Insight
Monday, January 30,1995 Page 3
NEA faces an uncertain future
The NEA is mentioned for possible budget cuts in an
addendum to the balanced-budget amendment, according
to the Arizona Republic of Jan. 22. The amendment
passed in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday and I
will be considered this week in the U.S. Senate.
House Speaker Republican Newt Gingrich called for an
elimination of the agency’s funds in a January 10 article in
the New York Times. The article says “Newt Gingrich ...
has made no secrets of his antipathy to the longstanding
system of federal grants to arts organizations and artists.”
....r...■■■•» :
The NEA receives $167.4 million of government funding, I
which is two-one hundreths of 1 percent of the federal
budget - 2 percent less than last year.
If its budget were cut, the NEA would grant less money to |
fewer organizations, including many here at home. The NEA j
directly funds the Omaha Magic Theatre, the Joslyn Art
Museum, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, the Omaha
Symphony and others. Hundreds of other art organizations 1
and programs in Nebraska are indirectly funded.
^----___. ■■■■' I
■ The NEA costs each American $.64 a year
■ More than $1.3 million people are employed
in not-for-profit arts industries
The NEA receives $167,356 in federal
funding (1995), which is broken down into ($ in
thousands):
■ Arts in Education - 7,110
■ Dance - 6,690
■ Design - 3,260
■ Expansion Arts - 5,290
■ Folk and Traditional Arts - 3,375
■ International - 805
■ Literature - 4,297
■ Local Arts Agencies - 2,065
■ Media Arts - 9,540
■ Museum - 9,235
■ Music-10,700
■ Opera-Musical Theater - 5,185
■ Presenting - 5,035
■ Theater-8,155
■ Visual Arts - 4,850
■ Advancement _ 3,100
■ Challenge -12,670
■ Arts for Youth - 400
■ State and Regional - 31,075
■ Underserved Communities Set-Aside - 8,475
■ Policy Planning and Research - 650
■ Administration - 24,296
■ Computer Placement - 900
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter "
The 30th anniversary of the Na
tional Endowment for the Arts,
founded in 1965, may be the last.
The NEA is mentioned for pos
sible budget cuts in an addendum to
the balanced-budget amendment, ac
cording to the Jan. 22 edition of the
Arizona Republic. The amendment
was passed in the U.S. House of Rep
resentatives Thursday and will be
considered this week in the U.S. Sen
ate.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R
Ga, called for an elimination of the
agency’s funds in a Jan. 10 article in
the New York Times.
The article says “Newt Gingrich
... has made no secrets of his antipa
thy to the long-standing system of
federal grants to arts organizations
and artists.”
The article says that Gingrich and
congressional allies had “vowed to
pare, if not end, the subsidies” allo
cated by the NEA.
The NEA receives $167.4 million
of government funding, which is two
one hundreths of 1 percent of the
federal budget — 2 percent less than
last year.
Artists submit grant proposals to
the NEA. Broken up into panels, the
NEA examines the requests and bases
its decision on a strict set of require
ments and values.
If its budget were cut, the NEA
would grant less money to fewer or
ganizations.
Although rarely mentioned in the
light of welfare and balanced budget
issues, the proposed cut opened a
wound in the arts community.
It’s a wound that has reached be
yond the national level and one that
has affected artists in Nebraska.
The NEA directly funds the Omaha
Magic Theatre, the Joslyn Art Mu
seum, the Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery, the Omaha Symphony and
others. Hundreds of other art organi
zations and programs in Nebraska
are indirectly funded.
Three Nebraska arts leaders are
willing to lead the way and fight
back.
Right to Choose
Years ago, when they were eating
out of the garbage bins behind the
French Cafe and living off $10 a
week, the members of the Omaha
Magic Theatre knew how to “rough
it.”
Now the theatre is the only NEA
federally-funded theater in Omaha.
But if funds are cut, Director JoAnn
Schmidman said they still would sur
vive.
“It’s not like businessmen who
sell insurance,” she said. “We have to
create. Money or no money, the cre
ation will continue.”
But young artists may not have
this determination, she said, and will
give up. This is where the danger in
budget cuts lies, she said, which puts
America’s culture at risk.
“Countries are known and remem
bered for their cultures. Think about
the Greek and Roman cultures and
what do you have? The remains of
their poetry, pottery, weaving and
paintings,” she said. “ ... And we’re
messing with that? We’re saying it’s
not useful?”
