Why Does the Government Pay for Art?

[@dramonmaster222]

It just shows how art is so important is to our history.

[@pbsorigins]

And it stretches back almost as long as we've been around! It's one of our treasured methods of communicating complex social ideas, which is always what draws me to it.

[@theartassignment]

So thoroughly enjoyable hearing your take on this, Danielle. More art-related coverage on Origin, please!

[@pbsorigins]

More origin and art assignment crossovers need to happen!!!! ❤

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

1:23 "Hell, they've got to eat just like other people!" When logic and decency find one another 💓

[@pbsorigins]

The simplicity of this statement struck as extremely funny (and practical) when it popped up!

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

That's why artists are anti capitalist and usually anti government

[@alterego8496]

@@user-ip3mm6pr7o Note art can be done by anyone but it needs to be competitive with users providing reviews .Imo private sector is unequal with wealthy people being used to determine people tastes. If you got bunch of people wasting public money making shitty arts , then they need to be cut off if their art is too shitty. I know middle school kids that can make better art than any publicly funded ones. Private sector keeps it competitive with people buying and individual serving as price signal. That's part of economic calculation problem in socialist system but we can get around that economic calculation problem through making similar systems as KZbin or other where good artists are rewarded.

[@Hallows4]

This got me thinking back to my Renaissance art class in college, and how wealthy families used art as a way to bolster pride in the various Italian city-states. Also, art as both political theatre and a labor provider is a very old concept: The building of the pyramids provided work for citizens during the Nile's flood season, and the finished structures broadcasted power like nobody's business!

[@pbsorigins]

I mean this is true, art is often viewed as a commodity. As a result making art or creating any kind of artwork can be turned into a method of employment or job. It was a fascinating realization for me writing this episode to see so many recorded documents about artists as a labor force, which framed them as part of the broader conversation about American culture, class, and exchange. Although it's easy to forget sometimes that art is work, since instead of an employee evaluation you get reviewed by how the public receives and interprets your work. But in performance they do say it's "show business" and we even made the word "artwork" which links these two things together. Perhaps it's inherent to the way we talk about these concepts informally? Thanks for writing!

[@pbsorigins]

Hey Hey Originauts! I'm signing on here for the next hour or so to answer questions and respond to comments on the video. So let's hear 'em, since I know plenty of folks are only here for the comments section. Andddd.....GO! -Danielle

[@AspienPadda]

*hear lol (let's hear 'em not let's here 'em)

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

Can you cover Equal Rights movements? Desi Lydic mentioned the ERA and Phyllis Schafl... came up and I can think of nothing else but "Why?" Why oppose that? You mentioned female artists, were WPA applications given fairly equally? Segregation and Sex discrimination were legal back then....

[@Clockworkcityofpain]

All your videos are so thoughts provoking and engaging, I wish there were more channels like this around

[@pbsorigins]

Thanks Camila! I love making this channel and my team does too! This video was especially interesting for us. Check out the cross post on The Art Assignment if you want to see more on this topic.

[@tinyfrog_jpg]

That made me think of someone petting a brain. Like a brain cat

[@Clockworkcityofpain]

@@pbsorigins already watched it and found it a great companion video. I've been subbed to the art assignment for ages and I love Sarah's approach to teaching art and teaching to think like an artist💕

[@Vininn126]

Wow. This is one of the best videos I've seen from this channel. I found it so incredibly fascinating and the discussion of what being American is is well reflected in both reality and the art, and how art is in a twisted way sometimes, a reflection of reality

[@pbsorigins]

Thanks a bunch, that's incredibly kind of you to say! Everyone at Team Origin loves making these episodes, so it's always great to hear when someone likes them :)

[@Sarahizahhsum]

Just discovered all the new PBS Channels! I LOVED the Infinity Series channel so much and this is so cool. I love this! I can't believe this is PUBLIC Broadcasting System. It's amazing how great they've taken to the digital media. Well done, PBS! I stan for PBS, like always.

