Just tie everything art to the veterans. They get everything anymore at the expense of others, because they are such heroes. Some for sure are and that's a fact. But many others are leeching off the system for any benefit that can get. It's got to be good if we are giving it to vets. Myself and others got nothing from this country during the Vietnam war, other than spit on and derided as "baby killers". This new guilt complex over the veterans of today is wrong.
Your participation in a massive war crime is a separate issue from the way we fall all over vets today, although I do agree it is wrong. When the war is wrong, the enlistee is culpable. This why a draft is most necessary, because only when the damage is spread over the whole nation is the national focus tuned to the need for that war.
CK, you have no information about Richard's service in Vietnam. For all you know he was a draftee and served honorably.
How about we collect babies donated by our most jingoist families, then raise them naked and train them as soldiers until they big and dangerous enough to go fight? Do the crazy part of the equation beforehand and be up front about it, rather than afterward as though we had no idea wrongheaded war creates broken people. Break them real good, real early. Rename the country Sparta.
2
I wonder if any veterans turn away from Federal programs that are directly antithetical to the Constitution they supposedly served under. Or is a freebie a freebie, and integrity gets put into storage with the gun and boots?
We might feel sorry for vets because we lie them into worthless conflicts and they get hurt, just as we ignore all the civilians we harm sending in our military. That's the irony of an war under an enlistee system.
But the real vet is the person who refused the socialist life in the military and stuck it out to work at home, pay taxes, and get no phony glory and endless benefits and concern.
We might feel sorry for vets because we lie them into worthless conflicts and they get hurt, just as we ignore all the civilians we harm sending in our military. That's the irony of an war under an enlistee system.
But the real vet is the person who refused the socialist life in the military and stuck it out to work at home, pay taxes, and get no phony glory and endless benefits and concern.
1
“I have consistently supported funding for the arts and humanities and have seen the direct benefits of these programs in communities across Alaska,” Senator Murkowski said in a statement.
Why do Republicans only support programs if they benefit people who can get them reelected? How about supporting programs for the arts, for education, for health, for the elderly, for the environment, and so on because they benefit everyone and is the right thing to do?
Why do Republicans only support programs if they benefit people who can get them reelected? How about supporting programs for the arts, for education, for health, for the elderly, for the environment, and so on because they benefit everyone and is the right thing to do?
3
The fundamental questions are always the most painful. The reason is of course that politics attracts opportunists, and opportunism is not synonymous with ethical integrity. The public are supposed to USE politicians, not the other way around. Except for lobbyists, they understand the drill and use them handily.
“The artistic process gives you a pause to start thinking about how you should be living your life now.”
At the risk of sounding like a simpleton, I think any program that benefits veterans, either physically and/or emotionally, should always be available to him or her. PERIOD. I don’t think there is ever enough we can do to thank nor show our appreciation to these men and women for their service or their sacrifice. Possibly ending any funding should NEVER be in question in my book.
6
I wonder if Mr, Trump has ever read a good book; Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, Frost, listened to a symphony by Mozart, Beethoven or Mahler, or an opera by Puccini or Verdi? Art is what we are. It shapes us and moves us in so many different ways. Art touches everyone whether they realize it or not. We are doing great harm by eliminating the "arts" that are so important to everyone and a civilized society. Give it a try Mr. Trump, even you might be touched.
4
None of the art you list had anything to do with Federal funding. And all of the art you listed can be and is being created without Federal funds. The one does not have much relation to the other.
Other than art is art. It's an easy concept. The arts have always been a dirty word to republicans.
2
If Trump and his fellows believe America should give up arts programs, meals on wheels, after-school programs for children, these amazing arts programs for veterans first, it seems the current President and his family should cut back. Let Trump model real economizing for America: give up golfing weekends, sibling ski trips, multiple business trips to exploit Trump brands or pay for their security needs themselves with payments everyone clearly sees. It could be helpful to publish a break-down of each Trump family members' security costs. Didn't Trump explain why electing him and his taking no salary would benefit America just as he's now explained his daughter and son-in-law aren't being paid. Really? Show us a daily running graphic of how much excess money the White House of today is spending on Trump style living and compare it to the last few Presidents.
