Mr. Chairman, obviously a $60 million cut in the National Endowment for the Arts would be a disaster.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
That's the reason support for the National Endowment of the Arts is so important. It enables those ventures that aren't viable commercially to be done.
In these difficult financial times for so many of our districts, as our local leaders strive to balance their budgets by cutting services, we would be irresponsible not to invest in the arts.
The present government is very insistent that business sponsorship should replace government sponsorship of the arts. Business sponsorship won't happen unless you make tax concessions, which they won't.
I asked the man on the phone from the National Endowment for the Arts what this fellowship entailed, and he said, 'Well, first there's $10,000.' I asked him, 'Can I pay it in installments?'
If things go right, maybe I'll chair the Appropriations Committee.
We're under the Arts Council under the Minister for the Arts. The Minister for the Arts and the Minister for Industrial Development have great difficulty in agreeing over who should fund what in terms of film.
I'd put the ninety-nine billion dollars - whatever it is - that's being appropriated for the Air Force and the Navy, and I'd put it into schools. I'd put it into traveling scholarships.
I don't know how many people there are with a million dollars who are inclined to give it to a writers' retreat.
This funding from the National Endowment for the Arts has been like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.
As President, I will end once and for all the use of taxpayer funds to promote the National Endowment for the Arts and other programs that subsidize amoral and degrading activities.