home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: misc.writing
- Path: sparky!uunet!utcsri!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca!mbrownel
- From: mbrownel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Mark Brownell)
- Subject: RE: support for the arts in the US
- Message-ID: <1992Dec14.204100.7116@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
- Sender: mbrownel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Mark Brownell)
- Organization: University of Toronto Chemistry Department
- Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 20:41:00 GMT
- Lines: 53
-
- e: support for the arts in the US
-
- For any of you Americans who are considering adopting a Canadian style
- of funding for the arts, I would like to point out some fundamental
- problems with our system that merit some thought.
-
- Adopting a granting body like the Canada Council will create the
- following problems:
-
- 1) Ossification of the bureacracy: As the granting body ages, more and
- more money goes towards the infrastructure of the council and less goes
- towards the artists themselves. (A recent case in Toronto featured a
- local council siphoning funds out of artist's pockets and into their
- employee pension fund.)
-
- 2) Creation of artistic fiefs: Jury members often recommend grants to
- "contemporaries" whose work is familiar to them. There are even a few
- examples of individual jury members recommending a project in which they
- are directly involved in - "leaving the room" as other members vote.
- Many young artists feel that they are shut out of this process merely
- because they don't have the right connections.
-
- 3) "What is Art?": Who is to determine which project is valid and which
- is not? The acceptance of one applicant automatically means the
- exclusion of another.
-
- 4) Artists turn into grant writers! There are many out there who have
- evolved into great grant writers but have lost their artististic ability
- along the way!
-
- 5) Juries begin shying away from politically incorrect material until
- all that remains is watered down pablum that no one has any interest in.
-
- 6) ...the list goes on...
-
- Before my fellow Kanucks flame me to a crisp (no doubt they have all
- received council funding!) I would like to close by saying that I
- support government funding of the arts. The system may not be perfect
- but I've yet to see a better way. If you Yanks spent 1/10th of your
- military budget on the arts, you would be the envy of the world!
-
- Sincerely,
-
-
- Chuck Cook
-
-
- (oops! just kidding) :-)
-
- Sincerely,
-
-
- Mark B.
-