Lincoln Center, Emporium of the Arts

John D. Rockefeller III, President of the Lincoln Center of Performing Arts, says, “Lincoln Center is a story in the American tradition of voluntary private initiative and of what it means in service to- the public…. It can be one means of helping to meet a paramount need of our time: the need of modern man for creative fulfillment—his striving for self-expression and the emotional and aesthetic satisfactions that set him above the animal … The task ahead [raising money] can be accomplished only with the interest, understanding and cooperation of all the segments of our society who have a stake in Lincoln Center—Government, business, labor, philanthropy and above all, the individual American citizen.”

The President of the United States, at the ground-breaking ceremony, said of Lincoln Center, “Here will develop a mighty influence for Peace and Understanding. ”

It is curious that, in the face of such inspiring statements, the building of this huge civic project has not aroused an enthusiastic response on the part of the citizenry. Even enlightened people are strangely apathetic. Indeed, despite the fact that individual American citizens are making a substantial money contribution to Lincoln Center, there is a general belief that the project is a private enterprise like Woolworth’s or the A & P.

Perhaps Lincoln Center is an idea that average people cannot grasp: it is too big and new; only minds that have been molded by great organizations can appreciate works of this sort. And perhaps intellectuals cannot appreciate the simple principle that if one thing is good, then ten of them is ten times as good. Furthermore, it is apparently necessary to explain the essential correctness of using public funds without consulting the public or their elected representatives—even when it is for a project obviously in the public interest. My purpose in writing this article, then, is to help towards a better understanding of Lincoln Center.