Cry Harder: NPR TV Critic Wants You to Know He's Mad About DeSantis' Veto of $32 MIL in State Art Funding

We've never quite understood the notion of government-funded arts. The arts in and of themselves are good, but the government should not be using our tax dollars to pick the winners and the losers. They rarely use the funds to put on, say, a production of Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' because people -- by and large -- will pay to see a production of Shakespeare. What they do fund, however is atrocious 'art' like the blasphemous 'Piss Christ' or the Virgin Mary covered in animal dung.

In the name of 'art.'

It's also an example of government spending that can be cut, and cut it Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did. To the tune of $32 million. What he actually did was veto the funding from the state budget.

Eric Deggans, NPR TV critic, is not happy about that.

Gov. Ron DeSantis stoops lower than I believed possible, vetoing most of the state's support for the arts. It's only $32 million among $1 billion in cuts, but it's devastating for artists and arts organizations, while proving how little he values the arts. https://t.co/ZT5cueDoZO
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) June 21, 2024

More from The Art Newspaper:

Florida governor Ron DeSantis slashed more than $32m in art and culture grants from next year’s state budget, effectively eliminating most of the state’s financial resources available for the arts. The legislature had already approved the funds in the form of two grants: $26m for one that supports cultural and museum programming, and $6m for another for building projects.
The cuts are a small part of the nearly $1bn in line items that DeSantis vetoed before signing the budget last week, but art and cultural institutions across Florida say losing those grants will pose an immense challenge.
“It’s a huge disappointment and a quandary,” Michael Tomor, the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art, told The Tampa Bay Times. “We are all unclear as to why this happened.”

I’ll tell you one of the biggest reasons outside of boomers and the indictments DeSantis didn’t get the nomination: it’s because every member of the house and senate knew he would veto all of their pet projects and garbage bills. That’s why. https://t.co/DB8YGajaE8
— Long Monkeypox (@podiatristdon) June 22, 2024

Probably correct.

"the arts"
Taxpayers were supposed to continue funding the South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble...
The GOP way in the rest of the country is to win elections, then fund your opponents..
Not in Florida.
They can get their funding from donors, not me. https://t.co/Z0BbcOpuyu pic.twitter.com/inbl5CStAv
— Frog Capital (@FrogNews) June 22, 2024

Nailed it.

“Devastating!” Yes, I guess it’s “devastating” to learn that the only way people will pay you for your questionable creative output is if the government forces them to, at the point of a gun. https://t.co/pe6AyNUBCX pic.twitter.com/3VWXLTQf9h
— Amygator 🐊 *not an actual alligator (@AmyA1A) June 22, 2024

'Devastating' -- we think Eric doesn't understand what that word really means.

DeSantis zeroes out funding for transgender performance art to raise awareness of climate change racism for kindergartners; Tazpayer funded art critics hardest hit. https://t.co/xyuoyToINv
— Cardinal Curmudgeon (@Gimblin) June 22, 2024

Which proves our point -- this wasn't paying for a Monet exhibit or Shakespeare production. It was going to ideological groups.