Dear Museum Listers: I would add a point to the discussion from a comptrollers point of view. Most of the money that arts organizations and museums spend actually goes to pretty blue collar people. We pay movers to ship the art, handymen to install it, security to guard it, printers to produce catalogues and brochures, hardware stores for basic supplies.... Talk about your vendors with people - most of them are hardworking salt of the earth people who cut us a deal. These are the type of people that are hurting the most and that need every transaction they can get. I remind people that money circulates. If you want to get many in the hands of everyday people who work hard for their living - give it to a museum or arts organization because they will actually put those funds towards "non-artsy" tradesmen in the local community who are straining to pay their mortgage. The tourism and quality of life arguments are good one but it still strikes some as elitist. I first skin the cat by talking about how the high costs of our nuts and bolts pumps money into the local economy. Cheers, Daniel Daniel Larkin / Administrative Assistant Friends of Materials for the Arts 33-00 Northern Boulevard, 3rd Floor Long Island City, New York 11101-2215 V: 718-729-3001, ext. 218 F: 718-729-3941 W: www.mfta.org <http://www.mfta.org/> ________________________________ From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gayle Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 6:58 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Political Friends of Museums McCain's attacking of allocation for the arts fails on at least one major front. A number of the institutions and organizations that received funding help to promote tourism, which again, generates income for the economy. In larger metropolises and resort areas, these tourists may well be foreign nationals with dollars to spend. Tourism to visit a tourist attraction stimulates the economy in terms of the secondary purchases that the tourists make in order to avail themselves of these things. Hotels, meals, other entertainment, airfare in some instances, car rentals/mileage, taxes that benefit the local governing entities. The list goes on. ________________________________ From: Judith Turner <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2009 3:18:46 PM Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Political Friends of Museums Interesting list, Gayle. It doesn't appear that funding for any of these projects benefited institutions or research efforts in Arizona -- sour grapes, perhaps? Funding for science, the arts and the humanities, including museums, libraries and archives, really, really really needs to be re-rationalized in this country. Of course, attaching pet projects to something like the stimulus bill is not going to achieve that but after all the cuts in recent years some legislators felt the need to help their local constituents. The months after 9/11, and even more dramatically the last 6 months, show how empty the assurances that the private sector would pick up the slack left by Federal cutbacks turned out to be. One could make the case that the U.S. is now in worse shape than it was going into the 1930's in terms of meeting its citizens' need for an intellectual and cultural life in an affordable manner. People need assistance locally right now yet local institutions are failing and/or flailing about. Museums that were free or charged a few dollars for admission 10 or 20 years ago (when the overall economy was in much better shape), now charge double digit admission prices to come in the door and add a similar bill for the latest blockbuster exhibit once inside ... Judy Turner Whitefish Bay, WI ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).