Some hold the view that the government is wasting money on the arts and it should divert its spending on something else. In my opinion, I completely disagree with the aforementioned statement and I will justify my stance with reasoning in this essay.
Art is an important backbone of other economic sectors. It shouldn’t be viewed as something isolated. If there is massive expenditure dedicated to the arts then it has the potential to contribute immensely by strengthening the tourism and service sectors which generally contribute a substantial share of the overall GDP of a country. For instance, the Chinese government has consistently spent one of the highest amounts relative to its national product on arts over the past 50 years and this has had a key role in making the Chinese economy the 2nd largest in the world currently, which has been highlighted by multiple global economists.
Arts help in portraying a country’s culture to the rest of the world. Art is a medium through which artists can express themselves and convey information about the mentality and traditions of his/her fellow citizens to people of foreign countries who may not be familiar with their way of life. For instance, the Renaissance era was well-known for the churning of many Italian artists whose paintings became world-famous like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and its influence has made Italian culture quite omnipresent on the global stage.
In conclusion, people shouldn’t feel that the government is cashing too much on the arts and that it should move its expenditure elsewhere. The best solution is the government allocating a relatively equal proportion of its budget to all economic sectors which would ensure all industries are given equal priority.