{"id":3641,"date":"2024-11-22T06:58:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=3641"},"modified":"2024-11-22T06:58:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:58:39","slug":"the-fate-of-the-nea-in-the-coming-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/11\/the-fate-of-the-nea-in-the-coming-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"The fate of the NEA in the coming administration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On NPR this morning<\/a> is a short piece pondering the fates of the NEA and NEH under the second Trump administration. It is optimistic, though given the Wall Street Journal article<\/a> by Musk and Ramaswamy this morning (they obviously didn’t write it – but it carries their names), which, in looking at things to cut, refers to the federal funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting among other agencies, I cannot bring myself to share in the optimism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reporter gives two reasons that the Endowments might be spared being cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is that NEA funding is spread widely (which means, necessarily, thinly) across the country. As I noted in a recent Substack post<\/a>, this might help keep some congressional support. But it is a weak argument. The NPR reporter cites things like after-school music programs, or arts therapy through the Veterans Administration, and these are certainly nice things, but you don’t need a federal arts agency to do them – the states, and other government departments can surely run such programs. In addition, the thrust of Musk and Ramaswamy’s argument, such as it is (I’m not saying they are correct, at all) is that the executive branch has the power to kill programs and agencies without the blessing of Congress. So the fact that some NEA money goes to the 8th congressional district of pick-your-state is not going to matter all that much. If Trump is serious about the amount he and his appointees want to cut spending, there’s trouble ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second “argument” given, using the term very loosely, comes from the Americans for the Arts, whose spokesperson explains “economic impact” in terms of when people go to a show, they might also go for a drink, and hire a babysitter. I’ve made enough posts on this blog to link to them all – here is a relatively calm one<\/a> – but, folks, this is, respectfully, daft. It is not an argument to have a federal arts funding agency that people, when they go off to see Cats<\/em>, hire a sitter. Hiring a sitter is a cost. A cost of enjoying the arts. It would be like if Americans for the Cars said the federal government ought to subsidize the auto industry because people often have fender-benders which means they need to take their car to the body shop. This lobby group has persisted with this nonsense for decades, and they ought to be shunned – do not listen to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so … honestly I am not optimistic. Trump seems as serious as he can be (I know, I know) about cutting government, his minions are already, in print, talking about cutting the CPB, and the arguments being brought up to defend the NEA are tired. Little grants everywhere, and economically illiterate talk about going for a drink after the show whilst you have a sitter at home, I just don’t see as cutting it. Your babysitter won’t save you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What might just be crazy enough to work would be to talk about what seems to be missing entirely from the NPR story: art. That it matters, and a federal agency to preserve the best of our cultural heritage, and to foster the creation of the new, matters in some significant way to what is left of our civilization. I even wrote a book<\/a> about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess we will soon see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On NPR this morning is a short piece pondering the fates of the NEA and NEH under the second Trump administration. It is optimistic, though given the Wall Street Journal article by Musk and Ramaswamy this morning (they obviously didn’t write it – but it carries their names), which, in looking at things to cut, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3642,"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-3641","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\/2024\/11\/image.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-WJ","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":3641,"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":3773,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/04\/what-to-do-with-the-nea-make-it-conservative\/","url_meta":{"origin":3641,"position":1},"title":"What to do with the NEA? Make it Conservative?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"In\u00a0my last post\u00a0I wrote about the Cato Institute\u2019s Ryan Bourne\u2019s call to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts. Here I will consider a different approach from the right, Mark Bauerlein\u2019s \u201cMAGA needs High Art, Not just Kid Rock\u201d, from the\u00a0New York Times. 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":1025,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/nea-funding-and-the-ecological-fallacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":3641,"position":2},"title":"NEA funding and the ecological fallacy","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The SMU study has a serious problem","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"rich town poor town doesn't matter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/openingnight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"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":3641,"position":3},"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":4599,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2025\/09\/public-funding-for-the-arts-and-viewpoint-discrimination-at-the-nea\/","url_meta":{"origin":3641,"position":4},"title":"Public Funding for the Arts and Viewpoint Discrimination at the NEA","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0ACLU is pleased to announce\u00a0that they succeeded in court against the new National Endowment for the Arts provision prohibiting funding for organizations or projects promoting \u201cgender ideology\u201d. The case is\u00a0Rhode Island Latino Arts v. National Endowment for the Arts. Here is an excerpt from the ACLU report: In an important\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\/09\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":684,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/04\/creative-communities\/","url_meta":{"origin":3641,"position":5},"title":"Creative Communities","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm happy to report that Creative Communities: Art Works in Economic Development has been released by Brookings Institution Press. Some background: In 2011, discussions with the Research and Analysis branch of the National Endowment for the Arts led to the idea for a symposium on \"The Arts, New Growth Theory,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"creativecommunities_2x3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/creativecommunities_2x3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641","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=3641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3645,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3641\/revisions\/3645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}