America's commitment to culture
Subtitle: government and the arts
By: edited by Kevin V. Mulcahy and Margaret Jane Wyszomirski.
Contributors: Mulcahy, Kevin V.; Wyszomirski, Margaret Jane.
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Boulder, Colo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 235
Subjects: Art and state -- United States.; Federal aid to the arts -- United States.; United States -- Cultural policy.
Description: Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano are now legendary, as much because of NEA support of their work as for the work itself. This is one example of what can happen when politics meets culture, and it provides an appropriate snapshot of the issues explored in this book. As in other policy areas, cultural policies develop within a particular political context, evolve as a consequence of government action or inattention, and affect a variety of publics and interests.

America's Commitment to Culture discusses government support of culture as a public policy area. The book focuses on the rationales underlying public support for the arts and examines the development and practice of government as an arts patron. The contributors explore the inescapable politics accompanying public culture.

Surveying the philosophical, economic, legal, and political underpinnings of cultural assistance, they articulate not only government's role in the support of the arts, but also basic questions for future cultural policy.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.