That was then. Now, heartless Republicans have their sights set on the mimes and accordionists of the world:
A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday grilled the chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts over grants to San Francisco mimes and an international accordion festival.
“Those just kind of grants lend themselves to ridicule,” said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “These are a bit tough to justify…how can we justify these types of grants?”
Flake questioned NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman over a number of grants, including those to an international accordion festival and to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Making grants like these “feeds the cynicism out there about everything we do,” Flake said.
Landesman responded that many of the programs that win NEA support could not exist without the help.
“The marketplace shouldn’t be the sole determinant of what is allowed to flourish,” Landesman said, adding that the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe would likely not be able to survive solely on ticket sales.
Flake said he will do anything it takes to kill funding for the accordion festival, a statement that prompted Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) to say that Flake will be getting hate mail from Polish folk musicians.
More here.
Members of the “renowned” mime troupe issued the following statement in response:
what did
you expect?
we’re mimes
:-O
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat about mimes pretending to play the accordion?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhatever. Those mimes didn't speak out when the jackbooted thugs came for the cowboy poets.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe mimes did not issue a statement.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBut, in protest, after storming out of the hearing, they walked down a flight of stairs and threw themselves into shrinking boxes. Several remained behind, picking the petals off of some daisies.
The market absolutely should decide what flourishes. If you rely on government funding, you're not flourishing. You're leeching.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn NEA's world a bunch of bureaucrats spending other people's money should decide what flourishes, rather than the market. That's very telling.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWill my son get to keep his harmonica? Or do we need to replace it with an environmentally friendly harmonica?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMimes! Augh.
"Oh, look, he's pulling on a rope!"
Lame.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe SF Mime Troupe is about as "mime" as the Electric Light Orchestra was an "orchestra". They are a pro-Socialist, pro-Communist (I think the red star that hovers above their stage is just altogether quaint) hard-left group that delivers their so-called satirical skit lines quite vocally and loudly to their sympathetic leftist red meat-loving audience in parks in and around San Francisco. I just can't believe that my tax dollars are paying for it. Let their free-loading audience members flip the bill.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI saw a program quite a few years ago, about a welfare program. I think the country was the Netherlands.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn order to "support" the arts, the govt had committed to buying all of the output from any person the govt declared to be an artist. I do not remember how the prices were set.
The result of this was that the govt was running out of warehouses to store all of the "art" that they were buying. The govt tried several times to sell the "art", but could find no takers.
>"In order to "support" the arts, the govt had committed to buying all of the output from any person the govt declared to be an artist."
They should have taken a leaf from the Obama administration and mandated that people buy the "art".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNice use of "invisible ink."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm a member of the International Double Reed Society (oboe and basssoon players). We fund our own meetings and pay our own expenses. I'm also a member of the American Musical Instrument Society.We fund our own meetings and pay our own expenses.
Let the Commie-Mimes and Accordionists do the same.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Landesman responded that many of the programs that win NEA support could not exist without the help".
Doesn't this say it all? 'Could not exist due to lack of talent and/or interest' should be the criteria for NOT funding something. 100% defunding of the NEA would be a great idea. In response to critics, Rep Flake could just make a face like RNCCritic's response.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"“The marketplace shouldn’t be the sole determinant of what is allowed to flourish,”
Yes, because the ability to fill out grant papers and catch the favor of some government bureaucrat is a much better way to determine what is allowed to flourish.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, indeed. Someone smarter than everyone who gets to vote with their dollars should be empowered to force those who vote with their dollars to give up those dollars to support that which they don’t want.
That's what government control is all about.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's worse than it looks, actually. The San Francisco Mime Troupe is a leftist theater troupe. (They produce short plays and musicals--they aren't actually a silent "mime" troupe.) And their politics are *hard* on the left. Their emblem is a red star: External Link
Sure, let 'em perform, God bless 'em. But why are my tax dollars funding leftist agitprop? Never mind, that's a dumb question.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA mime is a terrible thing to waste.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJust more of that vaunted GOP Latino outreach:
Expect Flake to quietly cave when it's pointed out to him that 'Polish Folk Musicians' aren't the only ones who play the accordian or its southwest Tex-Mex cousin the concertina.
I'll cut Serrano some lack as it's probably harder to find Tejano in New York (though not by much).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCome on people. Mime is money!
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse