Reclaiming Funding and Benefits for the Liberal Arts

The current focus on promoting STEM disciplines is, on the surface, an understandable reaction to the present economic environment. But a defense of the liberal arts does not need to be blind to today's economic and educational climates. In fact, now is the time for liberal arts academic programs to modernize and develop. Just as it is clear that proponents of STEM programs should recognize the value of creative and comparative thinking fostered by the broader educational fields, the time has clearly arrived for the liberal arts to also recognize, and be infused with, more practical, tangible training. In addition to enhancing graduates' preparedness for the workforce, these tactics would also buttress the argument for continued funding of liberal arts programs by appealing to the current desire to allocate resources to practical disciplines.

Arts Partnerships Are Bridging Disparities

Government, non-profit and industry partnerships are giving disadvantaged youth access to successful careers in the Arts. Although the trend has been toward an ever growing “opportunity gap” between children from low socio-economic communities and their wealthier peers, cross-sector arts education partnerships are bridging disparities in access to the creative professions. Currently, the lack of opportunity for young people from poverty disproportionately affects their career prospects in the Arts, where consistent exposure to the tools and techniques of the creative disciplines is necessary in order to guide students toward college and/or careers in these growing fields. Despite a burgeoning creative economy, remarkably little progress has been made to diversify the workforce in this sector. Collectively, we've underestimated how creating opportunities for young people is economically valuable to government, non-profit and industry. A fundamentally different framework is needed that puts a proper valuation on the future of our youth.

Urban Arts Education Programming

This chapter offers a practical analysis of urban arts education funding successes and failures while highlighting one urban district in North Carolina. It stresses the need to approach arts education funding with fervor and dedication to partnership and creative ways to find resources. Policy-makers, grant makers, philanthropists, and community supporters require evidence of successes in the arts in order to continue to sustain their desire to impart legislative and financial support the arts so desperately need. This district, the story it tells, and the literature supports the fact that policy-makers need to balance their view of the arts and how arts education can be appropriately supported and of benefit to students, schools, and communities.

Pooling Resources to Fund the Arts

The viability of today's arts and cultural nonprofit organizations depends much on the ability to generate financial resources. Leaders of these organizations must balance government funding, private giving, and earned income to meet their budget needs. Using regression analysis, this research focuses on the relationship between government funding and private giving to nonprofit arts and culture organizations. Results suggest that government funding of the arts, including arts education programs, encourages private giving. Therefore, organizations need to continue to fight for funding from programs like the U.S. Department of Education's Arts in Education which will in turn encourage private giving. It is the pooling of different revenue streams that can keep the arts vibrant in our communities.

Collective Impact

H. O. Wheeler Elementary School, labeled as a failing school in 2004 became the Integrated Arts Academy, an arts magnet school through the development of strong school/community partnerships. It tells the story of how initially two key community arts organizations provided the Burlington School District with vision and professional development to address excellence and equity in a school with a diverse population that included 98% free and reduced lunch, 40 percent English language Learners (23 different languages/dialects spoken) and 25% Special education. To help achieve success the school has expanded partnerships with arts and community organizations. This chapter demonstrates how the partnerships through articulating mutual vision and expectations have contributed to a balanced population that has sustained its cultural richness, enhanced student academic and behavioral performance, and positively impacts grants, curriculum, residencies, community, and teacher education.

Postscript

At the height of the culture wars, I was Executive Director of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH), one of the state programs affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Like all state humanities councils, NJCH was a nonprofit organization governed by a board of academics and public-spirited citizens. At the time it was almost entirely dependent on the NEH for funding. If the NEH were eliminated, the NJCH—like most of the humanities councils in the 55 other states and territories—would cease to exist. Our grants provided program support for speakers at local libraries, small exhibits at museums and historical organizations, and public programs organized by nonprofits, community colleges, and local community groups. Our budget was not large but it was important to our communities. In New Jersey we ultimately found new sources of support in private donations, foundation grants, and a modest appropriation from the New Jersey legislature. This chapter, written in 2015, reconsiders the status of the cultural endowments during their fiftieth anniversary. As we prepare to go to press in early 2017, there are reports that as part of his budget-cutting agenda, President Trump plans to eliminate the endowments (Bolton, 2017).

Giving to the Visual Arts

This chapter examines various reasons for individuals to donate to the arts, focusing on both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Materials from organizations such as the Knight Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts are included to illustrate who sponsors the arts apart from individuals. A variety of donors' interviews are included in this examination to further understand who gives to the arts and what motivates them including reasons such as civic duty, providing education, and other personal reasons.

The Contest for American Culture

This chapter is an account of the 1995 funding crisis that was written in 1998 when Koch was working at the University of Pennsylvania for the Penn National Commission on Culture and Community (PNC). The PNC was a “think tank” organized by then-university President Judith Rodin to find solutions to problems of failures of leadership, fragmentation of communities, and a culture of intolerance that plagued our public discussions and behavior. The article is, therefore, an analysis of the political and journalistic trajectory that led to the crisis of 1995 and its immediate aftermath.

To What End

This chapter discusses the increased participation of undergraduate students in arts funding conversations, believing them to be valuable resources and voices in securing better arts education for future generations. The author primarily explores the success of Arts Leadership and Administration students in considering solutions to arts funding challenges and applauds student dedication to improving arts appreciation. Analyzing the current cultural trend of hiring creatives, the author considers why such a trend should encourage students to pursue Arts Leadership and Administration and what opportunities it presents for the right brained artist. Viewing funding as a means but not an end, this chapter calls for a resurgence of motivation in the arts funding movement.