Does funding the arts matter? That was the question Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey repeatedly asked the packed audience of arts advocates who attended his Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at the Kennedy Center on Monday night. The lecture was part of the 24th Annual Arts Advocacy Day that took place in D.C. over the past two days. “Between the ages of 11 and 19, the opportunities I had to seek professional productions, go to workshops, go to seminars, participate in drama festivals and Shakespeare festivals was extraordinary; and these experiences had everything to do with me finding my own sense of confidence, and of being able to believe in myself, of discovering my potential and finding my self esteem,” Spacey, the artistic director of the Old Vic Theater in London, told the crowd on Monday night.
“I would never would have had that experience if I had I not grown up at a time where there was enormous amount of funding for arts programs in the United States,” he said.
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At a time when Congress is trying to decide where to make budget cuts, Spacey is hoping his voice will be heard and that his success as an artist can rally support for pro-arts legislation and creative industry.
“Arts and culture are a necessity in our lives as individuals and as nations,” he said. “Art establishes basic human truth and culture provides the magic of our experience and [they] are our strongest ambassador of the human condition that we exchange around the world. Countries may go to war but it’s culture that unites us.”
When asked the question if funding the arts really matters, Spacey will tell you: To him, it does. “It matters very, very much.”
