Funding for Arts in Education

Abstract

Arts education through active participation positively impacts an individual’s cognitive function, as well as economic, social, attitudinal, and behavioral well-being. From primary educational years to the aging population of America, the 336 billion people that occupy the U.S can be positively transformed through arts education. In identifying that art is meant to be shared and appreciated by people of all ages, there is work that needs to be done to improve and grow the nation’s arts education. Beyond this, the United States, in comparison to the European Union, lacks the proper financial ability and willingness to support the arts. Looking at the accessibility, equitability, and marketing used to promote and share these government funding programs is essential in order to address the current climate of the situation. The research following analyzes government support of the arts, as well as philanthropic funding. Accessibility to these funds, comparatively to bigger and smaller organizations, is shared in the research conducted. This then links the economic “norms'' of society and the longstanding debate on how to create and achieve a more equitable U.S arts policy and construct institutional reform. The underfunding of the arts has rippling effects amongst sociocultural evolution that illicit a multitude of instrumental issues in the current state of the arts.