Yes, I know it's .org and not .gov
This was done intentionally to help advance US government funding for the arts - instead of the funding of weapons.
Might as well make the tee shirt movement into a positive political movement.
PLEASE READ:
The stimulus plan and the arts -
"In the final jockeying over the bill, however, the funding was reinstated—a seeming victory for the arts. Yet this funding—the subject of such vehement opposition from many Republicans and Democrats—consists of just $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Fifty million dollars is 0.0063 percent of the total $787 billion stimulus package.
The money comes in addition to the annual budget of the NEA, which is a miserly $145 million. (The NEA budget in 1978 was $123,850,000; that would be almost 400 million in current dollars.)
All told, less than $200 million in federal funding will go to the arts.
The sum is less than the budget for a single Hollywood blockbuster.
It is a fraction of the amount spent on a new sports stadium.
It is less than the amount spent in Iraq each day for US military operations.
The situation of the arts in America in general speaks to the philistinism, ignorance and avarice of the ruling elite. Anything that doesn't "make a buck" is considered a waste of time. More than that, the people at the top of American society have no interest in seeing themselves reflected honestly in art. The picture would not be a pretty one.
American capitalism leaves art and artists at the tender mercies of the market. With their wealth threatened, large corporations and wealthy individuals have less and less interest in contributing to cultural life."
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/cuts-f17.shtml
