觉得ISSUE 85 好难啊，写这么多感觉最无力的一篇，跪求达人指教！

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TOPIC: ISSUE85 - "Government funding of the arts threatens the integrity of the arts."


As is well known to all, art must be independent to some extent and out of the control of government. So someone think government funding of the arts threatens the integrity of the arts as what this statement says. But in my view, whether the government funding of the arts will threaten the integrity of the arts depends on the attitude of the artists toward this funding.

Admittedly, government sometimes can have negative impacts on arts through its funding of the arts. If we cast a look back at the history of art evolution, it is easy to see how terrible things will happen when the art and the politics are combined. For instance, in Germany during the Second World War, Hitler made use of the philosophy of Nietzsche and the works of Wagner, a German composer, to influence every German’s point towards the war. What’s more, the Government which is absolutely loyal to Hitler fund a lot of artists who server for the politics, which bring the Jew as well as the whole world numerous disasters. In a general sense, by accepting government funding, the arts may have to meet certain conditions, adhere to a government’s criteria and standards in order to receive those resource. Consequently, artists might back away from sincere, forceful expression with regard to political and social issues. The integrity of the arts—its unimpaired honesty—may be compromised.

However, another fact that cannot be ignored is that most artists are very poor due to their completely dedication to the spirit and pursuit to the perfection. Without the funding of government or corporation as well as some private foundations, they even cannot live to create their works. So the demand for some others’ strong support and receiving the government funding are inevitable. The government has the responsibility to support the development of arts in society through giving these artists some necessary help. As long as these artists keep in mind that they should not “struggle” for these resources which come from government, then the integrity of arts must be impossibly threaten.

Furthermore, if want to actually make out whether the government funding of the arts will do harm to the integrity of arts, it is necessary to define what is the term “integrity”. In my view, the term “integrity” means something independent that is out of the control and the influence of the politics. So it is the artists’ attitude towards the government funding that plays a crucial role in whether the integrity of the arts can be threatened other than the government funding itself. In other words, they can choose an appropriate way to receive this funding by making out what purpose of the government and refuse the inappropriate demand such as helping government propagate a policy which harms the interests of the citizens or influencing people’s attitude towards a policy. In this way, the integrity of the arts can be safeguarded well.

To sum up, the government funding sometime do harm to the integrity of the arts and sometimes do good to it. Only through keeping an appropriate attitude towards the government funding can artists safeguard the integrity of the arts and avoid the so-called “threatening”.