But,
separate from the dollar benefit, the idea of art itself remains prickly for
many non-artists. Maybe it smacks of self-indulgence. Or of elites in snooty
museums drinking wine and nibbling canapes.
We do like
art for our children. As the public schools minimize or eliminate funding for
arts education, local groups step up to provide equipment, instruction,
encouragement. Every year, organizations like the Round Top-Carmine Educational
Foundation, ARTS (Art for Rural Texas), Texas Women for the Arts, Unity Theater
in Brenham, the Round Top Library and others, renew these commitments.
Why do
they think it’s important? What does art bring to a child’s life? In my
opinion, much the same thing it brings to ours.
There are
a lot of timeworn descriptions: self-expression; teamwork; the honing of senses,
as the mind opens to the world it inhabits; eye-hand coordination, development
of verbal ability, fun. All valuable to human beings of any age.
For
adults, though, art opens the door to fuller communication. The kind that can
move heart to heart, gut to gut. Most artists I know long for that.
But
communication implies a recipient. An audience. And that’s where the
marketplace comes in. Will they buy a ticket to our concert or play? Buy my
watercolor or sculpture or necklace? Buy my story, my book?
Sometimes
they will.
And if
they don’t, why should we care? Sure, we value being known as an arts rich
community. That reputation brings visitors here, to shop in our stores and eat
in our restaurants. We thrill to the performances, the music and plays,
concerts and exhibits that enliven our weekends.
And yet superlative
local organizations such as Festival Hill at Round Top, Fayetteville Chamber
Music, ARTS and others have to scramble constantly for donations and grants.
Many of
us shrug that off. Somehow, we’ve got the notion that the marketplace makes
good decisions about what deserves support, and what doesn’t. That popularity
alone is the yardstick.
But how
do you measure the value of art to a community’s soul? How do you experience
the richness of human life if all you can see, hear, smell and touch is what
“most people” want to pay for? Most people love potato chips powdered in flavor
enhancers. How about if those were all you had to eat?
That’s
why non-profit groups, private foundations, individual donors give time and
money to keep alive what the marketplace overlooks.
Donor
fatigue, volunteer fatigue, are real factors, however, in a community as small
as ours. That’s why many of the groups feel such gratitude for the grants they
receive from the Texas Commission on the Arts, itself under pressure from shrinking
state budgets. The TCA, in turn, receives 10% of its annual funding from the
National Endowment for the Arts, presently on the budgetary chopping block.
As those
factors indicate, some people don’t think the arts deserve taxpayer support. Yet
we’re benefitting so greatly from the activity of the arts, here in Fayette
County. Benefitting personally, economically, emotionally.
Did you
sell snacks to a student from Festival Hill last summer. Did you attend the
annual Fourth of July concert in its superb concert hall?
Do you
enjoy the programs and exhibits sponsored by ARTS for Rural Texas, out of
Fayetteville? The variety of children’s programming is remarkable for any rural
area.
Are you
proud that your child can play a musical instrument, participating in a rich
local tradition?
Is your
B&B booked by people who’ve come here to hear music, see or buy art and
antiques?
How about
the houses you sell to new buyers, or build for them, because people are
attracted to the art and culture we offer in addition to lovely scenery and
fine neighbors.
By my
calculation the Texas Commission on the Arts will lose $964,100 if NEA funding
stops. Our local organizations (counting Round Top, LaGrange, Fayetteville and
nearby Brenham) have received a total of $53,244 from the TCA so far in fiscal 2017.
Not much, yet crucial to their survival. Will they lose all of it?
To
replace that funding, it will take 1,064 new donors at $50 a pop every year.
Spread between several organizations and committed in advance so budgets can be
set up, teachers contracted with.
