Are the economic benefits of the arts the best argument for support, or just the only one we offer?

Making the Case for Support of the Arts

Funding for the arts today faces challenges from all sides. The arts must compete for limited funding with pressing humanitarian needs. Government funding of the arts faces perhaps the greatest opposition of all time: With an eerie flashback to the culture wars of the 1990s, newcomers to Congress are seeking to defund the NEA, NEH, and CPB, while at the same times many states are eliminating their arts councils at a time of fiscal austerity.

What are the best arguments for support of the arts? The articles, blogs, and research papers listed below offer guidance to making a convincing argument for support, but they also point out where arts organizations may have gone wrong in relying on some arguments while ignoring others.

McCarthy, Kevin et al, Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate about the Value of the Arts(RAND Corporation, 2004)
Available as a free download, but it can also be purchased as a soft cover book for $18. It systematically reviews the extrinsic and intrinsic benefits of the arts as put forth in many previous studies.

Ragsdale, Diane. "The arts have intrinsic value. If you don't believe that, I have an economic impact study to show you."
Blog posting on the conflicts between intrinsic and extrinsic reasons to support the arts.

Hughes, Robert, "Pulling the Fuse on Culture," Time Magazine
Critic Robert Hughes refutes the arguments against funding the NEA, NEH, and CPB used in 1994, which certainly hold true in 2011!

Root-Bernstein, Michele and Robert, "Why Cutting Arts Funding is Not a Good Idea," Psychology Today

National Arts Index: 2010/An Annual Measure of the Vitality of the Arts in the United States, 1998-2009

The Performing Arts in Lean Times.

Hewiston, Robert. "In an era of austerity, reasons to fund the arts," The Arts Newspaper
Presents the argument for funding the arts for their intrinsic value.

Kay, John, "A good economist knows the true value of the arts"

Dobrzynski, Judith H. "Bauerlein: How Not To Save Arts Education," Arts Journal.
A review of a blog posting on arts education for arts' sake.

Americans for the Arts. "Why the Arts Matter Video Contest."

Wells, David Wallace. "The Pirate's Prophet: On Lewis Hyde," The Nation.
Article on Lewis Hyde and his thesis on the role of the artist in society.

Zimmer, Annette and Stefan Toepler. "The Subsidized Muse: Government and the Arts in Western Europe and the United States."
A comparison of public funding in France, Sweden, and the U.S. with historical background.

Americans for the Arts. "Arts Education: Creating Student Success in School, Work, and Life"
An advocacy paper, heavily reliant on the extrinsic values arguments.

Chang, Jeff, "The Creativity Stimulus," The Nation

Seattle Arts Education Consortium, "Powerful Learning Through the Arts" (promotional video)

And on the lighter side...

Explaining an Arts Nonprofit
Hysterical animated video on the basics of the nonprofit arts.

An important message about the arts' - an animated video by artist David Shrigley
A farmer explains to his son the importance of the arts with typically wry (and somewhat off-color) British humor