FIRST OFF . . .

“If we start at this point to provide censorship on arts projects, what’s next? The Sistine Chapel?” asked state Sen. Art Torres. Torres (D-L.A.) will hold a press conference today at the Museum of Contemporary Art to announce a state legislative resolution intended to combat U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms’ (R-N.C.) campaign to ban public funding of controversial artworks. Senate Resolution 42, which Torres authored, will call for an appropriation of $100,000 for an outside party to conduct an independent review of the process by which endowments are given, Torres said Thursday. “It’s our effort to offset a negative approach by Sen. Helms which basically wants to introduce censorship into the art granting process,” Torres said. “Senator Helms has indicated that he wants to remove funding or provide some review process, which we feel is tremendously dangerous to our First Amendment rights of expression. I think it provides a chilling effect on the interaction of the arts and what it means to us as a civilization.”