Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 9. May 4 1981

Dollar Debates

Dollar Debates

The plight of the arts in America may cause some of the biggest debates per dollar in this year's budget. The $200 million at stake however represents only 0.03% of total Federal spending. In fact, the money the Administration propose cutting from the arts endowment is less than the Defense Department will spend this year on military bands.

The arts cuts raise another issue. Artists say they are happy to help "revitalize" America, but they are concerned that the cutbacks in spending may reopen the whole debate over whether the government should subsidize the arts at all. Congress created the arts and humanities grants only 15 years ago and has spent less than most Western nations in support of the arts since. Britain, for example, recently reduced subsidies for the Royal Opera House by 15 per cent to nearly $20 million. By contrast, all of the opera companies in America received less then $5 million in 1979.

New ideas are being put forward to help make the arts pay. A group of arts supporters in the House see American culture as providing an economic and a spiritual advantage for the country. They believe the arts and humanities could become an industry employing over a million people and generating $5 in local tax revenue for every dollar of government support.