In this impassioned and persuasive book, Bill Ivey, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, assesses the current state of the arts in America and finds cause for alarm. Even as he celebrates our ever-emerging culture and the way it enriches our lives here at home while spreading the dream of democracy around the world, he points to a looming crisis. The expanding footprint of copyright, an unconstrained arts industry marketplace, and a government unwilling to engage culture as a serious arena for public policy have come together to undermine art, artistry, and cultural heritage--the expressive life of America.

In eight succinct chapters, Ivey draws on his experience as the former director of the Country Music Foundation and former head of the NEA to untangle the mass of impenetrable law, corporate practice, and sheer carelessness that have threatened to separate Americans from their birthright. Blending strands of personal and professional memoir, policy analysis, and deeply-held convictions, Ivey proposes a new central authority--a Department of Cultural Affairs--dedicated to reclaiming heritage, artistry, and a creative life for all Americans. The first comprehensive effort to explore and define a coordinated vision for art, culture, and expression in American life, Arts, Inc. articulates a powerful new vision to enhance the life of our nation and its citizens.

"Chairman of the National Endowment of Arts from 1998 to 2001, Ivey brings an informed perspective to a growing chorus of alarm over 'big media, abetted by government, running roughshod over public interest.' An enthusiast for mainstream American culture and the vernacular performing arts (he directed the Country Music Foundation from 1971 to 1998), Ivey demonstrates how the promise of early 20th century mass media-when film, radio and TV produced an unprecedented mass audience and 'enabled America to discover its cultural mainstream'-is being stifled in the era of digital technology. A major mechanism for this is copyright law, which has become less a tool to protect creative enterprise than 'to protect certain industries against competition'; as corporations snap up the rights to works of art, ordinary citizens are losing easy access to their national heritage. Ivey's answer is an official U.S. Department of Cultural Affairs (as well as a 'Cultural Bill of Rights') committed to the idea that the arts are 'key to a high quality of life for all Americans.' With cogent consideration of the stakes for all involved, and some interesting glimpses behind the scenes at the NEA, Ivey has produced a comprehensive treatment of an important subject." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In this impassioned and persuasive book, Bill Ivey, the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, assesses the current state of the arts in America and finds cause for alarm. Even as he celebrates our ever-emerging culture and the way it enriches our lives here at home while spreading the dream of democracy around the world, he points to a looming crisis. The expanding footprint of copyright, an unconstrained arts industry marketplace, and a government unwilling to engage culture as a serious arena for public policy have come together to undermine art, artistry, and cultural heritage--the expressive life of America. In eight succinct chapters, Ivey blends personal and professional memoir, policy analysis, and deeply held convictions to explore and define a coordinated vision for art, culture, and expression in American life.