3
This is wonderful work, and clearly helpful to vets. But I do wish we didn't have to justify federal support of the arts because of specific measurable benefits for specific groups. I wish we didn't have to justify support for music instruction in schools, for instance, because it makes students better at math. Or support for museums because it benefits the tourism industry. That's all great and all true, but art is its own reward for a society, in myriad and uncountable and ineffable ways. It aesthetically enriches our world, inspires thought and reflection, and it helps us see through others' eyes. It makes us more empathetic. Meanwhile, artists also happen to be a relatively poor group as a whole -- they're often under-compensated by the markets for all this good work because society so often deems it "frivolous" or some sort of dispensable "luxury" (there's a reason artists are usually the first group to "gentrify" poor neighborhoods; it's because they're as poor as the original inhabitants). But no great civilization was ever great without a vibrant arts community. Indeed, it's not very great to live in a civilization without one. That's plenty of reason for the NEA to be funded.
6
Mr. Trump admires generals. Veterans who were injured or POWs are not his concern. He also does not have any use for "Art". As a disabled veteran, as an American, as a nice guy ... I am sorry. I am already overwhelmed with damage control on several fronts. Unless you have a way I can help you get rid of Trump, I cannot help your cause.
2
There is so much more to life than just money, money, money.
2
“the focus is on getting better, not getting votes . . . the month long program helps them cope with haunting memories, disabilities and the future . . . I was kind of lost,” Chris Stowe, a retired Marine who studied oil painting and learned how to play the ukulele in the program . . . he suffered night terrors and insomnia. “I found this wonderful thing that is art.”
It has been 50 years since my brother was a medic in Viet Nam. He still has nightmares and feels tremendous guilt for not saving more lives and for having to kill those would otherwise have killed him. He too felt so lost and so disconnected to everything and everyone around him. Drugs and alcohol were the only answer he knew. Finally, he found some comfort, relief and help from the wonderful people at the VA center he frequents on a weekly basis. I mentioned this article to him and at first he said nothing. Then he softly asked if his VA center might be able to adopt a similar program because he thought a lot of guys, including himself, could benefit greatly. I replied that I would be happy to inquire. He and I are will meet with that VA personnel next week to see what could be done at the local level.
Thank you so much NYT for this incredible article. I sincerely hope and pray this program will NOT be scratched from the Federal budget. So much good is being accomplished for so many. It doesn't seem like a big deal to many, but to these veterans, it could truly be a matter of life or death.
7
If I didn't have art in my life i wouldn't be me. I fought and continue to fight for my dream of a creative life and to share it. Art has a power bigger than being millionaires which he thinks is all that gives you worth. The current administration wants us to be sick and miserable and live in fear. Vets matter. Art matters. Time for some music therapy.
1
Here's another excellent example of the role the arts play for our veterans: http://theaterofwar.com/projects/theater-of-war/overview
2
This is as absurd a ball of wax as I can imagine. The taxpayer is conned with lies about the proper use of military force all over the world. The Pentagon has high powered Madison Avenue ad campaigns luring kids into the military that do not belong there. The Federal government blows money like the proverbial drunk sailor on both the worthless wars and actions, and now this pseudo art piffle is a like a chemical soaked cherry on the poisonous sundae.
Then instead of intelligent liberals seeing through this Kafkaesque charade they are encouraged to support it. Finally it is dense right wingers who never see any good in anything that are left standing the ground of "no" and that only for the arts portion. The books written on this strange era of American culture, where people left their minds in the hands of the media and failed to think for themselves, should be very interesting for future generations to read.
For the record I am an artist and I voted for Clinton with a pinched nose.
We have an enlistee Army that lures all manner of young people to "be all they can be" for the greater good of the world and
Then instead of intelligent liberals seeing through this Kafkaesque charade they are encouraged to support it. Finally it is dense right wingers who never see any good in anything that are left standing the ground of "no" and that only for the arts portion. The books written on this strange era of American culture, where people left their minds in the hands of the media and failed to think for themselves, should be very interesting for future generations to read.
