Artists Will Get By Without Grants

Re “Senate Proposal Would Abolish State Arts Council,” June 29: As a California artist living and working in Los Angeles since 1976, and never once applying for a public grant, I feel that the individual grant aspect of the California Arts Council is worthy of being eliminated. I also feel the same in regard to individual grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

I strongly believe the public should support, through taxes, institutions such as public museums, symphonies and festivals of culture. I feel that individual grants have only served to anger the public with regard to some of the recent controversies in the visual arts. Too many times the public has been fed a very one-sided view regarding how public funds are used. To solve this problem, individual grants should be eliminated from the California Arts Council budget. If the individual grants are eliminated, maybe this will save the positive aspect of the California Arts Council, which is the funding of institutions of culture for the benefit of all state citizens.

I think it should be pointed out that artists like Vincent Van Gogh never received a public grant from the French government, yet he managed to leave the world an inspired body of work. If the California Arts Council is eliminated, I won’t be affected, nor will I be prevented from creating art.

Richard Meade

Los Angeles