---

---

State Spending

Taxpayers Challenging Arts Spending

Emboldened by the House of Representative's vote to all but abolish the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), citizens and taxpayers in many cities are challenging the spending of public money on local arts events. Commissioners in Mecklenburg County, N.C., voted this spring to cut off $2.5 million in funds to the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte. Anchorage, Alaska, and Greensboro, N.C., have been through heated fights over arts funds. Governments in at least half a dozen other localities, including Clearwater, Fla., San Antonio, Tex., and Santa Ana, Calif., have also considered withholding money from local arts organizations, or closely reviewing how it was spent -- but these efforts went down to defeat. Some experts estimate that America's 50 largest cities contributed some $211 million to the arts last year. For all cities, public arts spending is estimated at about $675 million. On the federal level, the Senate approved $99.5 million for the NEA. Both houses of Congress will have to resolve their differences in committee. Whatever the outcome, even the Senate figure is down sharply from the approximately $177 million the NEA was receiving annually in the early 1990s. Source: Judith H. Dobrzynski, "Across U.S., Brush Fires Over Money for the Arts," New York Times, August 14, 1997.

---

Home | Support Us | All Issues | Social Security | Debate Central | Contact Us

Dallas Headquarters: 12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800 - Dallas, TX 75251-1339 - 972/386-6272 - Fax 972/386-0924
Washington Office: 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 900 South Building - Washington, DC 20004 - 202/220-3082 - Fax 202/220-3096
© 2001 NCPA