Inside Report (1)

The Reagan administration may agree that you've gotta have art, but it hasn't proved willing to put up much hard cash.

The Congressional Arts Caucus Educational Program has warned that proposed cuts in federal grants for the arts would leave only ''$88 million to fund this country's 1,800 symphony orchestras, 35,000 community theaters, and thousands of museums, botanical gardens, zoos, arts centers, and opera and dance companies.''

Theodore Bikel, president of AFL-CIO's Actors' Equity Association, says cultural institutions already are in trouble. Private financial backing is not making up growing deficits at a time when the arts industry is experiencing 75 percent unemployment.

Federal budget aid for the arts now amounts to 70 cents per person in the US, compared with $3.60 in Britain, $6.07 in Canada, $11.88 in France, $28.23 in Denmark, and $100 in Austria.