Orson Bean Quotes

It is not true that I oppose government funding of the arts.

That's the reason support for the National Endowment of the Arts is so important. It enables those ventures that aren't viable commercially to be done.

… perhaps we are awakening to the realization that if individuals can no longer patronize the arts in the way they did in the old days, we may come to a time where the public will undertake to do this for its own pleasure and profit.

The arts need funding.

I think, in this country, we have a problem where we view the arts as charity, and therefore, it has no value. Things in America that have value are profitable, and unless you are profitable, we don't know where to put you.

So what it boils down to, in my humble opinion, is that we need to support the arts in schools, and at every other level in the education of children.

It's great that 'Glee' is making viewers more aware of the arts. People appreciate it.

I'm conflicted with theater in the city because you want to reach a diverse audience, and that audience doesn't typically go to the theater.

In these difficult financial times for so many of our districts, as our local leaders strive to balance their budgets by cutting services, we would be irresponsible not to invest in the arts.

I'm on Governor Gray Davis' California Alliance Towards Education to bring the arts back to high schools.

As an artist I have an even more abiding interest in the compact between the Arts and Government.

I've always argued, unsuccessfully, that there's no point in giving money to the arts unless you educate people in them.

Everyone town of 100,000 in the United States should have a Classical Theater supported by the town, or the state of the county, or the Federal Government, as they have in every civilized country.

I think the problem with the arts in America is how unimportant it seems to be in our educational system.

It's a false proposition that we have to take the arts away to fund something else.

The arts are usually the first thing to be cut in schools or regional programs.

Programs that bring the arts to young kids are always the first to be cut. It's mind-boggling to me.

The arts are part of the fiber of American society and should get Federal support.

In 1997, the Labour government set out to strengthen funding for the arts - and achieved it.

I have written favourably in support of subsidy for the arts since the 1960s, and I continue to believe absolutely in subsidy, as I do in the BBC licence fee.

The BBC does a sterling job, but I'd like to see it do more. ITV does four arts programmes a year; it used to be 28. At least Sky, with its two arts channels, is trying.

You can't punish the middle classes for going to drama school - you need to punish the education system and the associative governments for devaluing the arts.

I'm hoping someday that we'll be able to start a consortium with places like Carnegie Hall to work on early childhood education. I really feel that's the most important place to put the arts.

If the arts are in peril, we must do our small part to to fight the good fight and protect and preserve.

Just as a city cannot protect its manufacturing base without keeping its factories, we cannot have a strong arts sector without studios, rehearsal space, and performance venues.