For the record I am an artist and I voted for Clinton with a pinched nose.
We have an enlistee Army that lures all manner of young people to "be all they can be" for the greater good of the world and
2
Even if we abolished America's participation in unjust wars tomorrow, we still have hundreds of thousands of veterans with wounded bodies, minds, and souls. Why is it difficult for you to see that this beautiful program gives wounded veterans - for comparatively very cheap money - a beautiful and deeply moving way to work through their trauma and make significant progress in healing? CK, why on earth would you resent them getting that help, especially as you identify yourself as an artist who voted for the Democrat? Please get a handle on where your anger really belongs, versus where you can do good by directing your compassion.
2
Here we go again. Another worthy program that does good being axed. I don't have any problem as a taxpayer with the miniscule percent of the budget going to cover this program.
There are so many of these misguided budget cuts it is getting difficult to keep track of all of them.
However, Trump can create a new department to reward his son-in-law that will most likely increase Kushner's business contacts and profits at taxpayer expense.
There are so many of these misguided budget cuts it is getting difficult to keep track of all of them.
However, Trump can create a new department to reward his son-in-law that will most likely increase Kushner's business contacts and profits at taxpayer expense.
1
When anything is framed in strictly emotional and personal terms, whatever is done to it can be made to sound cruel. There will still be art even without the NEA. That's the important thing.
2
Indeed that is true--but removing funding for the arts diminishes who we are as a union--
2
"Art is a wound turned into light" – George Braque
4
If the VA chooses to set aside part of their budget for art therapy, because they feel it is beneficial, then they should do so. The issue is that we have finite federal dollars and thus have to make hard decisions. Do the majority of taxpayers believe that our hard earned money, taken from us in the form of taxes, should be spent on creating art? Won't there still be millions of works of art created without the government paying for it? Do we really believe that art will disappear if the federal government stops their minuscule funding for it? Are there other uses for our money like feeding the homeless, or taking care of veterans, or helping the needy, etc that are a higher priority? Businesses have to make tough decisions every day on how they will use their limited resources. Our Federal government should also.
1
You know what we don't need? To create more veterans!!! Putting more money into the defense department would do just that. Trump doesn't care about veterans. If you think building more bombs is better than helping existing veterans via arts you need to look at your priorities.
1
Mr reason's comment sounds thoughtful, but it completely fails to recognize that this "miniscule" part of the federal budget often is used to provide small amounts of funding that contribute to much broader efforts to expand art and art therapy programs. Think of the concept of seed money for a public good. Most civilized societies see a role for public support of the arts. Many Trumpist "conservatives" and their new allies the Stalinists are threatened by and want to repress the flowering of art.
3
What this article didn't lay out for you is that the NEA isn't using funding to help service members "create art." They are funding credentialed art and music therapists who treat injured service members and veterans in a clinical setting. The art-making is merely part of the treatment process, and the product - while often a powerful visual - has nothing to do with it. Also, the facility mentioned in this article is part of the DoD, not the VA. Both, however, do already employ creative arts therapists. The issue is not enough of DoD/VA funding makes it way down create more jobs for these therapists to reach the hundreds of thousands of service members and veterans who need it. The NEA is able to allocate their appropriations directly to this cause, and the DoD/VA are welcoming the assistance. It's interesting to me that you say DoD/VA can fund art therapy if they want it (also your taxpayer money), yet for some reason if it comes from the NEA you feel it's a waste. If you knew that buying one cup of coffee for a veteran could save his/her life, would you purchase it? Because that would be more expensive than the amount of money the NEA is spending on this program. As you said, our funds should be used to take care of our veterans. This is a golden model of a federal agency partnership, focused on the responsibility of *everyone* to work together to heal our wounded.
2
It looks like Sen. Murkowski can see all the way to Russia! And I'm not being cynical about it… i'm implying that she has vision, that will help traumatized/disabled Service members.
The work that I see is remarkable not only for it's artistic nature but also to help rid the demons that are in the minds of Veterans.
Once again we have a political party in power that is only looking out for themselves with no concerns for healing the young men and women who fought in this conflict or other wars. But they are willing to send them into danger disregarding the effects psychologically.
