The symposium featured eleven presenters and eleven respondents, some of whom are Mid-America Arts Alliance, (M-AAA) board members (noted below). The format of the symposium was such that each presenter was allowed approximately twenty minutes to deliver a prepared statement, after which the symposium facilitator directed discussion that included all participants.

Today we are in the midst of what appears to be a sea change in the national political attitude concerning public funding of the arts. Although no one knows what the result of the current turmoil surrounding public arts funding will be, we must work in an informed and creative manner in order to shape the best possible outcome. The board of directors of the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) is sponsoring this forum because it believes that there has been far too little discussion informing the current public arts funding debate. For some time, the M-AAA board has been concerned that the lack of such discussion and resultant policy option development has seriously hindered the ability of the arts community to respond to a rapidly changing and increasingly threatening external environment. The board hopes that the ideas exchanged in this symposium will strengthen and expand public arts policy development and that the success of this forum will encourage further discussion of policy development in the public arts funding field. (p. 6-7)

CONTENTS
About the sponsor.
Symposium Committees and credits.
Symposium participants.
Introduction.
Proceedings (by presentation):
     Frank Hodsoll. Arlene Goldbard.
     John Kreidler. 
Congressional Perspectives:
     Dean Amhaus.
     Congressman Steve Gunderson.
     Connie Ware.
     Daniel Ritter.
     Robert Lynch.
     Alice Goldfarb Marquis.
     Jonathan Katz.
     Margaret Wyszomirski.
Question-and-Answer session.
Participants' biographies.
Bibliography of readings distributed to participants.

Proceedings of a symposium which featured eleven presenters and eleven respondents, some of whom are Mid-America Arts Alliance, and (M-AAA) board members (noted below). Looks at the change in the national political attitude concerning public funding of the arts.