Access to the arts is a basic human right and deserves government support similar, in my view, to health care, roads, garbage removal, education, water, and other basics that enrich and sustain the lives of citizens in a respectable and enviable society. Equitable distribution of funds should be determined by the citizens (i.e. allocated to localities by the number of people residing there in conjunction or division by other means such as states). Individuals, along with organizations and institutions, should be eligible for freely using these funds for creative work and public expression. Censorship should be left to the viewing audience not government. Creativity should be the cornerstone of funding.

Maida Withers is a world-renowned modern dance performer and choreographer, as well as a professor of dance at The George Washington University.

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