Their lack of empathy is only too apparent as they look to deprive children from lunch and elderly from meals.
The GOP is a heartless bunch.
Once again we have a political party in power that is only looking out for themselves with no concerns for healing the young men and women who fought in this conflict or other wars. But they are willing to send them into danger disregarding the effects psychologically.
Their lack of empathy is only too apparent as they look to deprive children from lunch and elderly from meals.
The GOP is a heartless bunch.
3
On Nov. 9th my despair was so great I couldn't write about the election in my journal, nor did I want to weep with others. Instead I did a drawing with chalk pastels. It was cathartic to make angry marks and get my hands dirty smudging areas. I titled it "Dark Clouds Rolling across Our Land". I went to art school and do not need the NEA to fund programs so I can express myself. But so many others do and the Vets program speaks to this need. The arts and creativity can be as necessary as breathing for art is life.
Every person in this country as been touch in someway by the NEA and the NEH. Congress do not cut funding--we ask for so little.
Every person in this country as been touch in someway by the NEA and the NEH. Congress do not cut funding--we ask for so little.
3
Expressive therapies, including art therapy, have special value for those who have suffered significant trauma. Traumatic memories tend to be stored in "implicit" or "procedural" memory systems closely tied with the limbic system, which expressive therapies help activate, process, and heal. Verbal therapies tend to address the "explicit" or "declarative" memory systems. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I have collaborated with an excellent art therapist in our treatment of a patient who survived severe trauma. The art therapy was a crucial part of the treatment.
9
Art summons up a part of the thinking brain that sees holistically, meaning the idea that the whole is more than merely the sum of its parts, which in turn means seeing relationships between ideas, such as space, color, and those elements that make up the language of art. Putting things together that has more than ordinary signification. The results do not have to be beautiful as that is one of the intentions of art, but not the only one. Engaging in creating artworks leads the mind to think shift one's frame of reference and understanding how to deliver an unusual proposal that is both physical in using the senses and the reasoning intellect.
It is a revitalizing activity for men and women who have been damaged either mentally, or physically, to put some of their available potency, that is, energy, into inventive, creative efforts.
It is a revitalizing activity for men and women who have been damaged either mentally, or physically, to put some of their available potency, that is, energy, into inventive, creative efforts.
5
Programs such as these may help patients who have a traumatic brain injury or PTSD cope but they no more actually treat these disorders than they do veterans who required amputations.
I hope that programs such as these continue but I'm concerned that overselling the importance of them reinforces the still very widespread belief that mental disorders are not real diseases that need to be addressed the same as physical disorders but as some type of character fault.
I hope that programs such as these continue but I'm concerned that overselling the importance of them reinforces the still very widespread belief that mental disorders are not real diseases that need to be addressed the same as physical disorders but as some type of character fault.
2
Steve: This is not an "oversell" as you describe it. Nor is this a character flaw that will go away after you create an "arts and crafts" mask. Look at the masks again and understand this is trauma. And healing from it will be a process over a period of time.
Those who may think this is an effort to oversell really do not understand trauma: how it manifests itself and the treatments used to assist in "relief" from the psychic trauma, not continuing to "re-live" it. Please be assured that by writing articles like Graham Bowley's the population at large can begin to comprehend the consequences of brain trauma in an active war theater. As a suggestion, please read National Geographic, 2015 Behind the Mask: Revealing the Trauma of War, and Blast Force: The Invisible War on the Brain. The military who suffer such trauma are to be applauded for their bravery to come forward for help and never, under any circumstances to be belittled, ridiculed as "not tough enough" to withstand such trauma or made to feel in any way ashamed of their feelings or their trauma. We are all human beings experiencing the human condition in all of its manifestations.
Those who may think this is an effort to oversell really do not understand trauma: how it manifests itself and the treatments used to assist in "relief" from the psychic trauma, not continuing to "re-live" it. Please be assured that by writing articles like Graham Bowley's the population at large can begin to comprehend the consequences of brain trauma in an active war theater. As a suggestion, please read National Geographic, 2015 Behind the Mask: Revealing the Trauma of War, and Blast Force: The Invisible War on the Brain. The military who suffer such trauma are to be applauded for their bravery to come forward for help and never, under any circumstances to be belittled, ridiculed as "not tough enough" to withstand such trauma or made to feel in any way ashamed of their feelings or their trauma. We are all human beings experiencing the human condition in all of its manifestations.
