The Federal Role in Supporting the Arts: Decline in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States

Authors

Stephanie M. Cooper

Abstract

The United States is not alone in its dilemmas with arts funding. Great Britain and Canada also struggle to achieve balanced governmental roles in arts subsidy which allow for artistic freedom without conceding accountability. The three countries take similar approaches to arts funding through an arm's length mechanism that is designed to alleviate undue political influence on the arts. This Note examines both the common and distinct crises in arts funding in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States by exploring the characteristics and flaws of the arm's length principle. The Note then explores each government's efforts to maintain some form of federal arts support. The author concludes that devolution and administrative changes in the United States' grant-making process might salvage the country's arts funding structure from further political domination or possible elimination.

Recommended Citation

Stephanie M. Cooper, The Federal Role in Supporting the Arts: Decline in Great Britain, Canada, and the United States, 16 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 237 (1993).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_international_comparative_law_review/vol16/iss2/9