Saturday, October 09, 2004

From Our "Your Tax Dollars At Work" Department...

From Unixdude, this item about a recent grant from the National Endowment for the Arts:

"$35,000 NEA Grant Funds Musical About A Killer!
NEA -- the National Endowment for the Arts -- is giving the La Jolla Playhouse thirty-five thousand dollars to 'develop' a musical based on the life of San Diego gay prostitute turned serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan as you might recall killed fashion designer Gianni Versace as the last (himself not withstanding) of his many victims. The musical, titled 'Disposable,' will be developed by three Playhouse associates ---- playwright Jessica Hagedorn (whose 'Dogeaters' went from the Playhouse to off-Broadway a few years ago), composer Mark Bennett (creator of the score for the Playhouse's 'Eden Lane' last year) and director Michael Greif (who ran the Playhouse as artistic director from 1994 to 1999).
Is this really how we want our government spending our tax dollars? Not mine, thank you. It seems that the NEA is linked quite frequently to Insufferable Art. So whether you want to see dancing vaginas or a guy nailing his tiny johnson to a board [one moment, please, while I wince in pain], the NEA can 'help' us all! Unfortunately, the artists that receive NEA funding are no more an 'artist' than the guy down at Subway that makes my sandwich. Further, the NEA is way beyond the point of reform. It must be abolished."