A History of the National Endowment for the Arts: Chapters 8 & 9

 

A Supplement to the Regional Theater Series 

[Thank you for coming back to Rick On Theater’s “A History of the National Endowment for the Arts” for Chapters 8 and 9 of the NEA report, “National Endowment for the Arts: A History, 1965-2008.”  This installment covers the chairmanships (1998-2001 and 2002) of folklorist and author Bill Ivey (b. 1944) and musician and educator Michael Hammond (1932-2002).

[As I have all along, I recommended that visitors to ROT who are just encountering this series go back first to the beginning and read Chapters 1 through 7, published on 4, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, and 30 November, respectively.  The NEA’s history is presented chronologically, so it’ll make more sense if you read it in order.] 

“NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS: A HISTORY, 1965-2008”
edited by Mark Bauerlein with Ellen Grantham
(National Endowment for the Arts, 2009) 

p a r t  I

The HISTORY of the NEA

 

chapter 8

Broadening the Agency’s Reach

In his search for a successor to Jane Alexander in December 1997, President Clinton turned to the director of the Country Music Foundation in Nashville, Bill Ivey, as the seventh chairman of the Arts Endowment. Ivey was born in Detroit in 1944 and grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He received his education at the University of Michigan and Indiana University, earning history, folklore, and ethnomusicology degrees. In 1994, Ivey had been named to the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. He also served two terms as president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, as a senior research fellow at the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College, and as a faculty member of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.

Ivey was known primarily as an advocate for the preservation of country, folk, and popular music. The Country Music Foundation operated with an annual budget of $4 million [around $6.9 million in 2023, figuring from 1998 dollars, the last year of Ivey’s CMF directorship], and through it, Ivey administered the Country Music Hall of Fame from 1971 to 1998, while publishing a journal and directing a record label. After being unanimously confirmed by the Senate, Ivey was sworn in as chairman in 1998. A populist, Ivey represented a new sort of federal arts leader. While public and political support for the agency remained low, and the agency’s budget had been cut by 40 percent, his profile was helpful in reassuring Congressional critics who believed that the Arts Endowment’s programs catered to cultural elites.

The Washington Post quoted Ivey on the announcement of his pending appointment, affirming that the Arts Endowment was “a very important agency, particularly in its role of nurturing excellence in all the arts . . . it would be an ultimate job for me.” The same newspaper cited praise of Ivey as “an amazing generalist” by Michael Greene, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Greene endorsed Ivey as one who knew “a tremendous amount about the visual arts and folklore,” and who “in terms of arts advocacy . . . had always gone down the center. He hasn’t jumped into any camp.”

Ivey’s first annual message as chairman was short. He noted that since its creation in 1965, the Arts Endowment had awarded 110,000 grants, supported museum shows and theater companies of varying size, established arts classes for youth, televised concerts and folk festivals, and developed innovative public-private partnerships. With the budget at $98 million [$169.5 million today], grants in 1998 emphasized diversity, including support to a theater group for a play about African-American performer Paul Robeson, a Hispanic performing arts series, a country music program in Nashville, folk art instruction in Nevada, and Alaskan native authors and storytellers.

[The 1998 Paul Robeson (1898-1976) play production supported by an NEA grant was Paul Robeson, All-American developed and presented by TheatreWorks/USA, a company which produces original plays geared towards younger audiences. Created for the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Robeson’s birth, the musical play was written by actor and playwright Ossi Davis (1917-2005) with music composed by Jason Robert Brown (b. 1970).

[The play’s début was staged by John Henry Davis with choreography by Thomas DeFrantz (b. 1931) at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (Lower Manhattan) from 13 to 25 July 1998. The part of Robeson was played by operatic bass baritone Stacey Robinson.]