4
I don't think this is a panacea for everyone by any means. It is one tool in the toolbox, and has been effective for some. If they can take it away they can take away other methods for helping people with PTSD also.
I read this article with great interest and hope it will illuminate those who are really unaware of how our military heroes suffer in silence with trauma. I have artistic examples of their trauma in my office and anyone who asks me about the artwork receives a very clear understanding about military PTSD and the silent torture experienced and paid for by putting their lives on the line for all of us in the United States. Karen Pence is an advocate for art therapy and, I would hope, all creative art therapies as it heals the unspeakable pain from within. There is plenty of "fat" in the Federal budget but this is not the area to cut...ever!
5
To better understand this program see National Geographic, 2015 Behind the Mask: Revealing the Trauma of War, and Blast Force: The Invisible War on the Brain. This program is a combination if science and art...explores how to help these Veterans. Cutting this program is a disservice to those that served and continue to suffer.
11
A budget is a moral document. The budget proposed by this administration shows just how morally bankrupt we have become. No funding for the arts, including important programs like Melissa Walker's. Reduced or no funding for feeding programs that save people's lives. Slashed funding for environmental programs that help save the planet. Thank you, Melissa, for being a shining light in a time of deep darkness.
10
God bless the democrats, they make Trump appear fiscally responsible.
1
As an art therapist, I shudder to think that programs like these could be eliminated. A quote has been circulating on social media: "Remember, governments don't cut arts funding to save money. They do it when they are afraid of what artists do and say." Note the absence of any mention in this article of Karen Pence, whose supposed platform is to "shine a spotlight on art therapy". Her refusal to connect the dots between her agenda and her husband's policies have made her entirely irrelevant to this conversation, if only as an example of this administration's ineptitude, hypocrisy, and incongruity. It is my wish and that of many art therapists that I know that the public come to understand that the arts are not the tool of the elite, but the means by which the oppressed, the invisible, and the marginalized can fight back and have a voice and be seen. And for them we must protect and support the arts at all cost.
12
Watch out what you wish for… By using those terms, marginalized, oppressed, and non-elite, you have given them A target to focus on -for Indeed the cuts they want to save all kinds of gangbuster amounts of money for by cutting funding
Sorry, I miss quoted you, for I couldn't read directly from your statement about 'oppressed and the invisible' (notice hyphenation marks, not implying full quote)
I am unsure where the funding comes from, however, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma Washington just south of Seattle has a program for veterans affiliated with Joint Base Lewis-McChord that has been quite successful. https://museumofglass.org/hotshopheroes. These kinds of programs are invaluable for people and the amount of money in basically negligible compared to the rest of the budget.
5
Many more veterans would be helped if that money were used to prosecute negligent VA bureaucrats.
And just perhaps, rather than playing politics to defend rice bowls, the VA should have a real art therapy program instead of crafts time designed to maximize political impact.
And just perhaps, rather than playing politics to defend rice bowls, the VA should have a real art therapy program instead of crafts time designed to maximize political impact.
1
Apparently you have not had the benefit of any arts programs, for which I am sorry, but it doesn't mean you should denigrate the different types of arts and how they can benefit others
11
Faith, if you had read my comment instead going into hateful liberal mode, you would have read my support for real art therapy funded appropriately. This is political grandstanding by the NEA. Well trained art therapists do great things for many people, but their work for veterans should be funded by the VA.
Hi John, Please check out the Creative Forces link. The NEA is only hiring and funding trained art and music therapists to be embedded in both DoD and VA treatment settings. This is not crafts time, and the DoD and VA have both chosen to partner on this cause.
1
Our ancestors made art and decoration and revered the dead, this is why we are human beings, not just different primates. Art, writing, dance, music, theater, crafts make life worth living. We need to continue the NEA, arts education in schools, PBS, and especially programs that help our veterans who gave us so much of their lives to serve.
