Subsidizing Failure
Published March 31, 2011 | 
Around the world, governments big and small have reduced their subsidies to the arts as a means of reducing deficits. Not surprisingly, the beneficiaries of those subsidies are trying hard to retain as much taxpayer money as they can.
For some of us, the arts world has become politicized. Artists of various kinds are often at the forefront of social change, such as Wagner was in his attempt to create revolution through music. (See the book, Dionysus Rising , by E. Michael Jones for details). Moral standards are challenged in the form of shapes, form, sounds and sight. The result is that the arts have contributed to the breakdown in Christian culture.
A consequence of the art subsidies has not been better art, if we judge art by its public acceptance. The mere fact that subsidies exist is evidence that some artists cannot operate in a voluntary marketplace. Whereas Abba or the former Beatles made it big without government aid, other artists would starve or find another profession without subsidies.
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