Music.

The $85 million program in support of American orchestras announced last month by the Ford Foundation is perhaps the most extreme instance of pure foundationism ever perpetrated on aching national culture. For of all foundation programs in either arts or sciences of which the author is aware, this one is most blatantly addressed to the maintenance of a certain level of activity without the least concern for the level of cultivation or responsibility on which it takes place. Given Ford's catastrophic experiences in some of its previous arts programs, notably in opera, where the various objectives, conditions and limitations that were enunciated resulted mainly in artistic fiasco, public embarrassment and undying professional resentment, one can understand attractions of a program of neuter ideological and critical content.