Discuss the controversies over public funding of the arts. Use Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary as an example

What will be an ideal response?

Essay responses should include these points:
Museums and artists are often pitted against political and religious leaders in the community over the issue of public funded works of art.
When Robert Mapplethorpe showed homoerotic and sadomasochistic images, the museum director was arrested and Congress slashed NEA funding by $45,000.
Chris Ofili's painting included elephant dung on the image of the Virgin Mary.
Catholic leaders took offense at Ofili's art when it was displayed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the mayor of New York withheld the city's monthly maintenance payment and filed a suit in the state court to revoke the museum's lease.