Arts and Entertainment

An artwork, "Fele's For Sale, " by Charles Searles, is seen at the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in the Roxbury neighborhood in Boston, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2004. (©AP/WWP/Chitose Suzuki)

The 20th century has been one in which artists in the United States have broken free from Old World antecedents, taking the various cultural disciplines in new directions with impressive, innovative results.
Music, film, theater, dance, architecture and other artistic expressions have been enhanced and transformed. A rejuvenation in music, new directions in modern dance, drama drawn from the U.S. heartland, independent filmmaking across the landscape, the globalization of the visual arts -- all of these are part of the contemporary scene in the United States.

While the arts and culture in the United States continue to engage substantial attention, energy and resources of this society, this happens largely outside the direction of government. The United States has no "ministry of culture," thus reflecting the conviction that there are important areas of national life where government should have little or no role.

Abridged from U.S. State Department IIP publications and other U.S. government materials.