The allocation of and judicious expenditure of public funds is a lingering topical issue for governments around the world today. Although I agree that it is important to spend money on public services, I do not think money spent on the arts is a useless venture.
There are several reasons for spending government funds on social amenities such as roads, hospitals and schools. Firstly, the provision of good roads, top quality hospitals and sound schools (amongst many others) makes for a good standard of living. Good roads that enable quick delivery of perishable food items from rural areas, sound hospitals that provide top quality and affordable tertiary healthcare and nice schools for proper education of the populace are just a few contributory factors to a high quality of life. Furthermore, proper allocation of public funds in an equitable manner towards public services in areas that were once deprived discourages the rising of social conflicts. If any part of a society feels left out, it could lead to internal wrangling and major conflicts, if not civil wars.
However, despite the overt importance of spending public funds on providing public services, there are still some benefits of spending on the arts. The need to preserve cultural heritage is one major reason. This could be achieved by sponsoring festivals that display works of arts indigenous to a people, and it go some way in promoting tourism and consequently improving the GDP. The Cannes Film Festival, for instance, is a popular annual event held in France to promote their local movie productions and it is one that attracts a large number of tourists. Moreover, music festivals and theatre shows are a huge source of social relief from stress for most youths. Spending some government money to keep these shows going on would contribute a lot to the mental and social aspects of their health, keeping them productive rather than destructive.
To sum up, there are obvious benefits of ensuring a greater portion of public funds go into providing public services as this influences the quality of our lives. Having said that, I do not believe spending money on the arts is a waste of valuable resources as this too provides necessary benefits.
The allocation of and judicious expenditure of
public
funds is a lingering topical issue for
governments
around the world
today
. Although I
agree
that it is
important
to spend
money
on
public
services
, I do not
think
money
spent on the
arts
is a useless venture.
There are several reasons for
spending
government
funds on
social
amenities such as roads, hospitals and schools.
Firstly
, the provision of
good
roads, top
quality
hospitals and sound schools (amongst
many
others)
makes
for a
good
standard of living.
Good
roads that enable quick delivery of perishable food items from rural areas, sound hospitals that provide top
quality
and affordable tertiary healthcare and nice schools for proper education of the populace are
just
a few contributory factors to a high
quality
of life.
Furthermore
, proper allocation of
public
funds
in an equitable manner
towards
public
services
in areas that were once deprived discourages the rising of
social
conflicts. If any part of a society feels
left
out, it could lead to internal wrangling and major conflicts, if not civil wars.
However
, despite the overt importance of
spending
public
funds on providing
public
services
, there are
still
some
benefits of
spending
on the
arts
. The need to preserve cultural heritage is one major reason. This could
be achieved
by sponsoring festivals that display works of
arts
indigenous to a
people
, and it go
some
way in promoting tourism and
consequently
improving the GDP. The Cannes Film Festival,
for instance
, is a popular annual
event
held in France to promote their local movie productions and it is one that attracts
a large number of
tourists.
Moreover
, music festivals and
theatre
shows
are a huge source of
social
relief from
stress
for most youths.
Spending
some
government
money
to
keep
these
shows
going on would contribute a lot to the mental and
social
aspects of their health, keeping them productive
rather
than destructive.
To sum up, there are obvious benefits of ensuring a greater portion of
public
funds go into providing
public
services
as this influences the
quality
of our
lives
. Having said that, I do not believe
spending
money
on the
arts
is a waste of valuable resources as this too provides necessary benefits.