Word: nea
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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SINCE THE FEDERAL government ordered the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) not to fund any work considered "obscene," Harvard has done nothing substantial to combat constraints on freedom of expression...
LAST OCTOBER, Congress approved a measure sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) that took away the NEA's ability to make its funding decisions on the basis of promise and merit. Now artists--or organizations that sponsor artists--applying for a grant must sign a pledge promising not to produce anything that may be considered "obscene." The Helms wording defines obscenity as that which "appeals to a prurient interest," "depicts or describes in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct" and "taken as a whole, lacks serious artistic and cultural value...
Several important NEA and NEH grant recipients--including Joseph Papp of the New York Shakespeare Festival--already have announced their intentions to refuse grant money, totaling more than $300,000, until Congress changes the law. Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.) and Sen. Claiborne Pell (R-R.I.) have introduced legislation to free the NEA and NEH from constraint for at least five years...
...arts community is far from unanimous in thinking that refusing NEA money is wise. Says Jack O'Brien, artistic director of the Old Globe Theater in San $ Diego: "I think it plays right into the hands of the enemies of the NEA. It allows them to say, 'See, these arts groups don't even need it.' The central point is that this system works. By and large, the money goes to the right places, and after two decades there hasn't been a hint of fraud or scandal. What other Government program can say that...
Arts leaders are pondering new maneuvers: mounting an aggressive ad campaign against North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, an enemy of the NEA, or taking NEA money but publicly disavowing the pledge they have signed, thus daring the Government to litigate First Amendment issues. The leaders agree on one thing: just when artists thought they demonstrated the value of their work to the nation, it has become clear that the task of educating the public has only begun...