"When I saw the information on Barnett 2000, I knew immediately that I wanted to be here," said Evelyn Lieberman, under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the U.S. Department of State. "The symposium theme, Negotiating the Maze of Cultural Interactions, could double as my job description."

On May 5, Lieberman spoke at a luncheon in the Westin Hotel ballroom as part of the 2000 Barnett Arts and Public Policy Symposium, jointly sponsored by The Ohio State University College of the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council.

Lieberman discussed her idea of cultural foreign policy and encouraged symposium participants to consider approaches they can take to build a lasting framework for international cultural interaction.

"Our cultures are the heart of our humanity," Lieberman said. "They give us our roots, they bind us to each other, and they are the key to peaceful growth and international understanding."

Lieberman was an assistant to the President and deputy White House chief of staff. Her entire speech can be found under session summaries on the Barnett Symposium website, www.barnettsymposium.org.

Only the United States and Ireland had funding levels below $25 per capita.

Since these nations vary in the overall role and size of their governments, the study also noted what portion of their overall expenditures these countries' governments invest in the arts. Once again, Finland had the largest portion, with 2.10 percent of its resources going to the arts, while the US had the smallest percentage at 0.13 percent.

One important aspect of arts support not reflected in these figures is tax cuts for giving to the arts and nonprofit arts organizations. The study focuses on direct public spending, rather than indirect support through tax breaks. However, a 1985 study by J. Mark Schuster noted that even including that indirect support, the US still had the lowest support of any of the countries he studied.

Nations included in the study were Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

PRESERVATION ATTRACTS DOLLARS

During May, which has been designated as Historic Preservation Month, it is especially fitting to ponder these words from Donovan Rypkema, a noted preservation consultant who spoke in Columbus last year in the Growing Inward series on revitalizing the inner city:

"In economics, the differentiated product commands a monetary premium. If in the long run we want to attract investment to our cities we must differentiate them from anywhere else. It is our built environment that expresses, perhaps better than anything else, our diversity, our identity, our individuality or differentiation."