Word: nea
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...annual grant of support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the new language restricting allowable content sent him on a long, brooding walk. When Los Angeles choreographer Bella Lewitzky received her notice, she just crossed out the offending restrictions against obscenity before signing, a response the NEA would not allow. Media-minded impresario Joseph Papp of New York City's Public Theater wrote an op-ed open letter for the New York Times. The business-minded board of the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, the largest U.S. regional theater, held a private debate that led to a unanimous vote...
While the NEA contract exempts works of proven artistic merit, smut charges are all too frequently leveled at works of substance. Classics such as Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye have been banned in school libraries around the U.S.; many who urge antipornography rules at the NEA also perceive rampant obscenity in prime-time TV. As pro-NEA Representative Sidney Yates of Illinois argues, "Shakespeare can be kind of bawdy. The NEA's contract could encourage people to criticize grants for the presentation of his plays." Opponents of the NEA's new language also fear it could lead...
...each case, after undergoing the rigorous process of qualifying for NEA money -- and building it into their budgets -- the arts organizations turned the funds down. They could not tolerate the stipulation that Congress added to the NEA's 1990 appropriations: no funded work may involve obscenity, "including, but not limited to, depictions of sadomasochism, homoeroticism, the exploitation of children, or individuals engaged in sex acts." None of those who refused the money produces material that remotely qualifies as obscene. But all of them object to the vague, sweeping language and to the very idea of empowering NEA bureaucrats...
...language was imposed on the NEA as a result of its funding of two photo shows. One involved sexually graphic works by the late Robert Mapplethorpe, the other a depiction by Andres Serrano of a plastic crucifix dunked in the artist's urine. Although many people in the arts community expected the ruckus to be short-lived, a year later it shows no sign of abating. Some liberals question whether Endowment Chairman John Frohnmayer need enforce the new rules so confrontationally: the National Endowment for the Humanities is not requiring recipients to sign any new pledge. But the pressure...
...dozen organizations have spurned the NEA outright or formally objected and threatened to sue. While many of the grants being turned down are relatively small -- the $49,500 to the Oregon troupe is half of 1% of its $10 million annual budget -- winning NEA funds has traditionally served as a legitimizing sign of merit and has led to larger donations from corporations, foundations and patrons...