Again, that's not my argument. By all means support the arts or whatever, but the people making the decisions and being given money need to be accountable.
When I work with a client I have to carefully document what I'm doing, and why, so that the people paying for it can understand it. This is very carefully set out in the contracts we have with local and state governments, and there are clear criteria for who qualifies for what program and why. I can't just say "because it is".
The contracts for the programs include goals and regular checks on specific dates to see if we are achieving those goals, and if we don't we have to be able to explain why not. We are held accountable for what we do, as we should be.
In the same way, if the arts wants support, then it is up to the people asking for this support to have a clear case why and how it benefits society as a whole, and why they make the decisions they do. Saying "because it is important" or "because this is a great artist" is not a clear benchmark.
