Sondheim Rejects Medal, Cites NEA ‘Repression’

Stephen Sondheim, one of the American theater’s top lyricists and composers, has turned down the prestigious National Medal of Arts because of what he termed a climate of “censorship and repression” at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Sondheim said it “would be an act of the utmost hypocrisy” to accept the award, which is administered by the NEA. Sondheim made the remarks in a letter to Susan M. Houston, special assistant to the endowment’s acting chairman, Anne-Imelda Radice. Although the 1992 nominees have not been publicly announced, Sondheim was apparently responding to a letter from President Bush notifying him of the award. In his letter to Houston, Sondheim said that he had also written to Bush, who nominates the recipients and presides over the annual award ceremony.

The letter was dated May 7, just days before Radice overturned two grants for exhibitions that had been recommended by NEA peer panels and the advisory National Council on the Arts. The exhibitions, at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Anderson Gallery, include graphic depictions of sexual organs and images. In a statement released Tuesday, Radice said the exhibitions “did not measure up” to standards of artistic excellence and merit. Last week, in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, Radice said her final decisions on grants would also consider “the concerns of the taxpayer, the concerns of the Congress, as well.”

An assistant for Sondheim at his New York office said the composer would have “no further comment” and added that there has been no response from the White House or the NEA to the letter. A spokesman for the endowment had no comment, saying “We’re referring folks over to the White House,” where no one was immediately available for comment.

Sondheim, 62, recipient of Tony Awards for “Into the Woods,” “Sweeney Todd,” “A Little Night Music,” “Follies,” “Company” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” acknowledged in his letter that he was “flattered and honored” by his selection, but added:

“When I served on the Endowment in the 1970s (as a member of the music and theater panels helping to choose grants recipients), I was glad, and proud, to be serving a governmental organization devoted to American arts and artists. Although severely underfunded, it seemed noble in intent and clear of purpose.”

The letter went on:

“In the last few years, however, it has become a victim of its own and others’ political infighting, and is rapidly being transformed into a conduit, and a symbol, of censorship and repression rather than encouragement and support.

“For me to accept an award from the NEA in this particular climate and from an Administration that seems to approve of that transformation would be an act of the utmost hypocrisy, and I must therefore respectfully decline your invitation.”

The last line was in keeping with the letter’s tone. It said: “Yours regretfully.”

Sondheim isn’t the first prominent artist to turn down the medal. In 1989, the late Leonard Bernstein made headlines when he turned down the national arts medal. At the time, Bernstein indicated he was protesting cancellation of an NEA grant to Artists Space Gallery in Manhattan for a show on AIDS. Then-NEA Chairman John E. Frohnmayer changed his mind and restored the grant at the urging of members of the presidentially appointed National Council on the Arts.

The National Medal of Arts awards have been presented annually at the White House since 1985. Out of a list of 24 names submitted a dozen are selected by the President. The roster of former honorees reads like Who’s Who of the arts landscape. They include Jasper Johns, Marian Anderson, Martha Graham and Hume Cronyn.