18
I made just this point in letters to my senators, Tom Tillis and Richard Burr of North Carolina, the state with the largest military population in the country. Burr didn't answer, and Tillis sent me a smugly patriotic screed on how every little cut in the budget contributes to the larger agenda.
Write your representatives and senators. Email them this article. Write my senators while you're at it. This nonsense has to stop!
Write your representatives and senators. Email them this article. Write my senators while you're at it. This nonsense has to stop!
1
How many individuals who support the NEA would do so if it were funded by a small deduction from Social Security payments?
Whether it's the NEA or healthcare for the poor, support is measured by what you are willing to pay, not by what you are willing to ask others to pay.
Whether it's the NEA or healthcare for the poor, support is measured by what you are willing to pay, not by what you are willing to ask others to pay.
2
Well better how about they just donate to say the United Way through their pay checks. The government should not be in the arts business.
It is terrible and cruel to try to whittle away Social Security so that there is even less for Americans in their old age. The NEA needs to be funded and funded by a small relegation of the taxes that should be paid by the nation's wealthiest, or put a small tax on corporations to perpetuate the creative energy of veterans and any other American who would be advantaged by a healthy NEA program.
Sure - I'd be happy to donate $0.46 annually from my SS payments! Heck, I bet I could even get by if they TRIPLED it! And if we're going to open our taxes up for editing, can I opt out of farm subsidies? Unnecessarily bloated defense costs? How about bank bailouts? The Export-Import bank? 45's golf trips and her NYC SS detail? I'm being asked to cover a BUNCH of stuff I have no interest in paying for, if you're gonna try and opt out of the $0.46 you pay annually, you better be prepared to open it up for everyone to opt out of whatever it is their unwilling to support.
2
Truly upsetting to hear how programs like this may be on the chopping block, most especially when they affect the elderly, veteran population or children's programs.
I wonder how many groups, organizations and individuals the new administration must alienate before we hit that collective breaking point.
I hope for the good of the nation, it is sooner than later.
I wonder how many groups, organizations and individuals the new administration must alienate before we hit that collective breaking point.
I hope for the good of the nation, it is sooner than later.
6
How about those groups raise money for their desires, the government is broke.
NEA budget 2016: $148 million
Calculated cost for each Trump trip to Mar-a-Lago (Politico/WaPo): $3 million per trip (7 weeks in office, 7 weekends on vacation so far)
Cost for Melania Trump's security in NYC: $500,000 per day = $182,500,00 per year
At this rate Trump and the First Lady will have spent the entire US arts budget equivalent in just a couple of months. What a bargain.
23
Melania isn't the First Lady. She's the third wife and second lady to the first daughter
This is a wonderful program, and any rationale for dismantling the NEA is just ideology-driven nonsense. The annual budget for the NEA constitutes just one one-hundredth of one percent(.o12 percent) of the total annual federal discretionary budget. But hey, I guess we need more tanks and drones to facilitate a steady stream of war.
11
So if I don't have money to say eat out but it does not cost much I should do it anyway? Of course not, when you are in deficit you cut everything that you don't need, and the government nor the people needs most of these things.
1
This entire program costs less than secret service coverage of the kids ski trip to Colorado or a weekend at Mar a Lago or a weeks coverage in New York for Barron and the estranged Mrs. Trump III.
Trump (4F sore feet) is taking care of the Vets just like he promised.
Another example of how America is becoming great again.
Trump (4F sore feet) is taking care of the Vets just like he promised.
Another example of how America is becoming great again.
15
The NEA is always portrayed as being only about big money for "elitist" visual art ... and that couldn't be further from the truth. There are thousands of communities all over the country that receive small grants - I'm talking $1,000 or so - for things like community theater and organizations that put on public dances (not the kind you watch, the ones you LEARN and DO, for fun, exercise, health, and making friends).
That kind of art builds community, and that's something we need a lot MORE of these days, not LESS.
That kind of art builds community, and that's something we need a lot MORE of these days, not LESS.
22
Since they are so small and distributed those citizens who want and are willing to pay for them will. Very simple!!!
