Bella Lewitzky May Reject NEA Grant of $72,000

The famed Bella Lewitzky Dance Company in Los Angeles is considering rejection of a $72,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in what would be the most serious episode yet in a continuing artist protest over anti-obscenity provisions in the endowment’s 1990 grant guidelines.

The possibility that Lewitzky, the internationally acclaimed 74-year-old choreographer who has received NEA funding regularly since 1972, might turn down a major grant this year was confirmed to The Times on Thursday by sources close to her company.

These sources noted that turning down NEA operating support would strike a serious blow against the Lewitzky company’s financial stability. The company has an estimated 1990 budget of about $850,000.

It was uncertain when Lewitzky would disclose her final decision, but sources familiar with the situation said she had been meeting with close advisers for several days and had undertaken an extensive period of personal reflection on the issue. These sources indicated an announcement could come within the next week to 10 days.

These sources indicated that Lewitzky, who has long been identified with political activist causes, was deeply troubled by what she reportedly perceives as insurmountable obstacles to artistic freedom implicit in the NEA funding requirements--despite the fact that her company has never been identified with presentation of sexually explicit work.

But sources familiar with deliberations by Lewitzky and her associates in the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company and the Dance Gallery, described the choreographer as deeply troubled by provisions in the NEA funding law that ban support of work that is judged obscene by the NEA and does not meet high standards of artistic merit.

Lewitzky is one of the most established artists supported by the NEA. Since 1972, she and her companies have received nearly $1,446,000 in NEA funds, according to the arts endowment. The company received $72,000 last year and $68,000 in 1988.

The Dance Gallery, a proposed $20 million downtown performance space that has proved difficult to bring to fruition, has received $650,000 in NEA money in a program that requires private funds to be raised at a 3-to-1 ratio. Lewitzky is the founder and artistic director of the Dance Gallery, but its grants would be unaffected by any decision by Lewitzky to turn down NEA operating support in 1990.

The anti-obscenity requirement was imposed by Congress last year in the midst of a continuing political battle over the arts endowment’s support of controversial artworks and performances. In recent weeks, several NEA grantees have announced they would reject money this year.

The largest rejection thus far has been by New York City theater producer Joseph Papp, who turned down $50,000 in NEA funding several weeks ago. Papp said that although his productions are unlikely to be judged obscene, an NEA requirement that grantees certify in writing that they will not produce obscene work is antithetical to maintaining artistic freedom. The producer argued that the judgment of what is obscene could be influenced by political considerations.

Papp also said he would reject another $400,000 in anticipated NEA support later this year if the arts endowment does not rescind its anti-obscenity requirement. After Papp rejected the first $50,000, Los Angeles television producer Mark Goodson made a donation in that amount to Papp’s New York City Shakespeare festival.

But sources familiar with the situation noted that a decision by Lewitzky to turn down her entire NEA grant this year would have a far greater proportional effect on her company than Papp’s decision. These sources noted that Lewitzky’s grant, under the endowment’s program of operating support for nationally significant dance companies, is devoted to development of new work, rehearsal and dancer salaries.

* SPECIAL RESTRICTION--The NEA requires a New York art center to report in advance on individual performances. F14