paperboy: That is very idealistic of you. Unfortunately, we are not the government. The government is the government. It sounds like you are willing to blindly trust anything that the government deems appropriate. That is extremely naive. History is riddled with instances of government abusing its power. Not to mention all of the current governments around the world that abuse their citizenry! Iran, N. Korea, Cuba, Venezuela come to mind. Think it can't happen here? It is already happening my friend, we are the frogs being cooked by creeping Socialism. Don't give up, just continue to educate yourself, as I do, and fight the monster.

superdave, along time ago I beefed about the city. The city this the city that, also the government. Then one day I realized we are the city, we are the government. I know that's debatable ,however taking that attitude has positive effects all around.

paperboy: Art is good. Socialism is not. The arts have historically had "patrons", individuals that supported the artists and had a lot of influence over it in the process. This is freedom at work. However, letting government pick and choose where public funds are used is just wrong on so many levels. So, to be clear, no one is against art! But some of us are against politicizing it via Socialism.

bennetonf1, your right about how some view art but this community as many patrons of the arts as well as many artist. Those that define art as a large screen t.v. don't get it . It's too bad they didn't go to Beloits film festival to see first hand the economics in play.It seems to me the arts color our world as much as some think religion does. (when was the last war started by artist? when was the last time a group of artist tried to take over your neighborhood making it unsafe. This stimulus money towards the arts council is good for everyone even those that don't get it.

Great. The gubmint picks winners and losers in the arts community. It is not the government's job to fund art! The National Endowment for the Arts should be terminated with extreme prejudice. This is the same group that supported the homosexual photography of Robert Mapplethorpe, and the Andres Serrano piece Piss Christ which was a photograph of a crucifix submerged in urine. But I guess I just can't pick 'em like the elitists can. If we were left to our own devices, we'd all be buying black velvet sketches of dogs playing poker. Viva socialism!

I say it might keep an actor or two in a job, but because no one else has the money to go see them,well... This money could have been used to stimulate jobs for people who are out of work and can't even pay their bills let alone patron the arts!!! What a bunch of pork dribble!!!!

http://artsboard.wisconsin.gov/static/cr...

Let it go proartist. This community thinks of the "Arts" as American Idol/Dancing with the Stars.

How soon so many forget! There were 8 feature films, 16 television shows, 3 national commercials and 2 video game manufacturing projects produced in Wisconsin in the first 14 months of Wisconsin's tax incentive for the film arts. Rock Co. workers and businesses felt direct, positive benefits of this program. Implementing these creative stimulus incentives for the arts instead of moaning woe-is-us proved their ability to draw millions of dollars and create hundreds of Wisconsin jobs in just over a year's time. In turn, those dollars were spent and recirculated throughout the state providing new and continued employment. Such sitmulus may not receive as much publicity as GM or sports teams but without it, Rock County's economic situation would be far more dire.

with all do respect to the arts and those who love them this is janesville wi,with rock county having highest unemployment rate,not fantasy island, the money could have been put to better use. bailout

Its a shame the Arts gets blown into the stimulus cesspool but by the way the article is written it sounds like a bailout. Its just preserving jobs that already exist nothing new is being created. That's not very stimulating at all.

Proartist - good for you. The arts always get the short end of the stick....don't people remember that movies generate revenue? There were several movies shot in Wisconsin. They are part of the arts and they generated a log of revenue for the areas that they were filming in, plus they provided jobs for many people. I say way to go for the arts!

I'll bet there are a whole bunch of former GM workers who can spot-weld who could use their skills to make sculptures out of scrap metal. Be creative. Janesville could become the home of the world's largest spot-welded sculpture garden!

Long_Time_Gone, I know the popular image is of a "starving artist", but they do in fact buy groceries -- the same as a construction worker. So paying an artist, or paying a construction worker, you still inject the same stimulus to the economy. A dollar is a dollar.

funny, near the Milwaukee House For The Performance Arts, was a little bar called, Arts Performing House. It was performance of a different kind.
talk about stimulus!

If those apples and oranges are painted on black velvet, and sold on the street next to those Elvis paintings, then I am sure your advocacy will prove Ivy League economists all wrong.
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Perhaps all those displaced GM auto workers should be applying for positions at Madison's Overture Hall.

