Nations should suspend government funding for the arts when significant numbers of their citizens are hungry or unemployed

In my opinion government should never cease its finance for arts because they are our legacy; it has shown us today what we were in the history. They manifest the culture and tradition of any nation. If the government freezes its funding then the nation would not have anything to demonstrate to the world because they add beauty and ethnicity to the country. Without them the emergence of the civilization of any state cannot come into the background.

Moreover, art has been the exquisite depicter of the history of any society. What was the culture, tradition, customs and costumes and how they have varied with the time; all have been recorded through literature, paintings, sculptures and artifacts. For example: thousand years old statues and idols of Haraappan Civilization which throws light upon the most archaic archeology. The equipments of Stone Age, fossils of various extinct species etc are the background information of the history of human beings. Expenditure on them should be incurred on them because that will be beneficial for the future research work as well.

Today, we are so much well versed with our roots and values. Different country region or states have their own culture, language and tradition. Tourists are mesmerized when they encounter this diversion. If the culture of any country is rich and prosperous then it will in itself create tourism which can generate huge amount of money. Researchers and investigators conduct their study in these ancient societies which further reveals the depth and opulence of the nation.

Furthermore, our descendents have contributed a lot in its development. We might not have known famous painters of yesterdays like Picasso and Michelangelo if their paintings and sculptures have not been preserved; Shakespeare’s prolific writings would not been present today with us. How could we have known these classicists like Plato, Aristotle and Homer. These people might be connoisseur of past but they are equally needed today. They are the sources of inspiration and motivation for many; the modern art like graffiti and cartoons which are not only the source of entertainment but spread general awareness about social economical or political. They help in making people more aware. We cannot even think of animation if the caricatures have not emerged in 17th century.

However, the government especially in developing countries should be mindful about the fact that unnecessary wastage on art needs to be avoided. It’s mandatory to have an organized budgeting so as to ensure that its resources aren’t going infertile. They should understand that we cannot nurture history if the present is suffering. Many politicians and imperialist spending extravagant amount on new statues; for example in India a politician spent 500 thousand dollars on its sculpture which could have been otherwise used in the welfare of the people.

Ultimately, rather seeing spending on arts as wastage we can think the other way round as well. It has slowly turned into a commercialism as it has been discussed earlier that how animation, designing, acting etc are accumulating massive money. Government should develop institutions for polishing creative skills of people. In many countries vocational studies are available free or at nominal cost where people from lower income strata can acquire skills and earn money through it. Therefore government should never bar from sponsoring in arts as apart from adding ornamental beauty to the nation it can be really fruitful if used effectively efficiently and most importantly creatively.