[@AspienPadda]

We had our election here in South Africa today and it went without a hitch for me but I counted the parties I had to choose from and it was 48! I have seen many comments suggesting that you cover places outside of the us so here's a question to start with. Why do you have 2 parties and we have 48?

[@pbsorigins]

This is a great topic! My only caveat would be if I covered it here on Origin, I'd have to find a select number of comparisons to make that episode work. One example of how I would structure it would be similar to our episode on standardized testing (where I took 3 case studies and put them side by side). Since I couldn't say definitively why each country has any given number of political parties, but I could evaluate why these numbers vary widely over a select group. thanks for the suggestion!

[@AspienPadda]

Wow @@pbsorigins that actually sounds much more interesting than an entire video just on SA politics as most people only think about Apartheid when that's mentioned. Its true that 1994 influenced our political system a whole lot but we've started moving forward now. Anyway I'd look forward to hearing more about different countries number of parties to choose from. If I could request one to have compared to SA I'd ask for Japan as I'm an online ESL tutor for mostly Japanese students so then I'd be able to directly apply that info to my work when needed. Also many people love Japan so it'd be good for views and it'd be a nicely varied selection of political systems too.

[@jonplaud]

The US should run by how South Africa holds their elections and "parties". I honestly find South Africa's way better than in the US. You vote for the person, in the US they mainly vote for the party, even if they do not agree with the person who is running.

[@AspienPadda]

Both have pros and cons @@jonplaud with this many parties the vote is split between way too many people. I think having 4 might be best as in my opinion there are only 4 parties that matter in this election: ANC (the ruling party) EFF (literal beret wearing communists lol) VF (a heap of racists) and DA (honestly our only hope). I agree that choosing the candidate you'd hate least is the wrong way to go about things and you're left with an insanely rich orange child opposing a crazy lady who is believed (mostly by my grandmother) to eat babies.

[@gavinreid8351]

British elections have several parties , but basically the choice is three major parties,; Left ,Right, and somewhere between.

[@ReturntoAlmighty]

I love how you deliver the information clearly❤❤❤❤❤❤thanks from bottom of my heart💕

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

3:48 one of my ancestor's brother was interviewed about his childhood as a slave.

[@ButterflyLullabyLtd]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. I used Art and Music to turn my daughter into a Bookworm. She hated books in school, and could hardly read or write. Home Education changed that. The NHS Dyslexic Healthcare website states us Dyslexics are great Problem Solvers. I wish Academics in Government Services were better team players. ♥️

[@deadliestt]

I think a key thing is that people don't seem to realize that artists literally create the world around them. Someone had to design your chair, someone had to choose the visually appealing layout of the webpage you are watching this video on, and someone had to design the clothes you are (hopefully) wearing right now. Not all art serves a functional purpose, but they're still culturally significant. Looking back at history, a lot of what we know comes from the art that was left behind. We regard art and artists as being so unnecessary, yet we love and cherish their creations all the same. It is nice that there is government recognition for this reality. It may not be as important as health care or military, but it is still a crucial and underappreciated part of our society. :)

[@TheTwick]

Another great one, as always, Doc. This triggered a memory of mine from the 50s and 60s of listening to my father’s tapes of Alan Lomax’s recordings. I think it established my love for folk and Jazz music. Was he part of the WPA’s programs and how much effect did this have on people’s (the world’s) discovery of Jazz?

