This essay was originally published in the book Who's to Pay for the Arts?: The International Search for Models of Arts Support by Milton C. Commings, Jr.

This essay summarizes some of the major generalizations that emerged from a book we recently edited, The Patron State: Government and the arts in Europe, North America and Japan. That book focuses on the things that governments have been doing, both helpful and hurtful, that affect the arts in thirteen industrialized and many Western nations: eight on the continent of Europe; two, Ireland and the United Kingdom, in the British Isles; two, Canada and the , in North America; and one, Japan, on the industrial rim of Asia. This essay also serves to introduce a number of issues that are explored in greater detail...in this volume.

In presenting this summary, we shall first say a word or two about the book itself. We shall then consider some of the patterns in government relations with the arts which have emerged in the thirteen countries. In doing this, we shall explore several questions. How have government policies that affect the arts developed and evolved since World War II in Western Europe and North America? What patterns in arts policy making occur in every country in our survey and are almost universal in the industrialized nations of the world? What are the differences among arts policies and programs from country to country? What are some of the specific forms of government aid for the arts - both direct grants to artists and arts organizations and indirect forms of aid - that different nations have been using? What do they mean for those who run arts organizations, and for those who are studying arts policy? (p. 5)

CONTENTS

• Historical differences.
• Recent trends.
• General patterns of government assistance.
• Common dilemmas.
• Specific strategies of government support.
• Implications for the future.
• Notes [bibliography].

This essay summarizes some of the major generalizations that emerged from a book we recently edited, The Patron State: Government and the arts in Europe, North America and Japan. The essay was originally published in the book Who's to Pay for the Arts?: The International Search for Models of Arts Support by Milton C. Commings, Jr.