Construction workers ARE skilled artists for they implement the architectural arts. (Long_Time_Gone): You might be surprised at how much a painting of apples and oranges (even if in a "primitive" style) might sell for on e-bay while someone writing and singing a song about those same apples and oranges could earn some surprisingly good money being a street performer in the summer!

Janesvillean - stimulas money for the arts is the "same as if a construction worker were hired?"
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Talk about comparing apples to oranges...hey, that would be a pretty picture, apples and oranges...in a bowl. Here's $30 a hour, go paint the community apples and oranges and we'll measure how many jobs you create.
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Or, act - portray an apple or an orange on stage; or, sculpt..chisel a oblisk of an apple on an orange; or, compose, sing us a song about apples and oranges.
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Come on down, Proartist, Janesvillean is creating jobs.

(jvldss): Those out of work also now have the opportunities that cost little or nothing to find stress release in difficult times by expanding and using their own creativity even at home. Art, in it's many forms and disciplines, can be found in sewing your own clothes, taking photos, writing down your memories, re-arranging the furniture, learning any creative skill from a friend or neighbor, creating a home gallery by using magnets to hang a child's finger-painting on the fridge, decorating a cookie...ideas to put more art into your life are endless. Use hard economic times as the chance to "think outside the box" and create art from recyclable materials (i.e.unravel an old sweater and reuse the yarn for a scarf). Too many think of art only as something in a museum, exhibit hall or theatre. It's in the cereal aisle on packaging, in the flowers of a garden, in the style of your car, in the design of your computer, and even in a child's water-and-brush painting done on a sidewalk on a hot summer day. Art is an integral part of every day life and we would all be diminished without it. (gpawcat:)THAT is why, with government funds, promoting and sustaining larger community art efforts is a worthwhile and profitable investment not only in dollars but in the value of human creativity and inspiration itself.

Pro-artist - Regarding stimulas money for the arts, um, nevermind.

What a miss use of the stimulas money. This is what called pork barrel spending folks. It doesn't put anyone to work. And if you don't have a job, why go to the Arts.

The issue is settled. Since the arts bring in so much cash to the economy, then the community will support it. The arts do not need taxpayer support.

With all those people out of work in the state of Wisconsin, they now have more time to take in an art gallery or watch a ballet.

"How can the Arts be defined as stimulas?".......it provides JOBS! A survey a few years ago in Milwaukee Co. which pitted only the Milwaukee Performing Arts Center by itself against all the organized professional sports. The survey demonstrated loud and clear that the PAC generated more financial exchanges and created more economic profit for area businesses of all types than all those sports combined! In Janesville, JPAC doesn't just provide jobs at the center and take in audience revenue, it brings tourism from across the nation, it creates customers for all the hospitality industry (including restaurants, hotels, etc.), and it also generates sales by local artists and performers who buy the materials of their trade in the area. Festivals such as UAA's annual ArtsFest not only provide entertainment but livelihood for those who sell their art. The list of financial GAIN for communities when they invest in the arts is astounding for anyone who actually researches these facts. The issue of how the arts benefit our nonmaterial sense of community and how they enrich our cultural souls is unquantifiable but absolutely vital at a time when other aspects of daily living are dismal. The arts are not now, nor ever, "pork" but a SOLID investment in the sustainability of communities, their citizens and our future.

Why give any 'stimulus' $'s to art? Why is it that some just don't get it with the economy in such poor shape that tax dollars (our money!) should be spent only on ESSENTIAL services, not on feel good stuff like 'art'. I have nothing against art. It's nice for those who are interested, but it sure as heck is NOT essential to life! It makes no difference how many jobs would be created. We don't need it now and our tax should NOT be used on anything that is NOT ESSENTIAL. It's like saying 'we don't have any heat', but we've got this money sitting here so let's get a big screen TV! Common sense people, use it and stop all this feel good crap!

The money will be spent locally, much more so than some other parts of the stimulus. Therefore it will contribute to the local economy the same as if a construction worker were hired.
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GM still owns the property, and unless it liquidates its obligations regarding hazardous waste through bankruptcy, will be paying for cleanup before it can be sold.

Give the $300k+ to Rock County and Janesville to hire several hundred laid off residents to begin the recycle/demo of the GM site.
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How can the Arts be defined as stimulas?

This is the pork that makes taxpayers so angry. I have no problem paying my fair share to fund the operating of essential government services like Social Security, defense, police, fire department, ect. If I need the arts board, I would support it, but I have other priorities. The Arts is a pay to play deal.