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January 10, 2005

The trouble with funders | In a new book, Bau Graves of the Center for Cultural Exchange proposes changes in the way the arts are funded

By Taylor Smith
Arts spending by the city of Berlin, Germany, with a population of 3.5 million, eclipses the entire budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. It's a sobering statistic, according to James Bau Graves, artistic director of the Center for Cultural Exchange in Portland, who argues that public arts funding in the United States is in a woeful state. "The U.S. government spends more on military bands than on the NEA," he says. "I like John Philip Sousa music as much as anyone, but not to the exclusion of everything else. Our priorities are way off."

In his new book, Cultural Democracy: The Arts, Community and the Public Purpose, published in November by the University of Illinois Press, Graves, 52, argues that the United States needs to overhaul its arts funding machine to allow greater financial support for a wider spectrum of arts. The primary problem, says Graves, is that U.S. government spending on the arts is well behind that of other industrialized countries. European arts organizations might receive 90% of their budget from federal and local subsidies, but Graves reports that the Center for Cultural Exchange receives just five percent of its annual budget from federal subsidies and zero funding from local governments.

As a result, Graves argues, the vast majority of arts spending in America is determined by a handful of wealthy individuals, institutions and corporations, whose contributions outstrip government spending by a factor of 100. These donors tend to fund a relatively narrow band of arts programs, with dollars disproportionately flowing toward tried-and-true institutions such as museums and what Graves refers to as SOBs ˆ— symphonies, operas and ballets. "We've ceded the control of what those arts and culture are going to be to a very limited spectrum of ethnic and aesthetic opinions," he says.

Meanwhile, the fringe players in the U.S. arts world ˆ— the avant-garde jazz musicians or the Middle Eastern dance troupes ˆ— routinely are given short shrift by arts funders. As a result, Graves contends, communities have fewer chances to experience arts outside of the mainstream.

It's that precise niche that the Center for Cultural Exchange has addressed over its 10-year history. A recent events calendar, for example, features gospel singing, bellydancing and sword dancing workshops, an open poetry reading and the introduction of Sok Sokhouen, a Cambodian dancer who is spending a nine-month residency at the center.

In his book, which draws largely from his experiences at the center, Graves outlines a number of recommendations for changing how U.S. arts programs and institutions are funded. Instead of being driven by policy, he argues, arts funding should focus on the value a particular art form offers to the community. As an example, Graves points to the increasing frequency with which corporations sponsor arts events with marketing dollars, rather than funds from their philanthropic budget.

Graves also says he'd like to see more accountability for foundation giving, since most foundations ˆ— which are required by law to give away five percent of their assets annually ˆ— give just a tad more than the bare minimum. What's more, foundations are able to deduct their annual operating budget from that five percent, and Graves says it's not unusual to see foundations with highly compensated staff and lavish offices.

At the Center for Cultural Exchange, Graves says he relies on input from the local community for event programming, and often meets with community members to engage them in the decision-making process. "Rather than assuming that we have magical insight into what each community needs," he says, "the community themselves should be empowered to make the decision."

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