Nowadays, government tends to view the arts mainly in instrumental terms - as spurs to economic development or conduits for diplomacy and statecraft.
Over the past decade, for example, the arts have generated some $600 million a year in economic benefits to Maryland, comparable to the impact of the state's imperiled horse racing industry. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department regularly organizes overseas exhibitions of American artists to celebrate the creativity and innovation that flow from our society's commitment to the free exchange of ideas.
But there's more to it than that. There's a lovely exhibition of illuminated manuscripts at the Walters this season, for instance, which many people have praised for the feeling of mystery inspired by the elaborate gold-leaf designs in the ancient Bibles on view. You don't quite see yourself in these images, but rather some place beyond yourself, an enlarged point of view that gives you another place to stand.
