THE ARTSNEA Budget Faces Cut: The House...

THE ARTS

NEA Budget Faces Cut: The House of Representatives voted Thursday 222-204 to reduce the National Endowment for the Arts’ budget by 2%, a measure that still faces Senate action. The vote came after a raucous debate in which Republicans accused the endowment of distributing taxpayers’ dollars to some artists who--in the words of Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove)--are “porno freaks,” while Democrats accused Republicans of favoring censorship. NEA opponents failed to eliminate the endowment’s $171-million budget as they had originally proposed. The fight marked a renewal of what has become an annual debate over the endowment, which is now headed by actress Jane Alexander.

* Hope for Homeless: Actress Sharon Stone will unveil a Bill Mack sculpture of a mother and child Sunday afternoon at the Trousdale Estates home of Hal and Cynthia Gershman in Beverly Hills to benefit the homeless charity Planet Hope. Stone, whose sister Kelly is executive director of Planet Hope, is the group’s honorary chairman. The sculpture, for which Stone served as the likeness of the mother, will be sold for about $5,000, with 300 copies of the piece available for sale at a later date.

* World Cup Benefits: In honor of World Cup festivities, five Westside museums will offer free days, tours and discounts through July. UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum will offer free admission and two free art tours on Saturday: “The Assertive Image: Artists of the Eighties” at 2 p.m. and the photography exhibition “Mexico Through Foreign Eyes” at 4 p.m. The Museum of Tolerance, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Santa Monica Museum will also participate.

TELEVISION

A New Role: Country singer Reba McEntire has completed production on a TV movie based on her song and music video, “Is There Life Out There,” for broadcast on CBS in the fall. McEntire, who wrote the song, will executive produce as well as star in the movie that was shot in Nashville. Co-starring Keith Carradine, the story centers around a frustrated housewife who returns to college while still trying to raise a family. Meanwhile, McEntire will appear in two films, Rob Reiner’s upcoming “North” and briefly in “The Little Rascals.”

* ‘Tommy’ Fest: KCOP-TV will celebrate the Los Angeles premiere of “The Who’s Tommy” with a one-hour special offering a behind-the-scenes look at the rock opera, a history of the Who and interviews with “Tommy’s” composer Pete Townshend and two-time Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff. The special will air July 15 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a telecast of Ken Russell’s 1975 movie version of “Tommy.” The musical opens at the Universal Amphitheatre on July 13.

* Steamy Summer: Danielle Steele fans will have lots of summer TV watching to do when NBC reruns four of its movies based on the best-selling author’s steamy novels. First up will be last season’s “Star,” airing July 9, followed by 1990’s “Fine Things” on July 16, 1993’s “Heartbeat” on July 24 and 1991’s “Daddy” on July 30.

POP/ROCK

Extra Eagles Tickets: Due to a reconfiguration of the seating area, a limited number of additional seats will be available for the Oct. 8 Eagles concert at the Rose Bowl. These tickets go on sale today at 9 a.m. at Ticketmaster, Music Plus and Tower Records.

Like Father, Like Son: The son of the late singing star Nelson Eddy will give his first Los Angeles concert Sunday at the Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald fan convention. The convention features memorabilia from the 1930s films that paired the operatic talents of Eddy and MacDonald. Jon Eddy has sung professionally in opera and nightclubs for 18 years and will perform songs his father made famous including “Rose Marie,” “Will You Remember” and “Stout-Hearted Men.”

QUICK TAKES

Wednesday, the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union will present surviving members of the Weavers--the folk quartet blacklisted during the McCarthy Era--with the annual Florina Lasker award for courage. . . . Polish screenwriter Cezary Harasimowicz has won the annual Hartley-Merrill Prize for International Screenwriting for his screenplay “The Hoodlum” . . . A 27-song collection of Gershwin melodies, “George and Ira Gershwin: A Musical Celebration,” hits the stores this week. Originally performed live for the ninth annual AIDS Project Los Angeles/STAGE benefit, the two CDs feature Shirley Jones, Mariette Hartley, Holly Near and other artists.