OUR VIEW: Glenn Miller continues to attract
On Friday, an always-popular, often controversial tradition continued at Utah State University.
The USU Glenn Miller Show opened Friday night. And despite the high-ticket prices for the show, it is continuing to rake in audiences.
Money, however, it does not rake in.
The Glenn Miller Show is popular among students and community members alike and has always been a source of attention for the university, but it is becoming less and less a beneficiary of university money.
Through a complicated series of funding changes and shifts in support, the bottom line is that the university is cutting back drastically in the recognition it gives to the importance of the Glenn Miller Show and other cultural events on campus.
This year is the last year Sunburst Singers and Dancers will receive scholarships from the university.
There is a nationwide trend, matched all too closely at USU, toward withdrawing funding for the arts at universities.
Cultural and artistic elements of academia, including theater, art galleries, music groups and events like the Glenn Miller show are at least as popular and important to residents of university towns and communities as athletics.
Potentially, the arts can bring universities recognition and extra money.
However, as universities like USU stop funding widely-loved cultural events, they begin to die a slow death.
The Glenn Miller show almost was no more. Last year, the show didn’t even happen.
High ticket prices are a testament to the cost of flagging support. And the bigger picture of the future of university and arts and culture may be in question.