SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation," said National Endowment for the Arts chair Jane Chu. (Photo: Getty Images)
'Why Educate the Public When You Can Give Billionaires Tax Cuts': Trump Budget Would Slash All Federal Funding for Media, Arts, Libraries, Museums
"We should be spending more, not less," argued one critic
Mar 19, 2019
Despite new research showing that the arts contribute over $760 billion to the American economy each year--in addition to their many non-economic societal benefits--President Donald Trump's budget proposal calls for eliminating all federal funding for the arts, museums, humanities, public television and radios, and libraries.
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation."
--Jane Chu, National Endowment for the Arts
"For the third time in as many years, the White House has proposed a federal budget that would shutter the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting--which supports PBS and NPR--and the Institute of Museum and Library Services," the Washington Post reported on Monday. "Like last year, the plan provides small appropriations for each agency to facilitate its orderly demise."
Framed by the Trump White House as "wasteful or unnecessary spending," the budget's proposed cuts to the arts, libraries, and humanities programs would total $897 million.
Jon Parrish Peede, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), told the Post that the agency will continue operating as normal until Congress takes action on its 2020 funding.
"Since its creation in 1965, NEH has established a significant record of achievement through its grantmaking programs," Peede said. "Over these five decades, NEH has awarded more than $5.7 billion for humanities projects through more than 65,000 grants. That public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country."
"Public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country."
--Jon Parrish Peede, National Endowment for the Humanities
While Trump's budget has been deemed "dead on arrival" by Democrats--who control the House of Representatives--cuts to the arts and humanities are another example of the president's warped priorities.
As Common Dreams reported, Trump's budget blueprint would also cut trillions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security while hiking the Pentagon's 2020 budget to $750 billion.
Trump's budget, officially released last week, came just days after a study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) found that the arts contribute 4.2 percent of America's annual gross domestic product (GDP)--more than agriculture, warehousing, or transportation.
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation," said NEA chair Jane Chu. "The data confirm that the arts play a meaningful role in our daily lives."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Despite new research showing that the arts contribute over $760 billion to the American economy each year--in addition to their many non-economic societal benefits--President Donald Trump's budget proposal calls for eliminating all federal funding for the arts, museums, humanities, public television and radios, and libraries.
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation."
--Jane Chu, National Endowment for the Arts
"For the third time in as many years, the White House has proposed a federal budget that would shutter the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting--which supports PBS and NPR--and the Institute of Museum and Library Services," the Washington Post reported on Monday. "Like last year, the plan provides small appropriations for each agency to facilitate its orderly demise."
Framed by the Trump White House as "wasteful or unnecessary spending," the budget's proposed cuts to the arts, libraries, and humanities programs would total $897 million.
Jon Parrish Peede, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), told the Post that the agency will continue operating as normal until Congress takes action on its 2020 funding.
"Since its creation in 1965, NEH has established a significant record of achievement through its grantmaking programs," Peede said. "Over these five decades, NEH has awarded more than $5.7 billion for humanities projects through more than 65,000 grants. That public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country."
"Public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country."
--Jon Parrish Peede, National Endowment for the Humanities
While Trump's budget has been deemed "dead on arrival" by Democrats--who control the House of Representatives--cuts to the arts and humanities are another example of the president's warped priorities.
As Common Dreams reported, Trump's budget blueprint would also cut trillions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security while hiking the Pentagon's 2020 budget to $750 billion.
Trump's budget, officially released last week, came just days after a study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) found that the arts contribute 4.2 percent of America's annual gross domestic product (GDP)--more than agriculture, warehousing, or transportation.
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation," said NEA chair Jane Chu. "The data confirm that the arts play a meaningful role in our daily lives."
Despite new research showing that the arts contribute over $760 billion to the American economy each year--in addition to their many non-economic societal benefits--President Donald Trump's budget proposal calls for eliminating all federal funding for the arts, museums, humanities, public television and radios, and libraries.
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation."
--Jane Chu, National Endowment for the Arts
"For the third time in as many years, the White House has proposed a federal budget that would shutter the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting--which supports PBS and NPR--and the Institute of Museum and Library Services," the Washington Post reported on Monday. "Like last year, the plan provides small appropriations for each agency to facilitate its orderly demise."
Framed by the Trump White House as "wasteful or unnecessary spending," the budget's proposed cuts to the arts, libraries, and humanities programs would total $897 million.
Jon Parrish Peede, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), told the Post that the agency will continue operating as normal until Congress takes action on its 2020 funding.
"Since its creation in 1965, NEH has established a significant record of achievement through its grantmaking programs," Peede said. "Over these five decades, NEH has awarded more than $5.7 billion for humanities projects through more than 65,000 grants. That public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country."
"Public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country."
--Jon Parrish Peede, National Endowment for the Humanities
While Trump's budget has been deemed "dead on arrival" by Democrats--who control the House of Representatives--cuts to the arts and humanities are another example of the president's warped priorities.
As Common Dreams reported, Trump's budget blueprint would also cut trillions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security while hiking the Pentagon's 2020 budget to $750 billion.
Trump's budget, officially released last week, came just days after a study by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) found that the arts contribute 4.2 percent of America's annual gross domestic product (GDP)--more than agriculture, warehousing, or transportation.
"The robust data... show through hard evidence how and where arts and culture contribute value to the economies of communities throughout the nation," said NEA chair Jane Chu. "The data confirm that the arts play a meaningful role in our daily lives."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.