Schmidman said the NEA cuts
were unjustified as a means to
downsize government because the
NEA was a small part of the budget.
“It’s a tiny arm of the government,
it’s not even a major arm,” she said,
“and they want to amputate that?”
President Clinton supports the
NEA, she said, but that may not be
enough. The opposition used a few
controversial grant recipients to make
a case against the entire organiza
tion, she said.
Schmidman was referring to a per
formance at the Walker Arts Center
in Minneapolis by experimental art
ist Ron Athey. Athey used human
blood during his theatrical represen
tation of a man with AIDS. The Food
and Drug Administration approved
the performance.
“Rather than hearing the positives
and the enormous amount of positive
art the NEA has supported over its
lifespan — the symphonies, the op
eras, ballets and theater — you hear
about one weird incident that some
congressman, who’s never been there,
gets wind of.”
For the future
The NEA receives $.64 per tax
payer in America. In Australia, the
arts receive about $12 per person.
Amy Lamphere, director of Wagon
Train Project, which brings interna
tional performing artists into Lin
coln, said other countries were known
for their support of the arts.
When Lamphere was in the Neth
erlands, she said, she saw a model
country that supported its artists.
“There isn’t a question mark in
that nation that artists are important
to their country’s health and well
being,” she said.
Explaining the purpose of arts in a
society is a difficult task, she said.
Lamphere said it would take an
extra three hours a day to become a
lobbyist or activist, but those three
hours may be a lifesaving effort.
“People in Nebraska don’t know
how serious this is,” she said. “I didn’t
even know how serious this is.”
People are not as politically active
as they should be, because they are
concerned with short-term ramifica
tions, she said.
“If the NEA goes away in our
lifetime, you won’t notice much of a
difference,” she said. “But it will make
our children and our children’s chil
dren much poorer, and when they
come up head-to-head with kids raised
on culture, they won’t be prepared.”
Culture teaches children skills and
builds self-esteem, she said. Without
it, Lamphere said, America will be “a
marketplace filled with Nintendo ex
perts.”
Lamphere said people who said
the NEA should be left to market
forces to prove that people support it
were shortsighted and uninformed.
“Ifyou really want a B-52 bomber,
you really don’t know you want a B
52 bomber until your house blows
up,” she said. “The government has
to act as a caretaker. There are some
things that the government should
have protection over to make our coun
try great.”
“We don’t really know we need
social security,” Lamphere said, “but
we want it, and we damn well better
get it.”
Direction
As director of the Nebraska Arts
Council, Jennifer Severin Clark said
she knew the power of political advo
cacy.
Most of the art organizations, art
education and multi-cultural pro
grams in Nebraska are funded by the
council, which receives $850,000 a
year from the NEA.
The council has generated a lot of
community support through their “Say
Yes to the Arts” campaign, Clark
said. She said people were writing
their congressional representatives
and writing letters to the editor about
the NEA.
Arts contribute-to tourism, eco
nomic vitality, urban renewal and
youth-at-risk programs, Clark said.
“They’re good for you, and they’re
good for your kids,” she said. “They’re
a positive approach to some of our
problems.”
Roll call
The NEA’s reauthorization was
up for review before the Senate Com
mittee chi Labor and Human Resources
Thursday.
Virginia Cohen, NEA public af
fairs specialist, said both Democrats
and Republicans offered suggestions
on how to save the NEA.
Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., said less
than 40 of the endowment’s 100,000
grants were deemed controversial,
Cohen said.
“Simon said, ‘I believed I made at
least 100,000 votes in my career, and
I’ve made at least 30 or 40 mistakes in
there,”’ Cohen said.
Sen. Mike DeDwine, R-Ohio, ques
tioned the $15.4 million the NEA
spent on administration, Cohen said,
but Alexander said that $167 million
“wasn’t enough to begin with any
how.”
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., re
minded Alexander of the examples of
how arts were helping curb substance
abuse, Cohen said.
She said Kennedy cited one in
stance of children in a rough Massa
chusetts neighborhood who were so
enraptured by a presentation from a
member of the Boston Conservatory
that “you could hear a pin drop.”
During the hearing, NEA Chair
man Jane Alexander defended the
endowment, citing NEA budget cuts,
streamlining and strengthening the
role of state arts agencies.