Title: The Role of Art in Government & Politics | Bizfluent
Headings: The Role of Art in Government & Politics
The Role of Art in Government & Politics
Patronage in History
Modern Patronage
Art as Politics
Political Backlash
Expert Insight

Content: Congress created the NEA in 1965 as an independent agency to support and promote artistic endeavors. The endowment provides grants to museums, theater groups and other arts projects and entities. Art as Politics
As artists derived more of their livelihood from the sale, exhibition and performance of their work, they grew less reliant on government and political authorities for patronage. As time passed, the visual and performing arts became more politically provocative, with artists using their work to make statements or highlight certain issues. Pablo Picasso’s famous painting “Guernica” stands as one example. Painted in the 1930s, “Guernica” highlights the inhumanity of the Spanish Civil War, which brought dictator Francisco Franco to power in Spain. Political Backlash
The growing outspokenness of the arts sometimes provokes political backlash. During the 1950s, a congressional committee investigated leading Hollywood actors and filmmakers suspected of communist affiliations. In the 1980s and 1990s, some members of Congress sought to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts after complaints by religious conservative organizations about some NEA-funded projects the groups deemed offensive. Expert Insight
Artist Mark Vallen contends all art is political.