Even the most idealistic and independent artists in the US must rely more and more on private sources of funding to survive in an increasingly rationalised market. The European ideal of art for art’s sake is a luxury many US artists simply can’t afford. Artshub Global this week looks at the gulf between public funding for the arts in the US and Europe, and asks the question, is American art increasingly becoming art for the market’s sake?
Well before the war in Iraq, US Government funding for the military was in excess of $400 billion. The funds allocated to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), by contrast, has hovered at around $100 million – that’s 0.025 % of the money spent to defend and destroy being spent on celebration and creation within the world’s largest economy.
