Kansas Governor Eliminates State's Arts Funding

latimes.com:

While many Americans on Saturday were enjoying the start of the Memorial Day weekend, Kansans were gaining the dubious distinction of becoming the nation's only citizens to live in a state without an arts agency.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback took the major step of privatizing the arts in Kansas, turning back the clock to a pre-1960s era. The governor erased state funding for arts programs, leaving the Kansas Arts Commission with no budget, no staff and no offices.

Read the whole story: latimes.com

Comments

[Indaba]

10:42 AM on 07/10/2011

While this governor does look as if he needs cheering up - maybe a look at Jill Greenburg's highly sexual Glass Ceiling might help.
BUT it does shock me how entitled America has become. A quick flip though Kansas Art shows the good support going on - summer camps and volunteers all working for art. Here is a great example - http://www.kaea.com/minutes.html
What is Kansas funding is the question to ask. Government seems to tax but how do you know where the money is going? - How is Kansas doing at managing its money?

[Indaba]

10:22 AM on 07/10/2011

Why rely on just the government to choose which art gets funded nd which art gets turned away. Artists who rely on grants and awards to fund their work can turn to private foundations and nonprofits for financial support. For example: The Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Lee Krasner, widow of the famous abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock and a respected painter in her own right, bequeathed funds in her will to establish a grant program for visual artists. Since 1985, more than 3,000 grants totaling in excess of $50 million have been awarded to artists from over 70 countries.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6574951_art-grants-artists.html#ixzz1RiBBSzyK

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

11:34 AM on 06/06/2011

I've never met an aesthetically literate conservative.

[Indaba]

10:06 AM on 07/10/2011

Get out much?

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

05:28 PM on 06/05/2011

I see republican ignoranti are alive and well in KS.

[grandma58]

04:45 PM on 06/05/2011

Disgusting!

[Vincent Gormley]

12:39 AM on 06/04/2011

A failure of a Senator what in the world made voters think he would be a good Governor. Oh that's right we're talking about Kansas. May Kansas U. never win again. This is so foolish, so back@$$wards. It's beyond the pale of reason.

[grandma58]

04:46 PM on 06/05/2011

It is beyond reason!

[artist-53]

08:32 PM on 06/02/2011

I think we should all draw pictures using any medium and send them to Mr.David Koch as well as the Gov. And anyone related to abolishing State Funded Arts in Kansas.
And other ways to show you appreciate the arts, by stickers etc....

Gov. Sam Brownback
Help Center: [phone] or [phone]
Send us an e-mail at: [e-mail]
Kansas.gov
534 S. Kansas Avenue, Ste. 1210
Topeka, KS 66603-3434
Fax: [phone]
Toll-free: (800) 4KANSAS (800-452-6727)
Topeka area: [phone]

and

David Koch, who the article states advocated the bill.
(You're on your own here as far as Koch Addresses, Though I have a list of them,(many) I will only list the State Public info/addresses.

Stands to reason we send in Artwork, because seeing as they don't believe in public art, I say, lets give them a tons of the "Public's Art".

Get your lined paper , construction paper , sketch pad, cardboard, and digital software moving.

The people of Kansas are starving for art.

And what better way to show "We Care" ?

Even though , Gov. Sam Brownback and David Koch don't.

Do it for Kansas:-)

[artist-53]

08:50 PM on 06/02/2011

America! Get your crayons out!!!

[Thomas Nagano]

07:56 PM on 06/03/2011

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz." The 1939 Film Classic.

I agree with artist53:
"And what better way to show "We Care" ? Even though , Gov. Sam Brownback and David Koch don't."

[artist-53]

08:03 AM on 06/04/2011

Thomas, I Love The Wizard of Oz and it's so apropos of what is occurring to today.

" Written by L. Frank Baum and first published in 1900) as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic and social events of America in the 1890s. "

Which is all the more reason to send the "Public's Art" to Kansas

I would have thought this would have gained some interests, because I would love to fill their offices with artwork from people all over the Country

Because we all know too well, we're not in Kansas anymore.:-)

[BuckyJamesDio]

05:09 PM on 06/02/2011

Luckily for Kansas residents who appreciate fine art, the complete Thomas Kinkade collection is available at Wal*Marts everywhere.

[MehMehMeh]

12:49 PM on 06/02/2011

Abandoing expressive art is how societal regression begins and dark ages emerge...history says so.

[Lisa Rasmussen]

12:17 PM on 06/02/2011

Tragic!!!
Scary turning the clock back more than 50 years. Thomas Hart Benton must be turning in his grave as he had dreams of making Kansas city into the new Athens. What is going on? is the big question...

[Hardyman1966]

10:27 AM on 06/02/2011

undefined

[Kiz boy]

09:26 AM on 06/02/2011

Although there is great economic argument to be made for arts funding, it is chiefly about culture. Art is a civilizing force and essential to cultural growth. We are less than human without it. Cavemen knew more about art than Brownback ever will.

[Thomas Nagano]

04:06 PM on 06/02/2011

Artists such as Milton Avery, Stuart Davis, Mark Rothko, Willem deKooning and Jackson Pollock were just a few of the of artists on the WPA Project paid for by our United States Government.

The wealth they created has far exceeded the "investment" of the WPA Project, but "Regressives" and Government Of [the] Past will probably never "get it." They have no long term vision.

[Suggestion: See Herzog's 3D movie "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" documenting 32,000 year old paintings, but then, again, there's those that believe the world was created in seven days.] - TK

[Henk]

08:56 AM on 06/02/2011

Well at least they still have good bar-b-que. What? Its all on the Missouri side? Oh well.

[jdevans]

10:52 AM on 06/02/2011

The good art museums are on the Missouri side, too.

[geoff75w]

07:08 AM on 06/02/2011

A shameful misconception. Studies have shown that spending on arts often generates more revenue than was originally spent. Here's one recent example http://gu.com/p/2pacp.

[peacekitten]

06:16 AM on 06/02/2011

he is such a total waste of skin for so very many reasons.

[Bear Left]

03:41 PM on 06/02/2011

'specially under the eyes. Must be all those late nights spent scheming how to steal the ring ... my precious ...