[@pbsorigins]

Man I could go down a veryyyy winding rabbit hole about Alan Lomax so I'll do my very best to keep it brief. Essentially what I know of him and his work (both with the WPA and outside of it) centers on his dedication to collecting American folk traditions. But I'm thinking here of folk as not only a type or style of music, but rather as a catchall term for things that were considered homegrown, Americana, and "of the people." But just like artwork, "folk" is hard to identify and define since certain traditions (like jazz music or blues music to take your example) can start off in the realms of "folk" and then later through increased popularity be elevated to the level of "high art." All of these are relative, which makes defining them and pinning them down something of a moving target. But Lomax recorded and circulated so many interesting genres of American folk that it's hard to keep track of it all. I'm familiar with the prison recordings he did, the photographs he took, and the field recordings he made where he was able to take live recordings of wide range of "folk" musical traditions. And this created a huge catalog of early ethnographic recordings that people still study today (or you know, just listen to for pleasure). It's also important to put him in conversation with other early ethnographers who were his contemporaries, like Zora Neale Hurston (who also got a brief mention in the video). Real quick here are a few links of other Lomax related work: www.loc.gov/collections/lomax/about-this-collection/ www.loc.gov/audio/?fa=original-format%3Acollection%7Csubject%3Afield+recordings%7Ccontributor%3Alomax%2C+alan&c=50&all=true (this link has some info about how his archive overlaps with Hurston's) research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-ix.do?ix=session&id=PR47&idType=abbrev&sortBy=abc

[@nathansheth8986]

A great explanation. And well done navigating what seems like an even thicker alphabet soup of acronyms in this video

[@PoseidonXIII]

Very interesting! Never knew about jazz musicians being actual cultural ambassadors.

[@Cobralalalala]

Thank you for this video! I really need to read more about the WPA, as everything I have has been fascinating. Support for the arts is one of the most important things we as a country should provide, but just like every other social program designed to help, they are gutted at every turn. Also, people should check out the 1999 movie The Cradle Will Rock. It's about the making of the play, as well as some other WPA works going on in New York at the time. It's really a lot of fun. :)

[@mr51406]

Love your videos Danielle, thanks as ever. 🌹⭐️☮️❤️ In Quebec since 1961, the provincial government and most cities like especially Montreal have had a policy that all infrastructure projects should include 1% of its budget for artwork. It’s given us one of the most beautiful metro systems, with critically acclaimed art and architecture. I’m from a family of artists so of course I was fed from it. 😄 Public art funding makes us all better people. If you’re totally capitalist you could say it makes a happier, better educated and so more productive workforce. It encourages matching funding from the private sector. The return on investment is not easily measured but huge. Oscar Wilde said art is useless, but of course he would especially say that it’s priceless. For a small nation like Quebec it’s helped us thrive.

[@ericacook2862]

Hey, I know you sometimes take requests for origin topics. Would you consider the origin and development of special education. I have a learning disability and I've found the intellectual world does not have a clear understanding of us or how our lives work. They consider issues I struggle with to be a sign that one has a lack of intelligence even though most people with learning disabilities have above average IQs. Always love your show, and always look forward to what you teach.

[@bens5859]

6:36 to me, this is the most convincing argument for publicly-funded art in the video. But securing a "place in history" has to take a back seat to securing opportunity for the underprivileged--which, ultimately, this public works money _could_ be redirected toward.

[@MWhaleK]

Art is a public good, partly because it can be used to do exactly what was done under FDR.

[@AdmiralBonetoPick]

"“It is far from my idea to encourage anything like a state art. Art belongs to the domain of the individual. The state has only one duty: not to undermine art, to provide humane conditions for artists, to encourage them from the artistic and national point of view." - Benito Mussolini, 1923

[@magneticpupful]

“For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years. The connection is improbable. This was a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the great majority of Americans disliked or even despised modern art - President Truman summed up the popular view when he said: "If that's art, then I'm a Hottentot." As for the artists themselves, many were ex- communists barely acceptable in the America of the McCarthyite era, and certainly not the sort of people normally likely to receive US government backing.” www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html%3Famp

[@justthoughts8872]

Very articulate

[@gavinreid8351]

The promotion of American Abstract Expressionism in Europe after WW2 was to show the freedom of expression available to those in the Free world. It was the antithesis of Soviet sponsored Social Realism.