Less than a month after Ivey’s confirmation, the Arts Endowment claimed a major victory when the Supreme Court affirmed on June 25, 1998, by a vote of eight to one, the constitutionality of the statutory provision requiring the agency to consider “standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public” in its application review process. The sole dissenting Justice was David H. Souter. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for the majority, held that the Congress had the right to be vague in setting criteria for spending money, and the decency clause did not, on its face, discriminate on the basis of viewpoint. In a separate opinion, but one that joined the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia declared, “It is the very business of government to favor and disfavor points of view on innumerable subjects, which is the main reason we have decided to elect those who run the government, rather than save money on making their posts hereditary.”

Broadening Local Appeal

Chairman Ivey demonstrated a deep understanding of the infrastructure and public policy needs of American cultural enterprises. Furthermore, Ivey built on Alexander’s reorganization with further reforms—for example, engaging program directors more in the grant-making process, specifically, in determining grant amounts. Ivey, having previously served on NEA panels, believed that some panelists had too narrow a focus, and welcomed the discipline directors’ expertise and broad perspective.

With the NEA budget remaining essentially flat for two more years, Ivey nevertheless introduced strategies for enhancing American cultural life, including the development of a broad initiative called Continental Harmony. Administered by the St. Paul, Minnesota-based American Composers Forum, the program placed composers-in-residence with local chamber music ensembles to develop new musical works reflecting the sensibilities and traditions of local communities. Many of the compositions premiered on July 4, 2000. Continental Harmony exemplified a new approach in Arts Endowment programming that also included ArtsREACH, a program launched in 1998 that funded arts projects in states identified as “underrepresented” in the agency’s grant count. ArtsREACH answered Congressional demands that NEA funding reach underserved areas. States that received special attention and grants workshops under ArtsREACH included Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, South Carolina, and South Dakota. In 1999, ArtsREACH increased the agency’s grantmaking in 20 targeted states by more than 350 percent. It served as a prototype for another program, Challenge America, which also emphasized outreach and arts education for previously underserved areas.

That year, in his Annual Report message, Chairman Ivey outlined his vision. Conforming to the requirements of Congress, Ivey developed a strategic plan for the years 1999–2004, and named it “An Investment in America’s Living Cultural Heritage.” The plan included a revised mission statement: “The National Endowment for the Arts, an investment in America’s living cultural heritage, serves the public good by nurturing the expression of human creativity, supporting the cultivation of community spirit, and fostering the recognition and appreciation of the excellence and diversity of our nation’s artistic accomplishments” (emphasis original). The goals of the five-year strategic plan reinforced the sense that the NEA under Ivey would broaden participation and local appeal in Arts Endowment activities.

In his chairman’s statement accompanying the plan, Ivey highlighted his populist bent: “Today, art is no longer confined to paintings in museums—or dances, plays and symphonies in concert halls and theaters. . . . It’s in large cities and in the smallest, most remote towns. Besides anchoring communities, growing the economy, and increasing jobs, the arts give communities a sense of identity, shared pride, sound design that affects how we live, and a way to communicate across cultural boundaries.” Echoing the agency’s enabling legislation, the introduction stated, “It is vital to democracy to honor and preserve its multi-cultural artistic heritage as well as support new ideas; and therefore it is essential to provide financial assistance to its artists and the organizations that support their work.”

The expansion of Arts Endowment grants to more communities remained a touchstone of the Ivey chairmanship. In the area of design, he instituted four Leadership Initiatives to improve design standards across the country. The initiatives focused on government facilities, obsolete suburban malls, schools, and the stewardship of rural areas. Another NEA program during this period, the YouthARTS project, brought the Arts Endowment together with the Department of Justice to address crime by minors. This partnership helped establish arts programs inside juvenile justice facilities and in “at-risk” neighborhoods.

Thirty-Fifth Anniversary

The Arts Endowment celebrated its thirty-fifth year in 2000 by organizing “America’s Creative Legacy: An NEA Forum at Harvard,” cosponsored by the Kennedy School of Government. The conference was held with the participation of Chairman Ivey and all his living predecessors—Jane Alexander, John Frohnmayer, Frank Hodsoll, and Livingston Biddle [Chaps. 7, 6, 5, and 4, respectively]. The forum reflected the arrival of the millennium and the roll-out of millennium projects developed by the Arts Endowment over several years. The White House Millennium Council’s Final Report on these efforts, which was issued in January 2001, included a section titled “Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life,” which declared, “The arts and the disciplines of the humanities have a real effect on individuals, institutions, and communities. But too often, artists and scholars are separated from public involvement, precluding valuable collaboration.”

