Elizabeth Harrington of the Washington Free Beacon highlights another questionable use of your tax dollars.
The National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities is giving millions of taxpayer dollars to nonprofits with assets of over $1 billion.
OpenTheBooks.com, a transparency watchdog group, released a report this week highlighting egregious examples of arts funding going towards museums, universities, and nonprofit organizations that hardly need federal funding.
The National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities issued $20.5 million in grants to “asset-rich” nonprofit groups with assets of $1 billion or more in 2016 alone. …
… The Borderlands Theater, which received $10,000 from the NEA in December for a play about going back in time to kill Christopher Columbus, also received funding for dance performances with a cactus.
“First, attendees stand or sit with a saguaro cactus for an hour in the middle of the desert,” OpenTheBooks.com said. “Participants are encouraged to see what the cactus can teach them during this hour and share their experience on social media using the hashtag #IStandWithSaguaros.”
The funding also went to a podcast on the cactus and a “cactus celebration” involving story, song, poem, and dance. …
… The richest organization to receive taxpayer funding is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The museum has $4 billion in assets.
