Dancing with the devil: An analysis of the negative impact of federal arts support on the American not -for -profit theatre.
Item
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Title
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Dancing with the devil: An analysis of the negative impact of federal arts support on the American not -for -profit theatre.
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Identifier
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AAI9969673
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identifier
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9969673
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Creator
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Bassin, Joel Trager.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Judith Milhous
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Theater
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Abstract
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The idea and practice of federal support to the American not-for-profit theatre has been hotly contested since 1935, when the Federal Theatre Project was established (FTP). After only four years, the FTP was liquidated by Congress because it was embroiled in political and public controversy. In 1965, Congress authorized the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and this agency of federal arts support has also generated intense political and public controversy. Existing scholarship has tended to accept and perpetuate the central economic and ideological arguments of advocates, and scholars have questioned specific features of the practice while endorsing its theoretical value, rather than testing the efficacy of these central arguments with empirical evidence and examining the consequences of the idea of federal arts support on the American not-for-profit theatre.;Chapter One reviews the existing scholarship and identifies its flaws and strengths. Chapters Two and Three present a narrative of the origins of the FTP and NEA through an analysis of shifting political, economic, and ideological factors and the motivations and actions of key individuals such as Hallie Flanagan, W. McNeil Lowry, August Heckscher, John D. Rockefeller 3rd, and Lyndon Johnson. In Chapter Four the theories of William G. Baumol and William J. Bowen, who legitimized not-for-profit theatre deficits as an inherent economic condition of the arts, are disputed with financial data from not-for-profit theatre budgets. Chapter Five extends Paul J. DiMaggio and Kristen Stenberg's methodological approach for measuring levels of innovation and diversity in the American not-for-profit theatre to demonstrate that the NEA may have exerted a negative influence on artistic creation and production by encouraging artistic and structural conformity. Finally, Chapter Six examines the recurring points of tension that have been experienced between the government and the American not-for-profit theatre since the thirties, and I propose strategies to reduce or eliminate these tensions and escape their negative consequences.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
