Culture’s accelerating decline in this country advances a step with the announcement that the Brooklyn Philharmonic is seeking to avoid bankruptcy. Robin Pogrebin reports in the Times.
And of course, not a peep from our government, which long ago made the decision that it is OK that billions of taxpayer money are funneled to subsidize, and sometimes hand a lifeline to malfeasant financial institutions. And no harm done if the result is exorbitant profit by a few at the expense of many.
And our government is equally adamant that important performing arts institutions–which, by their very nature, cannot be made profitable–should be allowed to twist in the breeze.
The apathy that has greeted the New York City Opera’s demise is deafening.
Nearly fifteen years ago, the late R.W. Apple described in the Times the cultural illiteracy and negligence among our political elite:
“Elected Bodies With Hardly a Cultured Bone,” published July 26, 1998.
And what we’re seeing today is the inevitable culmination of years of regressive political priorities.