Stimulus Bill Will Create Arts Jobs

The Los Angeles Times’ Culture Monster blog reports that the current version of the stimulus bill will help create jobs in the Arts.

Congress settled the question of whether or not arts jobs are real jobs Friday night when it approved a massive stimulus bill that includes a modest $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. The money is meant to fund activities that “preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.”

David Obey (D-Wis.) defended the spending.

“There are 5 million people who work in the arts industry. And right now they have 12.5% unemployment — or are you suggesting that somehow if you work in that field, it isn’t real when you lose your job, your mortgage or your health insurance?”

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