WESTERN STATES EXHIBITION : A BOON TO ARTISTS IN THE BOONDOCKS

The artist, a member of the Sioux Indian nation with long black hair and a compelling voice, was telling members of the National Council on the Arts here about her participation in the Western States Exhibition, emphasizing how important it had been to her career.

“I doubt that artists in the major arts centers are as aware of their NEA-funded agencies as we are in the Western states. . . ,” said Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, a 47-year-old painter who lives in Corrales, N.M. “Often I’ve heard questions asked such as, ‘What happens after the exhibit finishes its tour?’

“Let me answer these questions from a personal point of view. I live in the desert in a village of 3,000. I am a minority and I am a woman. There is no way that I have access to the Brooklyn Art Museum nor the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Maybe if I live as long as Georgia O’Keeffe,” Smith said easily, “they might discover me.

“But in the Second Western States Exhibition, I was given the remarkable privilege of exhibiting in those institutions, along with a color catalogue, an extensive two-year tour, press releases and reviews. For some of us who were not known in the major arts centers, this is a considerable boost in our careers in terms of art-sanctioned credibility, and perhaps could have been accomplished on our own over years of time, but more likely it never would have happened at all.”

The exhibition she was discussing is a major program of the Western States Arts Foundation, a 13-year-old organization composed of 13 Western states, including California. As one of six regional organizations in the nation, WESTAF--the acronym by which it is generally known--is partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. (The national arts council serves as advisory body to the council.)

Smith’s presentation before the council--and the presentation by choreographer Bella Lewitzky, whose Los Angeles modern dance company participates in the foundation’s Western touring program--culminated a two-day biannual meeting here last week of the foundation’s board of directors. The board consists of the chairpersons and executive directors of each of the Western states’ arts councils.

Based in Santa Fe, N.M., the foundation is the organization that the endowment insisted the California Arts Council join, when the endowment threatened two years ago to cut California’s “basic state grant.” This year each state receives nearly $320,000, according to mandated funding formulas, and then all states receive an additional amount based on the size of their population. By joining the Western states foundation last year, California became the 50th state in the nation to affiliate regionally.

The foundation’s purpose is to “provide professional opportunities and programs for artists; access to artistic excellence for audiences; forum for the arts regionally, nationally and internationally; services to state arts agencies, and leadership and advocacy for the arts.”

Besides the exhibition, which comes to the Palm Springs Museum of Art in November, other programs include:

--Western States Performing Arts Tour, the oldest and largest of the foundation’s programs, which assists western communities in presenting not only the region’s but also national performing artists, through financial support and tour services. Besides Lewitzky’s company, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Kronos Quartet and Western Opera Theater are among the touring groups. Presenting community organizations include the Yakutat, Alaska Community School; Columbia Basin Allied Arts in Moses, Lake Washington; Snowbird Institute of Arts and Humanities in Utah, and the Cave Creek, Ariz., Arts Council.

--Western States Book Awards, presented biannually to outstanding Western authors and publishers of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry.

--Visual arts fellowships, beginning with the new fiscal year, giving 15 Western visual artists $3,500 plus promotional support. Eventually the foundation hopes to increase that support to $5,000.

The foundation operates on a $1.5 million budget--nearly half of its funding coming from the National Endowment for the Arts (alterations in the funding formula are currently being considered). With the endowment contributing $55,000 per member state, WESTAF receives more money than any other regional organization in the nation because more states are clustered under its banner. At 13 member states, the Western foundation is the largest regional organization, followed by the Southern Arts Federation and Arts Midwest at 9 states each.

Each state within the Western foundation currently contributes $12,000--although the state assessment rises to $14,500 in the next fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, and to $16,000 the year after that. Even at that, the dues are among the lowest in the nation, and they are expected to jump again.

There are also private contributors--none, however, that competes for funding with any arts organization in any of the Western states.