Comments on: Stimulating the Arts, the Province of All http://www.kbgressitt.com/2009/02/08/poetry/stimulating-the-arts-the-province-of-all/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:56:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: admin http://www.kbgressitt.com/2009/02/08/poetry/stimulating-the-arts-the-province-of-all/comment-page-1/#comment-152 admin Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:17:58 +0000 http://www.kbgressitt.com/?p=1715#comment-152 Hi, Robert, I agree, art will always blossom, with or without public funding. However, check out the little folks (akin to us) who receive NEA and state fellowships and grants. They are not Koons-like balloon artists. Artists are, in their needs, no different from teachers and construction workers: They all need to eat and heat their houses, but most unemployed artists don't qualify for unemployment insurance. BTW: I regularly go to performances in jeans, because I'm lazy. My experience is that the orchestra members and dancers are grateful I bought tickets, and if my jeans put the gal next to me in a snit, that's good fodder for after-theatre conversation. Thanks for writing! K-B Hi, Robert,

I agree, art will always blossom, with or without public funding. However, check out the little folks (akin to us) who receive NEA and state fellowships and grants. They are not Koons-like balloon artists.

Artists are, in their needs, no different from teachers and construction workers: They all need to eat and heat their houses, but most unemployed artists don’t qualify for unemployment insurance.

BTW: I regularly go to performances in jeans, because I’m lazy. My experience is that the orchestra members and dancers are grateful I bought tickets, and if my jeans put the gal next to me in a snit, that’s good fodder for after-theatre conversation.

Thanks for writing!
K-B

]]> By: Robert Sommers http://www.kbgressitt.com/2009/02/08/poetry/stimulating-the-arts-the-province-of-all/comment-page-1/#comment-151 Robert Sommers Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:50:40 +0000 http://www.kbgressitt.com/?p=1715#comment-151 I have very mixed feelings about arts funding in the stimulus package or at any time. I acknowledge that the WPA was responsible for the most potent and worthwhile art of the last century. Unfortunately in today's aesthetic climate much of arts funding goes to patrician hobbies that alienate the lower and middle class, such as opera and ballet. Try to go to symphony in jeans and see the looks you will get. Much of arts funding has always been siphoned over to the wealthy people's little social hobbies. I say let them die. Art will always come through the cracks in the concrete and we won't have to suffer through any more godawful crap like Koons, Haring and Warhol that gets jammed down our throats by the cynical elite. Visit any local contemporary art museum if you need to regurgitate. In a climate like this if I have a spare nickel, it's going to feed someone or heat their house. Just another perspective. Robert I have very mixed feelings about arts funding in the stimulus package or at any time. I acknowledge that the WPA was responsible for the most potent and worthwhile art of the last century. Unfortunately in today’s aesthetic climate much of arts funding goes to patrician hobbies that alienate the lower and middle class, such as opera and ballet. Try to go to symphony in jeans and see the looks you will get. Much of arts funding has always been siphoned over to the wealthy people’s little social hobbies. I say let them die. Art will always come through the cracks in the concrete and we won’t have to suffer through any more godawful crap like Koons, Haring and Warhol that gets jammed down our throats by the cynical elite. Visit any local contemporary art museum if you need to regurgitate. In a climate like this if I have a spare nickel, it’s going to feed someone or heat their house. Just another perspective.

Robert

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