It’s NEA-Bashing Season

Here we go again. Last week the House appropriations subcommittee approved a bill that eliminated funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. The final budget outlook for the besieged agency isn’t clear, but it isn’t good. A group of representatives led by John T. Doolittle (R-Rocklin) and Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has begun the annual ritual of clobbering America’s artistic culture.

The National Endowment was created by Congress in 1965 to foster the growth and development of the arts and to preserve and enrich what we have already. By granting awards to individuals and to state, regional and nonprofit art organizations, the NEA has fulfilled its mandate. So why the controversy?

Well, yes, it’s true that a very small number of NEA grants have been awarded to artists engaged in controversial projects that have offended some sensibilities. But those projects never defined the depth or width of NEA funding. Furthermore, the controversial grants are largely a thing of the past. The NEA has turned itself around in recent years and deserves better than the bombast of Reps. Doolittle, DeLay and their ilk.

Currently, the NEA’s annual budget stands at $98 million, which, divided by the American population, means that the agency’s significant contributions are costing each of us about half the price of a candy bar. Reps. Stephen Horn (R-Long Beach) and Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-N.Y.) have led the fight for a $136-million NEA budget for fiscal year 1999, the same amount sought by the Clinton administration.

Assaults on NEA budgets have been underway for the past decade--this in a country whose culture dominates the international scene in most media. Opponents are missing the boat. Get aboard. This is life on the edge of the millennium.