Art Subsidies

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct40% picked this

   build social

   Why this is right

   We would only come to this answer as a last resort. Passage A clearly agrees with this because she says as much in her final paragraph. How do we support that Passage B disagrees? Passage B never talks about social capital, so how can we support the idea that Passage B believes "tax-funded art subsidies don't build social capital"? The idea of building social capital was the idea that when there is publicly funded art, people who can't afford to otherwise see performances will come see them / they may even participate in local productions. Passage B is very dubious that art subsidies lead to greater public consumption of art. In part this is because he thinks that the type of art that gets subsidized is usually not the style most people would want to come out and consume. The first sentence of this 2nd paragraph is probably the best support sentence: It is doubtful that we could guarantee (with tax-funded art subsidies) more widespread aesthetic enjoyment. She goes on to say that subsidized art is not the art most would choose for themselves: "Most people will get what they don't like". So even though Passage B never discusses building social capital, the fact that B doesn't think that people like subsidized art or that subsidized art is likely to lead to more widespread aesthetic enjoyment, means that he would be pessimistic about the idea that subsidized art will somehow lead to building stronger communities through arts participation.

   Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   40%
2. B

   Unsupported Disagree Position27% picked this

   provide any

   Both authors would agree it provides some benefits. They would massively disagree on the scope and extent of those benefits, but we know Passage A is a fan of these subsidies, and Passage B acknowledges in its very first sentence that tax-funded arts subsidies "admittedly provide some incidental benefits (such as tourism)". We would need a really good support sentence to justify that either author believed "tax-funded arts subsidies provide zero benefits".

   27%
3. C

   Unsupported from Both5% picked this

   negatively impact private arts

   Neither author talks about whether an increase in subsidies leads to less arts money coming from private sources.

   5%
4. D

   Unsupported Agree Position27% picked this

   guarantee better art than private arts

   We know that Passage B has got the disagree position covered, because he said "Even if we could guarantee better art", which implies "we cannot guarantee better art". But can we justify from Passage A's passage that A believes that subsidized art guarantees better art than private art? No, there's nothing in Passage A that vouches for a higher caliber of art. Passage A is just saying there will be more widespread enjoyment of art, not necessarily higher quality art.

   27%
5. E

   Out of Scope: fiscal responsibility2% picked this

   encourage fiscal responsibility among arts

   Neither author talks about tax-funded art leading to better budgeting / more efficient overhead for arts institutions.

   2%