Government Should not Reduce Funding for Art
–Based on The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Case Study
Introduction
Whether the government has given cultural and artistic sponsorship and subsidies have always been a controversial topic (Shan 2016). In recent years, the amount of art funding in many countries has been declining. In the United States, for example, in 2011, the American art fund fell to a record low after the financial crisis in 2013. In the government's non-military budget, art expenditure only accounted for 0.28%, and local government spending fell by 21% (Glaister 2018). In fact, culture and art are a key part of the country's soft power (Nye 2008). Countries and countries can enhance mutual understanding through cultural and artistic exchanges. Therefore, it is very important in a country. If the government cuts financial support for art activities, it will bring many problems to the art activities. The research goal of this paper is to prove that the government should continue to provide sponsorship amounts to art and cultural organizations. In the literature review section, this article studies about the relationship between art and government and reviews the development of federal funding for art organizations museums in the United States, finally taking a look at a specific art form to figure out its development through government support. In the case study, taking the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as an example, this article introduces its organizational structure, sources of funding, and analyses the necessity of the federal support for this museum as well as a SWOT analysis. Finally, end up with a conclusion about whether the government should reduce funding for art.
Literature review
The relationship between government and art
Art, as a part of the culture, is an important policy asset of government for their cultural function of a country, it can also have an active impose on contributing to building the inherent value to society (NASAA 2010). In order to figure out whether the government should support the art, we firstly should understand the relationship between government and the art. Art plays an important role in social, economy and policy in the public in view of performance patterns of humans in certain periods, and it meets the artistic wants and demands of the public (Demirel & Altintas 2012). Therefore, many countries today support different forms of art because of economic, social, political or ideological reasons, and assume a variety of roles in the field of fine arts (Demirel & Altintas 2012). It can be inferred that the government has an important influence on art growth and the most direct way is to support art by funding the art industries. According to the textbook, it is suggested that policy about government funding for art should concentrate on distribution and the reaching of audiences rather than focusing on an artist (Hesmondhalgh 2013). There are different forms of art l...