I have been a fine artist for nearly 50 years and know plenty of artists who received 25,000 dollar grants from the NEA while their art was selling at a quarter million dollars. Just like everything else, a few clean buckets are thrown in so the water doesn't look so muddy.
1
The voices that come out against funding for the Arts are those that would benefit from it most.
Most compliants will be leveled against New York and Los Angeles, as though they were to blame for being the cultural hubs that they are.
But in truth, the entire country prospers from having a lively Arts environment, wherever it is; whether it's in the form of programs that help traumatized vets, or school programs for children, or radio & television programming that increases one's awareness of places and things they might not have otherwise never known.
America needs the Arts.
Especially now.
Most compliants will be leveled against New York and Los Angeles, as though they were to blame for being the cultural hubs that they are.
But in truth, the entire country prospers from having a lively Arts environment, wherever it is; whether it's in the form of programs that help traumatized vets, or school programs for children, or radio & television programming that increases one's awareness of places and things they might not have otherwise never known.
America needs the Arts.
Especially now.
20
So instead of tackling head-on the outrageous claim that art is an "elitist indulgence", this article tries to pacify the Republican base by claiming some therapeutic function for it! This is why liberals lose: because we accept the other side's worldview and then feebly try to carve out some exception. Well, I am not a populist. "Elite" is not a dirty word. Museums and art exhibitions are more important than food pantries and rehabilitation centers because without art and science a society has no reason to exist. I don't care whether a particular painting is done by a traumatized soldier or a pampered rich kid: I only care whether it is good. And if you want to help veterans, don't send them to fight stupid and unnecessary wars. Invest the money in subsidies for real artists instead.
11
So if the art a traumatized veteran makes isn't, in your opinion, "good", is it worthless?
You seem to have completely misunderstood this article, as well as one of the central functions of the arts themselves.
You seem to have completely misunderstood this article, as well as one of the central functions of the arts themselves.
8
As an artist I understand better than most, but you are making a vague implication about the arts. While I know, those not involved in observing the arts may not know: it would be signifiantly good if you were to mention the central functions of the arts!
Actually yes; if it's bad, it is worthless as art, even though it may have a therapeutic function. And it does not depend on my taste; there are objective criteria for what good art is. I personally dislike Wagner but he is a great composer nevertheless. The function of art is not to heal people, make you a better person, or improve society. This is the mantra of those who burnt "dangerous" books or cover up "immoral" paintings. The function of art is to create objects of aesthetic value. Every artist, great or small, understand this. Ask any veteran who seriously dedicates themselves to painting or sculpture whether they want to be pitied as a victim or appreciated as an artist and hear what they say.
No funding cuts if they negatively impact treatment of our veterans. To me, a Vietnam veteran, any programs which help my fellow vets are worth preserving and expanding.
20
Google" school puppet" or murals or plays and be delighted with the images you see all around the country of kids with teachers creating art. These folks need some assistance with traveling galleries and out-reach programs. The GOP is myopic in so many ways. They appear to be a puppet show of some nasty oligarchs who make us all suffer from their greed.
12
I've worked as an instructor of creative writing in VA out-patient clinics and in prison programs and in health care and have witnessed its benefits. Not only are the arts a positive means of expression and a way to make sense of life experience for those who've suffered trauma, but the art my students create offers them a way to contribute to the lives of others and to our greater society. It is this sense of contribution that is, for them, particularly healing. The work that emerges from my classes enriches our culture and connects us to each other, as do the arts anywhere and in any venue. To do away with the N.E.A.'s funding for all arts programs threatens access to the most precious resource we carry within ourselves, the one thing that can heal and unite us and make the world a better place in which to live.
18
I believe there are two places where the Arts should be fully and generously supported - the military and schools.
Art therapy is an extraordinary tool for healing, and we owe our vets therapy for what they have done for us.
And for children, early exposure to the Arts can give a child a great lifetime gift.
I'm not as keen on funding artists who want to stay home and make art.
Art therapy is an extraordinary tool for healing, and we owe our vets therapy for what they have done for us.
And for children, early exposure to the Arts can give a child a great lifetime gift.
