In New York, composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich were rejecting the uptown classical music institutions of concert halls, opera houses and symphony orchestras.
Museums, theaters, concert halls, opera companies, public gardens and zoos throughout the five boroughs are cutting performances, exhibitions, days of operation and staff members.
As a city of classical culture, Vienna has it all, of course - symphony halls, opera houses and art galleries all dressed up in mighty architecture.
For arts enthusiasts, the new complex, which required clearing away more than 16 acres of a badly run-down neighborhood, promised to be safe, modern and convenient, a cultural citadel with concert halls, opera houses, a duplex theater and more, built with travertine columns and gleaming windows.
Barnstorming through a standing-room-only tour of America's town halls, opera houses, and circus tents, he demonstrated an almost preternatural understanding of the marketplace: he left behind the measured, cautious oratory of his Presidential years and, instead, played the loose cannon, waving a big pointer at a giant map of Europe.
We need to do everything we can to insure that the art and culture of every nation is respected, supported and sustained, that the painters, composers, writers, film-makers, sculptors, architects, orchestras, museums, libraries, concert halls, opera houses contribute indispensably to the pride and glory of every nation.
The center has three large performance spaces, with the lobby, chamber music hall, concert hall, exhibition hall and opera hall each occupying one of the "petals" of the orchid.
The City of Arts and Sciences complex, which includes a concert hall, opera house and planetarium, saw its final cost swell to more than €1bn (£740m).
Late last year, Beijing opened what may be the world's largest performance hall, the National Center for the Performing Arts, a $400 million concert hall, opera house and theater center even bigger than the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The $400 million complex, a concert hall, opera house and theater under one space age span, is designed to be the center of Chinese culture, just as Tiananmen Square next door was designated this country's political center.
"All over the world," he continues, "you can't sell out a season any more, in the concert hall, opera house or theatre, because the discretionary money that the middle class used to have has been eliminated and middle-class people are struggling.
