Uncategorized | May 26, 2011
This comes from a story posted yesterday on www.physorg.com
Michigan is hurting its chances at economic recovery by slashing funding for the arts, according to a study byresearchers. Michigan State University The study found that arts and crafts activities – such as painting, dancing and filmmaking – are closely related to success of the scientists, engineers and other innovators who create new companies and inventions that stimulate the economy.
Yet during the past decade
has cut funding for the arts by some 90 percent – from about $25 million in 2002 to $2.3 million this year. In Michigan , officials attempting to balance the budget have proposed large cuts to the city’s arts and cultural institutions. Detroit
“Politicians often strip funding for arts and cultural assets, assuming they are expendable ‘extras,’ but this may be a serious policy error based on false assumptions,” said Rex LaMore, lead researcher on the project and director of MSU’s
and Economic Development. Center ofCommunity
The Wyoming Arts Council believes that experiencing the arts should be accessible for all, including people with mental and/or physical disabilities, older adults, military/veterans, people living in institutions and those who lack access to the arts due to geographic isolation, cultural difference and economic hardship.
