“National Endowment for the Arts” on The Daily Caller

Musician and “Sing Off” judge Ben Folds told The Daily Caller that Congress reducing the amount of taxpayer dollars allocated for arts programs would be like “cutting off food.” (more)

Actor and political activist Alec Baldwin said on Capitol Hill Tuesday that Congress should increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $1 billion from its current $146 million budget. (more)

In the wake of the firing of former National Public Radio news analyst Juan Williams over public comments made about Muslims, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would support a bill that ends federal funding for public broadcasting media outlets. (more)

Doomsday has apparently arrived in England, with the conservative government’s initiative to reduce the $876 million arts funding budget by as much as 40 percent over the next four years. The prospective cuts have incited the British media and its citizens into apparent fear of rapid decline into barbarian status. (more)

Barack Obama has long decried the corrupting influence of money in politics. As a candidate, he ran against lobbyists and the pay-for-play culture of Washington. As president, he has continued to hammer the theme, most recently in his impassioned attacks on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission. (more)

Thanks to a stimulus windfall, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has new funds to support an eclectic array of projects and organizations, from the American Samoa Council on Arts, Culture and Humanities to puppeteers across the country. (more)