NEA and Wasted Taxpayers Money
I have long been an affect for spending taxpayer’s money effectively. Effectively to me means the taxpayer’s money should be spent on programs that help all people.
Well the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a perfect example of not spending the taxpayer’s money on programs that help all people.
Here is the latest list provided by the Washington Free Beacon of what I would call wasted taxpayer money:
- The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts received $60,000 for performances and workshops on climate change and a curriculum for public schools on "food justice."
- A $10,000 grant went to the San Francisco Green Film Festival, a county in Florida received $50,000 for artists to design rain gardens.
- The California Shakespeare Theater in Berkeley received $25,000 for an opera based on the science fiction novel Parable of the Sower, which imagines a dystopian future because of global warming.
- A dance performance by custodial workers is costing taxpayers $20,000.
- Collide, an "eatery, drinking den, [and] creative arts space" in Austin, Texas, received $20,000 to choreograph a traffic jam.
- Other projects focus on the LGBTQ community, including, "They, Them, Theirs: Showcasing Trans Lives." The Theater Offensive, which bills itself as the "largest and longest-running lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth theater program" in the country, received $15,000 for the performance.
- A retreat for "promising LGBTQ writers" in Los Angeles is costing $25,000, and part of a $40,000 grant to a center in Oakland is going to storytelling workshops for community organizers.
- The San Francisco arts center "Fresh Meat Productions" received $15,000 for a "full-throttle" gay and transgender dance performance about AIDS.
- The Queer Cultural Center in San Francisco received $15,000 for "new works by commissioned LGBT artists of color from the Bay Area."
- The Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project received $20,000 for a filmmaking workshop. The organization says it creates "high-impact films that authentically reflect the lives of queer women of color (cisgender & transgender), gender nonconforming and transgender people of color (of any orientation), and address the vital, intersecting social justice issues that concern our multiple communities."
- An exhibition in Birmingham, Ala., received $25,000 for work by female artists that "explores social justice issues."
- A small town in Minnesota received $75,000 to put on dance parties and walking events.
- Other projects include $90,000 for a three-week songwriting class for elderly people who live in federal public housing, and $10,000 for a class taught by master clowns in San Francisco.
- James Madison University received $20,000 to study using songwriting to "explore issues of incarceration, equity, justice, and community."
- Two projects totaling $35,000 received funding to do exhibits on the terrorist attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. One will focus on "themes of understanding and unity," while another will be a dance in Seattle about the "mass shooting." Neither project mentions terrorism.
- An artist group in New York City that recently raised a "resist" flag over its headquarters received $40,000 for an installation about "capitalism, immigration, and the promise of the ‘American Dream'" near the Statue of Liberty.
- A choral festival at Philadelphia churches featuring songs based on conversations with homeless men and environmentalism received $30,000, and exhibitions in Pittsburgh of refugees, gentrification, and personal space received $20,000.
- The NEA is spending $30,000 to write "love poems to San Antonio," and $10,000 for an annual gathering of basket weavers.
- An "Art Truck" that will take artists to parking lots and farmers' markets in Arlington, Va., is costing $25,000.
- A play that questions whether Cain, who committed the first murder in the Bible, was a criminal is costing $10,000.
The total price tag for the above listed National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) projects and more is $1,070,000 and climbing.
Would you agree with me that any taxpayer monies spent should be spent on programs that help all taxpayer’s or at the very least society as a whole?
Also would you agree with me that the projects listed above do not meet the criteria of programs that help all taxpayer’s or at the very least society as a whole?