It’s so terrible, and the LA Times has time for this instead of investigating where the $100 million raised for victims of the California fire.
Trump-era cuts to public art create a ‘state of emergency’ for L.A. dance community
Linda Yudin was sipping coffee with family and friends on May 3, the morning of her birthday, when they warned her not to check her emails.
Later that afternoon, she learned why: Her dance company, Viver Brasil, had lost a $20,000 grant. It was among 30 Los Angeles arts organizations that received a grant termination letter from the National Endowment for the Arts the night before.
“Was I mad? Yes, I was mad. I was really angry. We were all really angry because it slows our process down,” Yudin, Viver Brasil’s founding artistic director, told The Times.
Why is the federal government funding any of this stuff? Citizens have been saying that for 50 years. If they want to tour and put on productions they can raise the money themselves, not rely on federal taxpayer money. This is not a job of the feds.
The money was intended to support staff salaries and artist fees for a national tour of “Rezas e Folhas (Prayers and Leaves),” choreographed by co-artistic director Vera Passos. The piece blends Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous dance with experimental choreography to examine the climate crisis and social change — subjects playing out in real time in L.A.
Now, Viver Brasil has to pause and reevaluate what that tour will look like. Possible adjustments include performing in smaller venues and cutting down the size of the cast.
“We have to rethink perhaps, but I’m proud to be part of such a creative dance ecosystem,” Yudin said. “We dance hard, we fight hard, and that’s what we do.”
So, hit up a bank. Do a fundraiser. Petition the city or state. Use your own money. This is not a job of the federal government. It doesn’t exist in the Constitution. Sure, it’s not a lot of money, but, a dollar here, a dollar there, soon you have some good money.
Dance is one of the most underfunded arts disciplines, according to Raélle Dorfan, executive director of L.A.’s Dance Resource Center. She points to inherent economic challenges that inhibit the industry’s infrastructure and growth potential — such as limited funding sources — which consequently can make it challenging for companies and venues to fill seats.
So…..people aren’t willing to pay to see this? At least not many? The ballet doesn’t have a problem. Broadway productions do not have problems. And, if they do, they get cancelled.
Arts organizations across the country have been reeling from NEA grant terminations amid priority changes under President Trump’s administration. Twelve L.A. organizations are currently at risk of needing to eliminate jobs and programming due to federal funding cuts, according to Herrera.
If your business cannot survive without lots of government cash than it’s not operating well.
Is that worth $20K?
I get the feeling that without taxpayer support, this sort of “art” will never get produced because “artists” won’t do it on their own time/dime and consumers are unwilling to pay for it.
Why are U.S. taxpayers funding trump family golf trips to Scotland, NU and Florida? Eric and Don Jr went golfing in Scotland on the taxpayers’ dime. And get this, they were also conductiing family business while there!! At least the trump family pays taxes. Oh yeah, that.
$20,000 affording poor kids the chance to dance seems cheap in comparison.
Mr teach typed:
LOL. Businesses like…
Lockheed Martin ($71 Billion), RTX Corporation ($31 Billion), General Dynamics Corp ($27B), Boeing $24B, Northrop Grumman corporation $17B, Optum360, llc $16B, Leidos Holdings, Inc. $11B, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. $10B, McKesson Corporation $10B,
TriWest Healthcare Alliance $8B….
86 different businesses receive over $1 BILLION/yr each from taxpayers.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has received at least $1 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits each year since 2016, and between $2 billion and $4 billion a year from 2021 to 2024 – while Tesla has received over $1 billion a year since 2020.
The DOD spends over $212 BILLION/year on outside contractors!
All this spending and Mr trump and his gang of MAGAts have chosen to go after medical research, education, the arts, NPR, universities, science, immigrants, USAID, climate change and Planned Parenthood.
And Mr teach lets fly at dance troupe receiving $20,000. He even highlighted – The piece blends Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous dance with experimental choreography to examine the climate crisis and social change – for some reason. We know the reason.
Rimjob is somewhat confused and a bit jealous of the man who serves as President of the United States who also is a successful businessman to boot (something the whiny Rimjob can only aspire to seeing the company he left with a per share price of a nickel).
Cry harder, fatboy.
You’ll never achieve the success that Donald Trump has.
12 dance companies getting federal funding just in LA? is there anyone on the left who didn’t have their hands in the government treasury?
Commenter typed:
Does he/she believe all these corporations are run by leftists? LOL
Lockheed Martin ($71 Billion), RTX Corporation ($31 Billion), General Dynamics Corp ($27B), Boeing $24B, Northrop Grumman corporation $17B, Optum360, llc $16B, Leidos Holdings, Inc. $11B, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. $10B, McKesson Corporation $10B,TriWest Healthcare Alliance $8B….
86 different businesses receive over $1 BILLION/yr each from taxpayers.
Is Elon Musk a leftist? Is Big Donald a lefist? How about all those Repubs who collected millions in PPP loan forgiveness?
The companies that Rimjob so contemptuously dismisses provide a little more than silly dance routines.
Get real, fatso.
The economy has lifted off like a heavy lift rocket. Finally my retirement looks secure. Now I do have some investments in companies like Lockheed and Grumman. But nothing in crap like Afro-dance and shit about the environment/climate crisis.
From what I saw of the dance troop they don’t deserve any money from the federal government. None! G
Gonna be lots of tears and crying from the left as America is coming back great again.
And don’t forget, Trump got us a 1.2 Trillion trade deal. Not bad, not bad at all.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts receives about $50 million a year in federal funding. (But most of its funding comes from ticket sales and donations).
Mr trump has named himself the Kennedy Center chairman and fired the previous bipartisan Board of Trustees, along with its veteran president, Deborah Rutter, and its chairman, David M. Rubenstein. Rubenstein had donated $111 million and was the center’s biggest individual donor, the center said.
The Fat Man added portraits of the first and second couples to complement the JFK bust there. He further wants to change the name to the Donald J. Trump Center with the Opera House named after Melania.
Should we cut all federal funding to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and make it pay its own way?