State Arts Policy

State Arts Policy: Trends and Future Prospects

Julia F. Lowell
Copyright Date: 2008
Edition: 1
Published by: RAND Corporation
Pages: 42
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/mg817wf
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  • Book Info
    State Arts Policy
    Book Description:

    This report, the final in a series of four on state arts agencies, looks at these agencies' efforts to rethink their roles and missions, reflecting on what the changes may mean for state arts policy and the structure of state arts funding. The author offers a view of what the future may hold for state arts agencies and for state arts policy if current trends and strategies continue.

    eISBN: 978-0-8330-4659-8
    Subjects: Political Science

Table of Contents

  1. Front Matter
    (pp. i-ii)
  2. Preface
    (pp. iii-iv)
  3. Table of Contents
    (pp. v-vi)
  4. Figures and Tables
    (pp. vii-viii)
  5. Summary
    (pp. ix-xii)
  6. Acknowledgments
    (pp. xiii-xiv)
  7. CHAPTER ONE Introduction
    (pp. 1-4)

    State arts agencies (SAAs) have played a key role within the U.S. system of direct public support for the arts. They have broadened the reach of the federal arts agency, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), by implementing its programs at the state level. They have made resources available to the arts at the local level by providing technical assistance, training, programs, and funding to local arts agencies. And they have directly supported a wide variety of arts-related institutions and activities, largely through competitive grant awards to artists, arts organizations, schools, media organizations, other government agencies, and other cultural...

  8. CHAPTER TWO Three Strategies of Forward-Looking SAAs
    (pp. 5-18)

    According to their statutory mandates, most SAAs were created to (1) “stimulate and encourage throughout the state the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts and public interest and participation therein”; (2) survey organizations engaged in cultural activities; (3) recommend methods to encourage participation in and appreciation of the state’s cultural heritage; (4) encourage freedom of artistic expression.¹ Yet despite this diversity of purpose, SAAs have directed most of their resources to subsidizing the production and presentation of the arts. In the earliest years, they focused on touring works presented by nationally or regionally recognized “high arts” organizations,...

  9. CHAPTER THREE Conclusions
    (pp. 19-24)

    The vast majority of SAAs were established when voters generally viewed state government spending benignly, state economies were booming, and agreement on what sort of art was deserving of public support was widespread. Today, however, voters demand a high degree of efficiency and responsiveness from public-sector organizations—and have a low tolerance for government spending on activities deemed “nonessential.” State budgets are tight, and there are few prospects for relief in the foreseeable future. Further, creative endeavors from a wide variety of cultural communities are now accepted as art, increasing the number of eligible grant seekers and escalating the pressure...

  10. Bibliography
    (pp. 25-28)