After launching a series of substantial cuts in its programs, the National Endowment for the Arts has been roundly criticized for bowing to congressional critics and snatching away essential support to individual artists.
The endowment, struggling with a $2.8 million cut in its $167.6 million fiscal 1995 budget, announced last week it was eliminating $1.65 million in funds earmarked for sub-grants -- a funding process where NEA money goes to a group that then awards grants to individual artists or other organizations. A major hit was taken by the American Film Institute, which lost $705,000 for its prestigious film preservation and independent filmmaker programs.
The reaction from the arts field was swift. Jean Firstenberg, the AFI director, lamented the reductions and described the AFI efforts as "a lifeline for the archives in America and for independent artists."
Others asked if the new processes were fair. "The cuts are being leveled at the most fragile part of the field," said Helen Brunner, the executive director of the National Association of Artists' Organizations. "It is baffling that individual artists and small, diverse organizations should be cut when 40 percent of the endowment's funding every year goes to only 100 large organizations who do not reflect our country's diversity in their boards, staffs or programs." NEA officials said more organizations than individuals would be effected.
Another group charged political expediency. "This decision is a thinly disguised attack on freedom of expression using the recent NEA budget cut as an excuse to reduce funding to individual artists out of fear of what they might create," said David Mendoza, executive director of the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression.
The congressional cut in this year's budget was widely interpreted as a slap on the NEA's wrist for funding individual artists whose work offended some viewers and powerful politicians.
Art Bits
The Smithsonian Institution recently handed out its second annual Exhibition Awards, an internal celebration of the shows it mounted over the past year. Awards were given in 21 categories, with the best overall exhibition award going to the Sackler Gallery's "Contemporary Japanese Porcelain" show ... Lois Mailou Jones celebrates her 89th birthday Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Washington painter also gives a talk on her life in art on Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. in Room 300A of the Founders Library at Howard University ... The Galleries of Dupont Circle have begun their First Friday Open Houses, whereby members open their doors from 6 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday of every month. Refreshments and music are offered in participating galleries. Call 202-232-6130 ...
W. Richard West Jr., director of the National Museum of the American Indian, gives a free talk titled "Perspectives on Museums in the 21st Century" on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History ... The Phillips Collection begins its Duncan Phillips Lecture Series tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. with painter Susan Rothenberg. The lectures are given at the John Wesley Powell Auditorium at 2170 Florida Ave. NW. Call 202-387-2151, ext. 268 ... Mary Ellen Mark gives a slide lecture Thursday at 7 p.m. at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in conjunction with her ongoing exhibit at the museum. Call 202-638-0561 ...
Very Special Arts presents its Veterans Art Exhibition in its gallery tomorrow through Nov. 11, with 35 works by artists who have suffered service-related disabilities. Call 202-628-2800 ... The Washington Cancer Institute at the Washington Hospital Center hosts a "Celebration of Cancer Survivorship Through the Arts" at the Washington Court Hotel Friday evening. The institute will also host a "paint-in" at the WHC on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.; patients will demonstrate their art. Call 301-650-8868.