I'm not as keen on funding artists who want to stay home and make art.
9
The vast majority of NEA funding goes to providing funds for small local museum programming where there is otherwise limited or no access to creative content that is open to all. This means Appalachia, the deep South, the midwest all benefit on a community level from NEA funded programs with content that is meaningful to them. This is not a New York-LA thing. The veteran's program is a stellar example.
The NEA isn't some waste of that $1 or so we each pay in taxes, it represents the Jacksonian notion that a shared community appreciation for things that make us think, lift us up, help us empathize, is a public good and it is an investment in people rather than things. Additionally, it is part of our very broad ideal of free speech, the concept that sets the US apart from even other well-educated industrialized nations.
Ever since the Mapplethorpe controversy in the 80s the Republicans have been actively trying to shut the NEA down. These self-proclaimed great patriots of free speech and free expression don't seem to be able to quite get what those things really mean. They say that want to spend on infrastructure, and then they start tearing down the very programs that sustain small communities.
The NEA isn't some waste of that $1 or so we each pay in taxes, it represents the Jacksonian notion that a shared community appreciation for things that make us think, lift us up, help us empathize, is a public good and it is an investment in people rather than things. Additionally, it is part of our very broad ideal of free speech, the concept that sets the US apart from even other well-educated industrialized nations.
Ever since the Mapplethorpe controversy in the 80s the Republicans have been actively trying to shut the NEA down. These self-proclaimed great patriots of free speech and free expression don't seem to be able to quite get what those things really mean. They say that want to spend on infrastructure, and then they start tearing down the very programs that sustain small communities.
52
They are more rattled by artworks that express uncomfortable viewpoints and attack our apathy than by the use of guns to attack people. And at heart, they are terrified that veterans might actually express feelings that aren't in lockstep with their "patriotic" stances.
9
Kin theory, I agree, but in practice the NEA grants do nothing for rural cultures and their arts, and instead are used to push big city agendas and values into rural cultures.
2
So does Shakespeare qualify as a "big city agenda" to you, John of Sacramento? A university-affiliated non-profit in my state puts on WS plays in parks, small-school auditoriums, etc., all summer, in all parts of the state, most of them in the most rural areas, where people fall all over themselves to get to the performances, put up the actors in their homes, and feed them, church-supper-style, while they're there, and get to know people they'd never meet otherwise.
Donations from the rural areas don't anywhere near cover the costs of travel to the many small towns where this takes place, and NEA funding is the crucial piece of the pie that makes ANY of it possible. And the people in those areas, who don't get ANY other exposure to great live performances, simply LOVE it.
The actors? They pinch pennies everywhere - low pay, no setup people, haul around their stage and sets in pieces, on the move nearly every single day, working harder than you could believe, also LOVE it. The lead logistics guy last summer (an actor, not someone hired separately), in an interview for a documentary on what these people do, said "It's the best job I've ever had. It may be the best job I'll EVER have."
I doubt ANY federal appropriation gets as much bang for the buck as NEA grants like the ones that support these wonderful community programs. Between the dollar of my taxes that goes to this kind of thing, versus spending several times as much to fund Trump's golf weekends, I'll take the NEA.
Donations from the rural areas don't anywhere near cover the costs of travel to the many small towns where this takes place, and NEA funding is the crucial piece of the pie that makes ANY of it possible. And the people in those areas, who don't get ANY other exposure to great live performances, simply LOVE it.
The actors? They pinch pennies everywhere - low pay, no setup people, haul around their stage and sets in pieces, on the move nearly every single day, working harder than you could believe, also LOVE it. The lead logistics guy last summer (an actor, not someone hired separately), in an interview for a documentary on what these people do, said "It's the best job I've ever had. It may be the best job I'll EVER have."
I doubt ANY federal appropriation gets as much bang for the buck as NEA grants like the ones that support these wonderful community programs. Between the dollar of my taxes that goes to this kind of thing, versus spending several times as much to fund Trump's golf weekends, I'll take the NEA.
When the vets finished their project I would turn the group into a party with food and drinks. They loved it, and they opened up and shared with each other, and many made new friends.