PHIL 361/599 Philosophy of Art and Beauty

Spring 1998 - California State University, Long Beach


Lecture Notes: Week Fourteen: Government Funding of the Arts

This week we finish the reading list by considering whether government funding of the arts is appropriate and how the First Amendment applies to government-funded arts activities.

We are reading two more sections from my NEA/Free Speech Site:

Section 2: Government Support for Cultural Activities: http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/freedom2.html

Section 3: Government Funding and the First Amendment: http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/freedom3.html

Section 2 surveys the various ways in which the Federal government provides support for the arts: by authorizing a copyright system (which grants a monopoly to the author for a period of years to exploit a work's economic potential); through tax deductions for charitable activities (including many arts and educational institutions); and through direct contracts and grants, by such agencies as the Works Project Administration during the Great Depression, and, since 1965, by the National Endowment for the Arts. Let me add that grants to artists and other cultural activities are sometimes awarded at a number of other government agencies, including the U.S. Information Agency (for international cultural exchange), the U.S. Department of Education (through its arts education programs), the National Institutes of Health (for research on art as therapy), the Smithsonian Institution (which administers several fellowship programs), etc. All state governments also fund the arts through a state arts council, using funds from both the state government and the NEA.

The central question for us to consider is whether government support of the arts is appropriate, and if so why. If it is appropriate, what are the best ways to provide that support and why?

Section 3 considers the applicability of the First Amendment protection of free speech in the context of government funding. Even if the government is not required to fund the arts (or many other areas of national life), once it undertakes such a program, it must administer that program consistently with the U.S. Constitution. This section includes a list of several principles which have been established in the courts about the applicability of the First Amendment in government funding programs, including those at the National Endowment for the Arts. For our discussion, consider the soundness and applicability of those principles. Do you agree with them? If you disagree, what would you change and why? Please also look at the discussion question at the end of this section on using a public theater to show the musical Hair, a case which went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975. Would Hair trigger such controversy today? Should public theaters be required to allow the showing of this work? Are there productions which public theaters should not be required to allow?

We have several students from other countries in the class, and I would be very interested in your comments in our discussion on how free speech for artists in our country compares with you own. I am also very interested in how the practicing artists in our class feel about these issues. Does concern for getting future NEA grants lead you to "self-censor" your work now, so you are not branded as a "trouble-maker"?

DISCUSSION GROUP: Your grade for the second half of the course will be based on your participation in the Collabra discussion group from March 23 - May 17. We have no new reading for the fifteenth week of the course, but you may finish up discussion threads that have been pursued in the last several weeks. Please remember that the grade is based mainly on quality, not quantity. Resist the temptation to post lots of short, repetitive comments, when a longer, more thoughtful one would communicate better.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: All written assignments for the course have been posted. As we approach the end of the semester, I know you are swamped with term papers, final exams, etc. for all of your courses. But don't let the assignments slide too long. At least take a look at them and start mulling over how you want to approach them.

WEB PAGES: If you have not already done so, please take a look at my on-line instructions for authoring a Web page: http://www.csulb.edu/~jvancamp/composer.html

If you know how to use another web-authoring program, you are free to use that, of course. They all function essentially the same way.

I'm happy to set up appointments for individuals or small groups to help out on this. We can either work on the computer in my office or meet in a campus lab. You're also welcome to stop by during office hours for help: Wednesdays 12:30-3:30 - MHB-908 - May 6 and May 13. Before we meet, I do ask that you take a look at my Composer instructions, print them out so you can use them as documentation while you work on the computer, and at least try to make a start on them.


Continue to Lecture Notes for Week Fifteen (posted 5/11/98)

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Return to Class Home Page: PHIL 361/599 (Spring 1998)

Questions and comments are welcome: jvancamp@csulb.edu

This page written and maintained by Julie Van Camp

Copyright Julie C. Van Camp 1998

Last updated: May 3, 1998