Wichita Peace and Freedom Party Examiner;
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has started a national debate by eliminating funding for arts programs. According to The Wichita Eagle,he wants private donations to pay for all the state’s art. If he and others have their way, public art will disappear and all art will be corporate art. At the same time the state's transportation funding program, has been awarded $529 million worth of road projects for south-central Kansas, according to The Wichita Eagle.
A lot of our art already is corporate art. We have corporate names on just about every building constructed for the public including the new Exploration Place, science museum which has a lot of rooms with the names of the aircraft companies. They no doubt paid for those names to be on those rooms. So Wichita’s public buildings and museums are all financed and then named after local corporations. They probably decide what goes into these museums.
The Wichita Art Museum also has The Emprise Bank Research Library,
another room paid for by a corporation that wants publicity for its
contribution. It has some great works of art by some well known and progressive Kansans. But What about the future. Will the Wichita Art Museum end up begging people to donate as our public radio show does now?
Brownback is not leaving the next generation much to appreciate about Kansas.
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