Some people believe that government funding of the arts is necessary to ensure that the arts can flourish and be available to all people. Others believe that government funding of the arts threatens the integrity of the arts.Write a response in which you

The present turbulence in the world economics often deter Governments from making capital investments in fields that are not economically profitable. Any wise Government will prefer to invest in and fund for improvements in education, science and technology, research and development and inter-country trade relations that will eventually boost the country’s economy. But a wiser Government will ensure a holistic development approach for its state. A wealthy nation, flourishing in resources, utilization of technology and trade relations, may still fall back in its competition if it has an underdeveloped passion for arts.

To the common man, art, though important, isn’t a necessity. It is understood and appreciated mainly by a section of people having a creative bend of mind. Art mainly caters to the aesthetic realms of the human brain, often acquiring a place much inferior to rational and practical aspects of daily life. Since time immemorial, art has been used in a fashion to deliver visual and auditory pleasures, temporarily freeing man from the mundane everyday life. Over the years, art has evolved both in forms and types. The approach towards arts saw a paradigm shift in the Renaissance period, which gave way to modern forms, with digitization gradually taking over in the last centuries. Music, drama, theatre, literature, dance and architecture have all witnessed a dramatic modernization in its life cycle today. New arts evolve and the old forms slowly dwindle away due to lack of funds and interests of people. And with these, we slowly and gradually lose our rich cultural heritage.

Thus, Government initiative to fund arts is of prime importance for it to flourish. Firstly, it must also encourage students to take up arts in their school academics. Setting up of museums, new and modern schools and colleges, catering solely to the various aspects of development of art and culture, will be the next step. Sufficient funds and scholarships must be provided to the students and teachers to help them pursue careers in arts. The Government should set up more exhibits, encourage the investors to sponsor, involve the general multitude to participate and encourage cross-cultural or cross-border exchange of arts and must ensure that the skills and synergy of the people pursuing arts are invested properly. These people involved in arts can also be given the responsibility of beautification of cities, parks, highways, riverbanks, airport terminals and much more. The highly artistic Bird’s Nest Olympics stadium had received much appreciation from all over the world for its highly intrigued aesthetic sense.

The Government must also ensure that the indigenous art forms of the native inhabitants of any place should be given importance to. Lack of publicity, dearth of funds and unwillingness of people to invest money in the native culture, which is often viewed as recessive, have resulted in the shrinking markets for the indigenous arts. Innovating newer ways to bring this indigenous art forms to spotlight can well become a source of income for the native inhabitants. Had the West Bengal Government invested more on the idol-making artists in Kumartuli, providing them with better shelters for their idols, subsidized raw materials and a wider market, this indigenous art form would have flourished even more than what it is today.

On the contrary, there are every possibility of creative art forms getting polluted with the availability of more money. If paintings can fetch large amounts of easy cash, fake artists will grow in numbers and forgery will indubitably set in. Literature and music will be pirated and artifacts will be counterfeited. Funding can stagnate arts instead of encouraging diversity.

The government must ensure that the funds supplied are utilized in a manner to help various arts, mainly the sinking or newly emerging, develop and reach out to the general people for appreciation. Else, an uncontrolled investment will threaten the integrity and honesty with which people pursue this artistic career. Art will stand to lose its wholesomeness, creativity and beauty, and will be oriented more towards business and profit-making schemes.