Public art funding gets cut first whenever city budgets tighten, but I think a city without murals, sculptures, and performance spaces is just a collection of buildings. My hometown lost its only community arts center in 2019 and within a year the main square felt like a parking lot with benches. Private donors won't fill the gap because they fund flashy projects, not the everyday art that shapes how residents actually experience a place. Should taxpayer money keep subsidizing art that many people never consciously notice?