Public Support for the Arts

Re “A Day in the Death of the NEA: Did Agency’s Success Cause Its Demise?” by Christopher Knight, Opinion, Jan. 8:

When an art critic writes an article on politics mixing advocacy for tax support of artists with advocacy for the new religion of cultural diversity and alternative sexual preference, it is not surprising that the result is an intemperate diatribe filled with name-calling and inaccuracies. Above all, Knight demonstrates that he does not understand history when he challenges benighted readers to “name one great civilization in world history whose government was not a major arts patron.” These great civilizations were absolute monarchies, dictatorships, and even worse regimes far removed from the interests of ordinary people.

In a democracy where the expenditure of taxpayer money is the responsibility of government, it is legally, morally and logically the obligation of government to control and supervise the result of any public undertaking. When control and supervision are applied to art programs, the result is censorship, which by its very nature is intolerable in a democracy.

Those who argue that creative artists must have complete freedom of expression and not be subject to government censorship are right, and therefore it follows that the government should not be in the art business. Censorship by politically correct ideologues of the left or the right is more to be feared than the plight of an artist whose work is not supported by tax money.

SEYMOUR W. CROFT

Marina del Rey

* I think my experience of trying to hear Gov. Pete Wilson’s State of the State address is worth noting. When the governor began I was in my car listening to National Public Radio station KPCC-FM, which carried the speech live. About a third of the way through the speech I arrived home, turned on my television and found the speech on a local channel. Shortly thereafter, the station cut back to the local anchors and continued its local newscast.

As a subscriber to cable TV, I have 59 stations available. Surfing quickly through them, I was horrified that no broadcaster seemed to think the governor’s address was worthy of carrying. To hear the rest of the address, I had to return to KPCC-FM.

Newt Gingrich has argued that funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is redundant in the age of cable television. The facts are that without the CPB support of public radio and television, this citizen would have been denied the governor’s message.

TREY HUNT

West Hollywood

* Bravo for your editorial, “GOP Has a Song for NEA: Taps” (Jan. 11). Emerging among the new congressional leadership are several cultural Neanderthals who would cut even the relatively small support the government gives to the National Endowment for the Arts and the Public Broadcasting System. It is appalling to hear these congressmen refer to the government grants as limited to “left-wing elitists.” The NEA programs touch the lives of children, working people, all Americans. PBS offers a wonderful alternative to the commercial network of tabloid newscasts, inane sitcoms and violent dramas.

If our government, in concert with millions of individual and corporate contributors, cannot support traditional arts programs as well as new visions in the arts and intellectual ideas, something is seriously wrong.

PATTI LAURSEN

Los Angeles