Public Funding for the Arts and Sciences - Essay Example

Every time Congress threatens to pull federal funding for PBS and NPR, PBS tends to pull out all the stops to encourage them to continue. They bringout the “Sesame Street” Muppet Elmo, for example, and who can resist that? In 2002, Elmo even testified before Congress (Morton, 2002). Every time there is a funding crisis like the one they have been having this week, PBS needlessly scares people into thinking that ending federal support of PBS would kill Elmo and Big Bird, so Congress relents and approves funding.

What is different this time around, though, is that this country is still overcoming a severe economic crisis, and politically, time has never been better for the proponents of ending federal support of public broadcasting, which exposes a large portion of this country to the arts and to quality children’s programming. The ironic thing is Elmo’s involvement in the whole thing, because if PBS were to end today, it would have very little impact on “Sesame Street.” “Sesame Street” and the Sesame Workshop (SW), the non-profit organization that produces it, currently depend very little on public funding.

Most of what “Sesame Street” historian Louise A. Gikow (2009) has called its “endowment” (p. 268) depends upon other sources like licensing and merchandising sales from “Sesame Street” toys, DVDs, clothing, and books. “Sesame Street” dependency on federal funds occurred in its early years, when much of its initial $8 million budget came from the federal government. Early on, however, the SW recognized that if they were to survive past the first two seasons, they would have to raise money from other sources, so they established a “non-broadcasting” department.

They also began producing versions of the show in other countries. As of 2009, the fortieth anniversary of “Sesame Street,” there were over twenty of these “co-productions,” and in 2005, income from them and international licensing accounted for $96 million (Carvajal, 2005). Even though, in the current political environment, it is looking more certain that Congress will end public support of PBS and NPR, it is needless to worry about how it will affect “Sesame Street.” Unlike other programs on public broadcasting, the show will go on, even if it finds another home.

Congress will not kill Elmo or Big Bird. Part of the reason for that is the SW’s shrewdness in ensuring that the show continued, probably well into the next forty years. Reference List Carvajal, D. (2005, December 12). ). Sesame Street goes global: Let's all count the revenue. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/business/media/12sesame.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print. Gikow, L.A. (2009). Sesame Street: A Celebration—Forty Years of Life on the Street. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers.

Morton, B. (2002, April 23). Mr. Elmo goes to Washington. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2002-04-23/politics/elmo.hill_1_elmo-instruments-congressional-committee?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS. Note to student: If your instructor allows you to use Wikipedia, here’s another excellent source: “Sesame Street media” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street_media). I know that it’s excellent because I happened to write it. ;)