Mismatching: The Role of Matching Funds in the National Arts Landscape

Abstract

Economic theory holds that institutions are slow and resistant to change. While art is said to be reflective of its time and culture, arts institutions are subject to the same rigidity as other institutions. Accessibility to dance and the field of dance is largely affected by the structures of funding bodies. Institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Texas Commission on the Arts have immense influence in shaping the national and state landscape for the arts. These policies have given way to many unintended consequences and limit one of the NEA's original goals of increasing access to the arts. The research suggests that the most restrictive policy of such funding organizations is the matching requirement. Through matching, only organizations with prior access to funds can continue to receive support. Reconsidering matching requirements would be a step toward increasing equity in the field of dance.