandard\u201d tier, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"At the movies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304","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=2304"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2309,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2304\/revisions\/2309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}