Reagan drastically cut taxes on the rich and cut all public spending except for military, which he goosed.
And where did that leave the arts?
Lynn Garafola tells us in Dance For a City:
NYC “was in the throes of major changes.. . . huge, postmodern boxes attesting to the triumph of Reaganomics and the globalization of capital. Real estate was booming, and up and down Broadway luxury housing for singles and high-priced health clubs were swallaong up dance studios. Audiences fell off and so did traditional gift-giving, as foundations poured money once earmarked for the arts into education and health, replacing government cutbacks. Public funding for the arts plummeted, and increasingly went to programs and institutions uncontaminated by the label of ‘high art.’”