Cuts to the arts will make our communities less vibrant

America has stopped being great.

“It is ‘we, the people,’ who make our nation great. It is ‘we, the people,’ not some faceless government, who choose to invest in ourselves and our culture,” Ford Foundation President Darren Walker said in a recent address.

He speaks for us all. “If we see ourselves as great, we must invest in that which makes us great, things that the GDP has never been able to measure: Investments that make ‘we, the people’ richer, better, more complete human beings … This is not time for a poverty of imagination in our country.”

Yet the White House proposes eliminating funding for the National Endowment for the Art, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As we prepare to fight that proposal with our allies in Congress, we can certainly talk about the numbers.

Combined resources of the three total less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal budget, roughly what Americans spend on lip balm, and would fund less than five hours of military spending, according to famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Understanding our history and differences as people through the arts and humanities builds stronger communities where economic vitality flows. From Yuma to Window Rock and Douglas to Kingman, arts and humanities flourish thanks to support from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Arizona Humanities, both partially funded by NEA and NEH.

From its inception in 1967, the ACA has energized an ever-growing community of artists and arts organizations. For nearly as long, Arizona Humanities has enriched our culture life with annual grants in communities across Arizona. Today, annual direct expenditures by non-profit arts and culture organizations account for nearly $300 million, and employ about 12,000 citizens.

ACA and Humanities grants usually require matching funds from private sources, spurring local investment as well as additional retail, hospitality and tourism spending. Defunding NEA and NEH will have a significant negative impact on the never quality of arts, culture and life in Arizona.

The argument that government funding of the arts is too high and generates too little return simply doesn’t work when you consider the broader, deeper impact on us as human beings.

This issue is not about numbers. It’s about that incredible spirit of imagination, drive, creativity and comfort we all have experienced. Did you ever sing in a choir, visit the library, act in a school play, enjoy a ballet or museum exhibit, watch your kids’ school holiday pageant, knit a sweater for your grandson or even carve a duck decoy in your garage?

Everyone participates in the arts and humanities at some level. Arts and humanities help define our communities and promote rational, civil society based upon democratic ideals, humanistic discourse and engagement with the arts. Arts and humanities make us human. The impact of arts and culture on our kids is undeniable. A major education study found students exposed to cultural institutions “like museums and performing arts centers, not only have higher levels of engagement with the arts but display greater tolerance, historical empathy, as well as better educational memory and critical thinking skills.”

Defunding NEA and NEH is sure to make Arizona communities less vibrant.

America is still great, and access to arts, culture and the humanities and the experiences they provide make a great America even greater. We need the arts and humanities in Arizona.

Tell your elected officials in Congress, your friends and families how you feel about the impact of the NEA and NEH on the very fabric of our country and our state.

James K. Ballinger is director emeritus at Phoenix Art Museum; Brenda Thomson is executive director of Arizona Humanities; and Thomas H. Wilson is president of Arizona Citizens for the Arts. Email them at ballingerj77@gmail.com, BThomson@azhumanities.org and tom.wilson@mesaaz.gov.

The column was co-signed by Jessica L. Andrews, managing director emeritus, Arizona Theatre Company; Robert C. Booker, executive director, Arizona Commission on the Arts; and Robert G. Breunig, president emeritus, Museum of Northern Arizona.