SHORT TAKES : All-Star Cast of Artists Comes to Defense of Arts Endowment

Actors, singers, dancers, authors and other artists crowded into a House hearing today to rally support for the National Endowment for the Arts and defend their work from “a climate of fear.”

The list of witnesses testifying to the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee included actresses Jessica Tandy, Jane Alexander, Ruby Dee and Jane Curtin. Also appearing were novelist George Plimpton, author Vassily Aksyonov, cellist Yo Yo Ma, pianist Leon Bates, sculptor Martin Puryear and tenor White Eagle as well as several leading patrons of the arts.

“I don’t want the imposition of censorship to make me mediocre,” choreographer Bella Lewitzky told the lawmakers.

Lewitzky’s fear summed up the sentiments of the all-star lineup of artists defending the NEA from critics who want more government control on the grants awarded to the agency each year.

John Buchanan, a Baptist minister and chairman of People for the American Way, accused a small faction from the religious right of “using the tactics of demagoguery” and distorting a few controversial NEA-funded exhibits to begin a campaign against the agency.

“These small groups have created a climate of fear that threatens an agency,” Buchanan said.