Government funding of the arts in America has never followed an easy course. Whether on a local or national scale, political support for the arts carries with it a sense of exchange-the expectation that in return for money the community will benefit. But this concept is fraught with potential difficulties that touch upon basic tensions between individual creativity and community standards. In Money for Art, David Smith traces the history of government funding of the arts in America, with emphasis on developments since the founding of the National Endowment of the Arts in 1965. Included with his narrative are examples of issues arising between individual artists and American cultural values at large in the last decades of the twentieth century. Art observers will recall the heated controversy of the late 1980s and early 1990s over the Endowment's involvement with the photographers Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe. The episode aptly represents the inevitable head-on collision of contemporary art with the politics of funding it. Mr. Smith uses this clash between funding and freedom of speech as a prism through which to view the broad disagreement in America over the meaning, purpose, and place of art in a democracy. Money for Art tells how this outlook evolved and what its consequences are for art in America.

David A. Smith

Chicago: Ivan R. Dee

United States, United States of America

Chicago, Illinois, 2008

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Government funding of the arts in America has never followed an easy course. Whether on a local or national scale, political support for the arts carries with it a sense of exchange-the expectation that in return for money the community will benefit. But this concept is fraught with potential difficulties that touch upon basic tensions between individual creativity and community standards. History of government funding of the arts in America, with emphasis on developments since the founding of the National Endowment of the Arts in 1965. Examples of issues arising between individual artists and American cultural values at large in the last decades of the twentieth century. Art observers will recall the heated controversy of the late 1980s and early 1990s over the Endowment's involvement with the photographers Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe. The episode aptly represents the inevitable head-on collision of contemporary art with the politics of funding it. This clash between funding and freedom of speech is used as a prism through which to view the broad disagreement in America over the meaning, purpose, and place of art in a democracy. It tells how this outlook evolved and what its consequences are for art in America. Bespreking in: Journal of arts management, law and society. 41(2011)1(Jan/Mar. 76-79)

"Money for Art is the story of public funding of the arts in modern America - the risks and achievements inherent in the ongoing relationship among artists, art administrators, and the legislators who control spending. It is a story of noble intentions that have often foundered on the conflict between individual creativity and democratic expectations." "As David A. Smith shows, government funding of the arts in America has never followed an easy course. Whether on a local or national scale, political support for the arts has carried with it a sense of exchange - the expectation that in return for public money the community will benefit. But this concept is fraught with potential difficulties that touch upon basic tensions between the fierce vision of the individual artist and the standards of the community."--Jacket

Evaluates the complicated relationship between politics and the arts in America, weighing the inherent tensions between individual creativity and community expectations, in a narrative history of the National Endowment for the Arts that describes specific clashes between individual artists and American cultural values.

ix, 309 p. ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-304) and index
Traditions and trends -- Paint by numbers -- Momentum from myth -- A great society's art -- Surprise! -- Paradise lost -- Supply-side art -- Difference between "naked" and "nude" -- Rearranging the chairs -- An "I" or a "we"?

Traditions and trends
Paint by numbers
Momentum from myth
Great society's art
Surprise!
Paradise lost
Supply side art
Difference between "naked" and "nude..."
Rearranging the chairs
"I" or a "we".

2023-06-28