Many people have heavy hearts this week. Women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, those who know climate change exists and threatens this planet, and so many others whose lives have been touched by the new presidency. To add to this already growing group of dissenters, President Trump has announced plans to defund arts organizations like the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For me—an anthropology and English major who plays in a touring ensemble and grew up watching public television—this is a triple whammy. Needless to say, I am not happy. And here is why.
I have grown up seeing what art and music can do. My hometown youth orchestra (Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra) has won many national and international awards to support their multi-level music program. Kids can participate from the beginner Progressions string program all the way up through different wind and orchestral ensembles. It is one of the most successful and dynamic organizations I have ever had the honor of working with. And the good people in our government took notice—in 2015, Michelle Obama presented MYSO with one of only twelve awards from the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program. Then again in May 2016, the National Endowment of the Arts agreed to award the program a $12,000 grant for their work with Progressions students, who often live in Milwaukee proper and face schools ill-equipped to supply musical training. Within two years, a single organization utilized funding from the very government programs Trump plans to cut entirely.
But though the loss of funding would certainly eradicate many small time arts programs, that is not even the worst consequence of cutting the federal arts budget. Collectively, the NEA, NEH, and CPB only use only .016% of the total federal budget—large private organizations like MYSO and others probably have enough handle on their own fundraising and community outreach to survive, even in a time like this. No, the biggest problem in eliminating these arts organizations is that the government will delegitimize any sort of artistic practice. Music? Not worth the government’s time, so why should it be worth mine? Oh, you’re writing a book? What are those? I hear our president doesn’t read them, so they must be pretty outlandish. Why should we do research on things like global culture when America is so great already? This type of ignorance towards the one thing that could help unite us all will just exacerbate the process of suffocating the arts that has long been working in the background.
Though there will be naysayers who think that privatization of the CPB and cutting off “politicized” money from the national budget would be a great thing, I disagree entirely. Sure, art can effectively frame political arguments for those who might not understand the helplessness, anger, or fear that many people feel. But for the organizations that use these endowments, that is not the main agenda. From an insider point of view, money like this can do great things that have absolutely nothing to do with political statements. Art can do great things, and it does not always have to take a side. That is the beauty of living in a free country, where art tends to rise above partisan issues and transcends into a higher, more eloquent language. To those that understand, artistic expression can save almost anything from complete and utter despair. We have not yet descended into Shostakovich’s Russia. I play in a band with people on every point in the political spectrum. And guess what? We put our politics away when we walk through that rehearsal room door.
The point is, we need to fight back. If the government really does cut federal spending on the arts, we need to be prepared. As someone who hopes to be a lifelong participant in almost every aspect of the arts community, I want to keep hope alive on both sides of this divided country. President Trump and his administration have made enemies of a whole new kind now—they have drawn the line arbitrarily, into a community ready to resist. We must stand in solidarity with those who are fighting for other causes, just as our own source of life has now been threatened. Because if art dies, I have a feeling we will all go with it.