|
U.S. LAGS THE WORLD IN
FINE ART INVESTING
In a report by the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States lags way behind other nations of the world in per capita spending for art. Among nations with similar economies, Canada, France, and Sweden spend between $40 to $60 per citizen while the U.S. spends only $6.
Of the ten nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation, the U.S. had the smallest per capita investment of $6 and Finland had the largest funding support at $91. Only two countries, the U.S. and Ireland, had funding levels under $25 per capita.
_________________________________
Nations included in the study were Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
_________________________________
With great differences in the overall role and size of the different governments, the study also documented what percent art outlays to the total expenditures of that country.
Finland, again, had the largest expenditure with 2.1% of its resources going to the arts and the U.S. having the smallest with .13% of its resources expended for the arts.
Indirect Support . . .
An important aspect of art support that is not reflected in these figures is tax cuts given to the arts and non-profit art organizations. It had been shown earlier, however, that even including indirect support, the U.S. had the lowest support of any of these countries.
NEA Grants . . .
In May, the National Endowment for the Arts announced $50.2 million in new grants for the second major funding round during 2000.
These awards will distribute over 63% of the NEA fiscal 2000 grant funds to non-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations across the United States.
The total budget is $97.6 million of which, $79.6 million is designated for grants.
How is it used . . .
You can see what Shreveport, Louisiana did with some of the money.
View PHOTOS --
some of the public art funding !
|
|
