What Are the Different Types of Arts Funding?

Arts funding includes grants, fellowships, and public arts programs that provide financial support to artists and their work. The term refers to any form of arts funding that is not derived from the commercial sale of artwork. Individuals and art organizations can receive funding from national and local governments, private companies, and wealthy individuals. Many forms of art that do not lend themselves to mass-produced, commercial business models rely on this as their primary source of funding. Because of the volatile natures of politics and art, there are sometimes disagreements over publicly funded art.

Artists have been supported powerful figures such as kings, emperors, and popes since ancient times. This system was refined during the Renaissance, when great artists like William Shakespeare and Michelangelo were able to create masterpieces with the help of wealthy state or church systems. Arts funding has remained a way for wealthy people to boost their status while supporting the work of their favorite artists in modern times. Meanwhile, national arts programs have aided the development of culture in communities all over the world. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, groundbreaking American programs such as the Federal Art Project saved many artists from starvation.

Today, foundations working on behalf of large corporations provide a significant portion of arts funding. These have the dual benefit of lowering public support for symphonies, ballet companies, and other arts organizations while also providing tax benefits to the donating company. For the same reasons, wealthy individuals frequently establish foundations. Churches no longer support the arts in the same way that they did during the Renaissance, except for the occasional support of faith-related art or literature. Artists in residence can apply for writing fellowships at some monasteries.

Another major source of arts funding is state and national governments. Since 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the United States has provided millions of dollars in arts funding every year. Grants and fellowships are also available from local arts councils and similar state-based organizations. Many private arts foundations will match government funding, effectively doubling the size of any grant. When governments are faced with budget constraints, these arts-related programs are often among the first to be cut, though a strong public outcry can often save them.

Artists frequently depict the polar opposites of human experience, which can be disturbing or even shocking to some. When politicians or their constituents question the merits of risk-taking artists, public arts funding becomes a source of contention. The NEA was chastised in the 1980s and 1990s for promoting the work of artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano, and Karen Finley. One of these debates is dramatized in the 2000 film Dirty Pictures. Public arts funding is in jeopardy again in the twenty-first century, this time due to shrinking state and national government budgets.