The Playgoer: NEA not so hot after all

Custom Search

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

NEA not so hot after all

Well just when I was feeling good about our National "Endowment" for the Arts, along comes Louisville Courier-Journal's Andrew Adler to kill my buzz.

Tucked away in the thousands of pages [of Bush's proposed FY 2009 budget] covering $3 trillion worth of proposed expenditures was a $16.3 million cut in support for the National Endowment for the Arts. That would reduce its operating budget from $144.7 million during fiscal 2008 to $128.4 million in 2009.

You heard right. Barely two months after signing off on a $20 million increase in the NEA's budget -- the largest in the endowment's history -- our nation's chief executive quickly shifted into fiscal reverse. In budget-speak, this is called a "rescission." In plain-speak, it's an outrage.

Now the congress--the Democratic-controlled congress--has yet to vote on this. But what are the odds that this bunch, and in an oh-so-cautious election year (i.e. one they could win!) will actually challenge the Republicans on the arts?

A fitting farewell fuck-you from W., isn't it? Considering this is the budget he wants to leave us with in '09...when he's gone!

(hat tip: ArtsJournal)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is Heresy, but the gov't should take all the money away from the NEA and put it into arts programs in schools.

The govt. should not support individual artists or arts organizations.