ABSTRACT
Governments may decide that it is in the public interest to intervene in culture by providing culture in direct and indirect ways. The four instruments most commonly used by government to provide culture include: direct public provision, subsidy, grant making, and indirect support through tax expenditure. In the United States (US), there is reticence to address public needs directly through government, especially through the federal government. In the US repugnance for government interference in culture amplifies these tendencies; much US cultural policy is accomplished through third-party government. Governments contract with organizations and individuals to provide cultural programs in parks, libraries, schools, and in museums. Governments can provide for cultural needs by paying out public dollars in the form of a subsidy to nonprofit and commercial cultural enterprises. Corporation for Public Broadcasting is more independent from government than is the Smithsonian, but government nonetheless establishes its purposes, empowers its governors, and supplies its resources.