[@gavinreid8351]

Yes.

[@commonpoppy]

I swear, the USA never stops surprising me. How is this a question, you guys

[@bens5859]

Andreia Freixo because there are hungry children we could be spending the money on instead. We're not as interested in "securing a place in history" as other nations are.

[@commonpoppy]

@@bens5859 Let's be honest here: the money not spent in funding art is not being redirected to help end world hunger.

[@bens5859]

Andreia Freixo the same fraction of the public works money would go to hunger as that of the overall budget. This amount of money would save many lives.

[@sneakerbabeful]

Americans would raher have lower taxes, though that hadn't helped hunger or art.

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

And in your system it isn't one? Cringe.

[@gabrieldepra4329]

Nice!

[@rylyshane]

Pardon my asking, but what's with the dot overlay on the artwork? It distracts from the original composition.

[@alterego8496]

Imo it needs to be competitive with public providing reviews and other to get rid of the worst arts and cut their funding. It needs to be more like KZbin or other where more views and likes can be deciding factor. Right now anyone can create arts but problem is they are shit

[@macsnafu]

$155 million may not be very much money for the U.S. budget, but that just goes to show how ridiculously huge the budget has gotten over the years. A few million here, and few million there, and pretty soon you're talking absurd amounts of money! Also, that's still more money than I, personally, will ever have in my life.

[@imanenthuse4009]

wow

[@DarryanDhanpat]

Better question: Is public art good?

[@droittjr]

Why did this show up as an email?

[@pbsorigins]

Hmmm not sure. Have your youtube settings changed?

[@toddmitchellchristensen1848]

My interest plummets when the topics are US specific... you have an international audience here!

[@skpjoecoursegold366]

i like art...............

[@KellyBucket]

Inneratatw quansi ronso

[@KellyBucket]

Nsssau. Nre providence cspitiol island. Trevor suvnue

[@YukiteruAmano92]

9:29 British protest used to represent American public outrage. Thought you'd get away with it, didn't you(!) Not while I, Captain Pedant, am in the comments(!)

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

"I need life-saving surgery." US government: "I need a statue of a contemplative kangaroo." US government: "Here's a load of money!"

[@gavinreid8351]

You have health insurance. Isn't that the argument?

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

Without capitalism or government regulation these aren't competing factors.

[@bkbug6416]

J.F.K. is an initialism, not an acronym. Good video though!

[@articulatedintelligence-cd4661]

they don't. they steal it.

[@komalahayes1535]

I think Art can be used to repair our international image. Comedians around the world on a WTF apology tour.☺

[@chrisp.9385]

People can give thousands of dollars for the repair of Notre Dame but not for hungry, poor,homeless people

[@wesleyrm76]

God help the outcasts.

[@gavinreid8351]

Everyone dies. Art lives on.

[@user-ip3mm6pr7o]

Without capitalism these aren't competing interests. We don't need more money to feed the poor. We need to distribute food based on need not money. We need to quit believing in the fictions of borders, money, and private property "rights". We need anarchy. Beyond regular wage slavery Walmart engages in massive wage theft. Who do you think cops throw in jail, your manager pressuring you to work 12 unpaid hours, or the homeless man trying to bring supplies to his tent city? Cops aren't there to protect us. They are there to protect the interests of the ruling class. Their profits, their control, their narrative. Do you think Disney stealing from a small artist for a contrary messagw would be protected under IP laws? No, but Disney's perversion sure will be protected from that form of protest if gone " too far". (Aka doesn't vaguely promote paying for, supporting, or watching the criticised Disney perversion) That is why ACAB. Cause they're just here to make sure people keep starving and the planet dies. So the 1% can create 90% of the co2 emissions, and keep over half of all land and money. Pigs are class traitors. It is time to dismantle capitalism. It's time to end the tyrany of the elite. It's time to quit acting like we live in a posthistory world.