Ustinov Says Government Should Subsidize Artists

Peter Ustinov, British playwright-actor-director-producer, told a Winthrop House audience of about 500 last night that the federal government should spend more money on the arts.

"State subsidies of the arts seem to be anathema in the United States," Ustinov said, "but in Europe, the prevailing attitude seems to be that the money is welcome, whatever the source."

He said that he could "understand American objections to federal aid to the arts," since it might lead to government restrictions of freedom of artistic expression. But, he said, government subsidies have proved effective in England, where they are offered "with no strings attached."

City Spirit

When the city of Nottingham financed a new arts center, "the arts became both popular and commercial," Ustinov said. "Increased interest on the part of the city seemed to infuse the arts with a new spirit, a reverence -- and the new facility was so popular that it did not ultimately cost the city more than 100 pounds a year."

Ustinov said that subsidies should go for long-term projects, such as opera houses, "that end up paying for themselves."

"Federal subsidies are most effective," he declared, "when administered at the local level, in areas that currently don't have adequate cultural facilities, since this tends to create a sense of local pride."