Quote:
Originally Posted by gblowfish
Art is an important element of a functioning society. Artists are crucial to imagination and inspiration. Money well spent
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Also, I do agree with this.
People don't realize how often their extra tax dollars are spent on beautifying spaces and they don't even realize it. They look at any local public works project and admire having the space or the building or whatever it is, but never want to hear about the "art" price tag that went into that area.
Let's say KCI cut the costs down and didn't put anything up at all to save the $5.3 million. People would bitch. Okay, so what if they just put something up in its place but nothing artsy fartsy and weird? Like... what?
A banner from Party City? People will bitch about how shitty it looks.
A sign that says "Welcome to KCI" or something like that? Unless you put $$$ into the materials and make it look nice, people will still bitch.
How about one of those cost-efficient murals of blown up black-and-white photographs of the Kansas City area? Or panoramic images of the city across the wall? One of those is a lot more expensive than you think, and is actually bordering on the pricetag it would cost for one of those art projects.
How about a good ol' fountain instead of a shitty artist rendering of a fountain? Uh-huh. And fountains aren't expensive at all!
It's one thing if you never wanted a new airport in the first place. But that's not what happened. The new airport is here, and if you're going to dip in and build the damn thing, you need to make it a great ****ing airport. Otherwise, what's the point?