OPINION:
America’s artistic ecosystem is collapsing. Public arts funding and cultural institutions have been captured by ideological gatekeepers who reward political signaling over artistic merit.
Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled into organizations that almost exclusively support art that is unapologetically anti-American, anti-Western civilization, anti-White, anti-Jewish and always emphatically Marxist.
This new “art” lacks even a basic standard of craftsmanship and serves only to alienate the general museum-going public. It has completely turned away the people who should be financing the arts: private patrons.
What happened to the Coles, the Hockneys, the Wyeths and the Whistlers? Led by Marxist curators and others who value ideological conformity over real talent, today’s great creators stand little chance.
If America wants to destroy the arts and drive youths away from creative professions, it needs only to continue down this path. Audiences are voting with their feet and wallets, as museum attendance is below pre-COVID-19 levels. Disinterest in the arts from future generations will be catastrophic to American society and its values.
Art should be for everyone, but it no longer is. Increasingly, grant committees and foundations appear not to evaluate the work itself but rather to rely on a checklist of oppressions and minority status points. Our largest art institutions have been co-opted by underwhelming radicals who wouldn’t know a good painting if Salvador Dali rose from the dead and dropped it at their doorstep.
How did we get here? The answer lies in the shift from a patron-driven ecosystem to one dominated by faceless bureaucratic gatekeepers who prioritize political ideology over skill, mastery and public appeal. Frederic Bastiat warned 170 years ago in “The Law,” if you hand the arts and education entirely to the socialist left, those institutions will inevitably reflect their leaders’ values — or lack thereof.
How do we stop this collapse? The Trump administration’s cuts were a strong first step. Now it’s up to the artistic community to do the rest. Create organizations to promote the ideals that made our country great and made us the dominant force in the arts for the past century.
The time for rebellion is now.
ADAM M. THOMPSON
Founder, project director
The Great American Art Competition
Miami Beach, Florida
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