tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36864475.post4004071267613933074..comments2023-07-02T05:14:05.375-04:00Comments on The Clyde Fitch Report: Ian David Moss: Backlash to the FutureLeonard Jacobshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14736316792887920991noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36864475.post-81451463265659247102009-03-05T00:38:00.000-05:002009-03-05T00:38:00.000-05:00Leonard (may I call you Leonard?),First of all, le...Leonard (may I call you Leonard?),<BR/>First of all, let me say that I am glad that my little rant provoked such a long and thoughtful response from you. I have no trouble acknowledging you as an arts advocate, since the most important criteria in my mind is simply that one cares (which you clearly do). I obviously disagree with some of your views, but I do look forward to a constructive dialogue on these issues.<BR/><BR/>Before getting into some of the broader philosophical questions, I just want to correct a few things you said about my post. First, you claimed that I did not link to your post in which you called the stimulus funding a zero-sum game, but actually, I did--right up at the top under your name when I first quoted you. Also, I think you misread the sentence in which I called the NEA "one of the only arts funding bodies" and said that I was ignoring foundations, etc. I actually said that it's one of the only arts funding bodies (and almost certainly the largest) that is INCREASING its support for the arts in 2009, a point I repeated later on. I have been researching foundation arts programs nationwide in the past couple of weeks, and I can say with pretty strong confidence that this is a true statement about the NEA, even if you take out the part of its budget that gets regranted to states. (It's true that individuals provide much more support to the arts than either foundations or the government, but I was talking about institutions.)<BR/><BR/>Now, to address a few of your other points:<BR/><BR/>1. You say that $50 million for 14,000 jobs is a weak ROI. I haven't seen a ton of data on this, but about $4500 per job actually seems pretty cheap to me. We studied a case on economic development in the Baltimore area last year in which the cost for job creation was in the range of $14-30k/job depending on how you calculated it. (That figure missed the target for this particular enterprise, but even the target was still $10k/job.)<BR/><BR/>2. I don't believe that the arts would be incalcuably decimated without the extra NEA funding. The arts have a highly diversified stream of funding of which the NEA makes up only a small part. But my point, again, is that every other part of that stream is thinning out right now, while the NEA's part just fattened up. That's a good thing. (It seems we can agree on that, thankfully.)<BR/><BR/>3. Your point that the NEA's ability to fund in hard times is dependent on political winds is certainly fair. I guess my response is that AT LEAST it's dependent on something other than the economy (at least directly).<BR/><BR/>To be clear, I actually think that it would be <I>great</I> to have a dedicated national endowment for the arts of the kind you describe. I just don't think that it should replace the NEA, or come from NEA money. I also don't think the NEA is even all that important in the grand scheme of things (though I can understand how you might get the opposite impression from my recent writing). However, it is one of the few things we have some ability to influence, so I am all for engaging in that process.<BR/><BR/>I'll just end by saying that I don't mind you criticizing or saying that we need to do more or offering ideas about better alternatives. That's what good dialogue is all about. However, I do feel that your tone when you talk about these things can imply a certain arrogance, and that's what set me off. After reading this post, I now understand where that tone is coming from much better. But I do think we could accomplish more if we weren't so quick to question each other's motives and mental faculties.<BR/><BR/>Here's hoping for brighter days ahead.<BR/>Sincerely,<BR/>Ian David MossAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36864475.post-49755902422740335332009-03-04T18:59:00.000-05:002009-03-04T18:59:00.000-05:00I think if anyone said to me that they think that ...I think if anyone said to me that they think that the arts get plenty of funding and don't need any more, I might disagree pretty strenuously. Otherwise, I'm open to (rational, non-hysterical) debate on whether the problems can be solved (or at least lessened) by funding the current system better or by modifying/scrapping it.Zev Valancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239062791827527067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36864475.post-38405257263213641242009-03-04T18:20:00.001-05:002009-03-04T18:20:00.001-05:00I'm not convinced that any of that is beyond debat...I'm not convinced that any of that is beyond debate, but I'm glad you agree that questioning the effectiveness of our current model is best. Yes, I'd be happy to try and sketch out what other models might look like. Let me work on that for you. There are a lot of them floating around.Leonard Jacobshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14736316792887920991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36864475.post-15607865521498649102009-03-04T18:20:00.000-05:002009-03-04T18:20:00.000-05:00I'm not convinced that any of that is beyond debat...I'm not convinced that any of that is beyond debate, but I'm glad you agree that questioning the effectiveness of our current model is best. Yes, I'd be happy to try and sketch out what other models might look like. Let me work on that for you. There are a lot of them floating around.Leonard Jacobshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14736316792887920991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36864475.post-21866223483212568542009-03-04T16:21:00.000-05:002009-03-04T16:21:00.000-05:00Here's the essential question: I think it's pretty...Here's the essential question: I think it's pretty far beyond debate that there is not enough arts funding, and that more funding for the NEA would be a very good thing. The question, I think, is whether the most effective way to get this funding is through the current system--advocating for more NEA and other state arts council money--or through some other system. The question is: what would this system look like? And how would it be implemented, given the difficulty of changing things? I think there may be merit in the idea you are describing, but I don't quite understand 1) what it would look like, and 2) how it would be implemented. Can you lay this out, aside from any attacks on how things are currently done?Zev Valancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239062791827527067noreply@blogger.com