Rocco Landesman Stirs Pot That Should be Stirred

By now Mr. Landesman, who recently stirred up the pot by trying to placate the "artsy" set in Peoria, may be out of a job. Or near losing his job as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Landesman was quoted recently, "You can either increase demand or decrease supply. Demand is not going to increase, so its time to think about decreasing supply".

"What does he mean we can't increase supply, screamed the the artsy folks? Who determines which theatre companies are wheat and which are chaff? Why not just increase the funding? Maybe the N.E.A. is outdated and should be replaced by another system for funding the arts in the U.S. Or maybe the people who are running the N.E.A. should be replaced", shrilled others in the artsy sets.

Landesman defended his statements, "There is a disconnect that has to be taken seriously--our research show that attendance has been decreasing while the number of organizations have been proliferating. That's a discussion nobody wants to have. Foundations and agencies like the endowment should perhaps reconsider re-allocating their resources, perhaps giving larger grants to fewer institutions. There may to many resident theatres. At least we have to talk about it".

Republicans, not all, recently called for the elimination of the N.E.A. and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Landseman said that. "I think we have to see what comes out in the way of actual legislation but I'm optimistic that the N.E.A. and the N.E.H. are going to be okay".

An interesting article. My belief has always been that those who want to spend money for things they enjoy should go ahead and fund them themselves. If the rest of us want to view these "arts" charge us a fee to see. Many of us resent asking the federal government to fund any non-priorities while the country is going bust.

Not just the arts. I am opposed to governments funding sports stadiums for the "sporty" groups, etc. At least other groups seeking money are not displaying "art" such as Piss-Christ. I read it was recently defaced.

Good.

And I'm still waiting for the artsy group in Peoria is complete the funding and the endowment of the PRM with THEIR money. Not more of our money which they have already tapped 72% for the Peoria Riverfront Museum funding.

The building is underway. What's the continued delay in collecting the pledges and the endowment? Most anyone can guess. They are still waiting for the tax-payer to add more to the 72% of the project they are already paying.

My projections, which are as good as most, say the PRM will be short approximately $2million in operating costs a year starting in year 2015. Or sooner. Especially, if the museum is constantly bringing in new displays as PRM administrators said they plan to do so they are different than the tax-payer money sucking Wichita, KS., "Exploration Place". The PRM will have a growing deficit over the projected 50-60 year estimated life of the building.