Helms, NEA Hone Strategies for Future Battles

Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) has stepped up in recent weeks a campaign of inquiries by himself and his staff to the National Endowment for the Arts, demanding details of potentially controversial artworks that have received federal support.

Inquiries by The Times in the last few days have found that:

*In a private meeting between Helms and endowment Chairman John E. Frohnmayer in late October, Helms produced a letter demanding details of seven specific endowment visual arts grants--some of which apparently related to endowment funding of artist-run organizations in major cities.

*In early November, Helms followed up with another letter demanding details of about a half dozen additional grants. It is believed that in various inquiries since mid-October, he has asked for details of dozens of grants. The technique is similar to one used over the summer by Helms’ staff, which inundated the arts endowment with demands for slides of artworks, grant application documents and other materials--scores of endowment projects in all, according to agency sources.

*Last week, Frohnmayer traveled to New York for a private meeting with the Independent Committee on Arts Policy, a private group of corporate and foundation arts funders and artists.

*The National Endowment has hired a high-powered Washington public relations consultant, Hill and Knowlton Inc. The firm will apparently explore ways to burnish the endowment’s image, smooth over the transition to Frohnmayer’s administration and position the agency tactically for anticipated future political battles with Helms and his allies.

The deal with Hill and Knowlton--which Frohnmayer has not publicly announced--is apparently in addition to activities of the endowment’s existing public affairs office, which has a staff of six. Hill and Knowlton, sources familiar with the situation said, will assign a staff member who formerly worked as an aide to Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), a supporter of Frohnmayer’s candidacy for the endowment chairmanship before he was named to the post by President Bush. The open-ended PR deal will reportedly continue for at least the next several months.

While both the National Endowment and Helms and his staff have declined to discuss the flurry of activity, The Times learned that Frohnmayer has met with arts leaders to discuss the renewed Helms campaign.

A press spokesman said Helms was trying to remain out of the spotlight on the issue for the moment. But, the spokesman said, “he’s talked to Frohnmayer, I’m sure, on several occasions.”

Endowment staff members questioned privately in the last few days said Frohnmayer has issued instructions that no agency employee is to discuss the Helms matter publicly. “I don’t think he knows what to do,” said one New York arts figure familiar with a meeting between Frohnmayer and a private arts group last week. “He is worried about all of these (Helms) requests and how they might be used. He is not clear about how to respond.”

At the meeting, which was closed, Frohnmayer reportedly said that endowment officials believe Helms’ strategy is to accumulate ammunition for use during the anticipated renewal of the federal arts funding debate early next year. Frohnmayer allegedly said that Helms is expected to attack the central element of the endowment’s defense in last summer’s censorship debate--precipitated by two grants that supported shows of controversial photographs.

The endowment’s tactical decision at the time was to emphasize that, in the nearly 25 years of the agency’s existence, it has made more than 85,000 grants, of which only about two dozen have resulted in public controversy.