“For the arts world, the question is essentially the same as the one being asked everywhere right now, across the political spectrum: ‘What will a President Donald J. Trump mean for me?,’ ” writes Randy Kennedy in Friday’s (11/18) New York Times. “The answer from artists, museums, theaters, actors, writers, musicians and the movie and television industry is … ‘Your guess is as good as mine.’ Though he has been front-and-center in public life for more than four decades in the country’s cultural capital, Mr. Trump has left a meager trail to suggest what positions he might take on public arts funding and arts education…. Mr. Trump has been vague about his position on government funding for the arts and humanities and for arts-related education. His hard-line position on immigration has some arts groups with an international focus worried about visa issues, which have already become more difficult in recent years. And Mr. Trump has also proposed reducing tax benefits for charitable giving, which could have a far more devastating impact on the arts than cuts in public money…. Outside of television … Mr. Trump has not had deep involvement with the arts.… Art dealers said they had never seen Mr. Trump at an auction.”
Posted November 21, 2016
