The social value of art

Creativity, talent, connections, the right time, the right place: All of that and more is needed to create art. However, without the right infrastructure, without financial support by third parties, many artists and organizations would not be able to create art. Without subsidies many creative projects would not only not see the light of day, but, without that safety net, the additional backup that creates the freedom for creative work, many artworks would probably not have been thought up in the first place.

If we shift attention from Europe and cast a glance at the United States then it is surprising to see that an independent system of national support has been in place there since as long ago as the 1960s, namely the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowments for the Humanities (NEH). The NEA and the NEH were founded by Congress in 1965 as a joint foundation under President Lyndon B. Johnson in order to guarantee all Americans access to art and culture. For an “advanced civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology alone, but must give full value and support to the other great branches of scholarly and cultural activity.” (National Foundations of the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965) 

Ronald Reagan und Donald Trump

Like the Kulturstiftung des Bundes and the Kulturstiftung der Länder the NEA and NEH support projects at the national level, and the type of projects thus promoted is similar. However, unlike in Germany, where the two foundations together have a fixed total budget of about EUR 50 million allocated from the budgets of the state ministries of culture (Kulturstiftung des Bundes) and contributions from the federal states (Kulturstiftung der Länder), the budget for the NEH and NEA is determined each year by Congress. Under Barack Obama the NEA and NEH together received about USD 300 million in 2016, which amounts to a mere fraction of the total annual budget, namely some 0.008%. In Germany, by contrast, in 2016 about 0.01% of the annual budget was committed to art and culture.

Alongside museums such as the MoMA and the Drawing Center in New York City both cultural organizations like the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and individual artists benefit from funding. Thus, since Trump’s budget blueprint went public on March 16 countless critical voices from the world of art and culture have been heard: Actress Julie Andrews and Sundance Festival founder Robert Redford have appealed to Congress in open letters and commentaries, major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have made public statements to the press, PEN America, one of the world’s largest literary institutions, has launched a petition already signed by famous artists such as Jasper Johns, Marina Abramović, Julian Schnabel and James Turrell. 

Resolutely opposing the cuts

Michael L. Royce, Director of NYFA, a foundation established in 1971 to support freelance artists and small art organizations nationwide in their daily work, summarized the importance of the NEA and NEH and the impact of terminating them as follows: “As an organization that supports artists in all disciplines and geographies, New York Foundation for the Arts is staunchly opposed to the move to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. NYFA and many other organizations across the country have received vital support from these agencies, with direct benefits to our artists and their communities.”