Chairman Ivey laid out the accomplishments of the Endowment over 35 years by restating his belief that “the agency strengthens American democracy at its core.” The Arts Endowment’s support assisted in the growth of local arts agencies from 400 to 4,000, nonprofit theaters from 56 to 340, symphony orchestras from 980 to 1,800, opera companies from 27 to 113, and dance companies multiplied by 18 times since 1965.

In the 2000 Annual Report chairman’s statement, Ivey pointed out that the Arts Endowment had bipartisan support in Congress, and he proposed a “Cultural Bill of Rights” for Americans, comprising:

1. Heritage: The right to fully explore America’s artistic traditions that define us as families, communities, ethnicities, and regions.

2. A Creative Life: The right to learn the processes and traditions of art, and the right to create art.

3. Artists and Their Work: The right to engage the work and knowledge of a healthy community of creative artists.

4. Performances, Exhibitions, and Programs: The right to be able to choose among a broad range of experiences and services provided by a well-supported community of cultural organizations.

5. Art and Diplomacy: The right to have the rich diversity of our nation’s creative life made available to people outside of the United States.

6. Understanding Quality: The right to engage and share in art that embodies overarching values and ideas that have lasted through the centuries.

Finally, Ivey stated, “As we move into a new millennium, the NEA is committed to citizen service.” Although never adopted in any broader public sense, this “Cultural Bill of Rights” provided a vivid snapshot of Chairman Ivey’s vision for the Arts Endowment.

Challenge America

The agency’s 2000 budget stood at its lowest in a quarter-century, totaling only $97.6 million [$161.6 million]. Chairman Ivey gained a $7.4 million [$12.2 million] increase for the Arts Endowment budget for fiscal year 2001, raising the agency’s annual appropriation to $105 million [$169.5 million]. After an attempt by the bipartisan House Arts Caucus to increase the NEA’s budget failed, Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) led a successful effort through the Senate to increase the NEA’s budget. The increase was ultimately maintained in the final version of the bill agreed upon by both the House and Senate in conference.

The new funding was earmarked exclusively for the Challenge America Arts Fund to provide grants for outreach and arts education projects in remote and previously neglected communities. This important program represents Ivey’s major legislative triumph. After almost a decade of cuts, it marked the first increase in the Arts Endowment’s budget since 1992. The following year, Congress raised the Endowment’s budget to $115.2 million [$182 million], again with the increases going to the Challenge America program.

Under Ivey, Challenge America began as a short-term mechanism for enhancing the arts, arts education, and community activities in underrepresented areas. The program was expanded and under future Chairman Dana Gioia, the NEA achieved national reach through Challenge America by awarding a direct grant to every U.S. Congressional district. The program’s popularity with Congress also continued to grow. In July 2003, Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) stated, “NEA programs such as Challenge America are using art as a means to bring communities together. Along with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Guild of Community Schools, Challenge America has started a program that offers arts instruction to children living in public housing. When we deprive the NEA and NEH of the funds it needs, we deprive this entire nation of an active cultural community.” Support for the program continued throughout the Administration of President George W. Bush, who requested $17 million [$25.6 million] for Challenge America for fiscal year 2004.

Arts and Accessibility

The NEA’s Office of AccessAbility, originally named Special Constituencies Office [until 1994], was created under Chairman Nancy Hanks [Chap. 3] in 1976 in response to an appeal by National Council on the Arts member Jamie Wyeth. Wyeth and his wife, who uses a wheelchair, were often unable to attend cultural events as the venues were not accessible. The National Council resolved that “No Citizen, regardless of physical and mental condition and abilities, age or living environment, should be deprived of the beauty and insights into the human experience that only the arts can impart.”

The NEA became a leader in the field of accessibility, and was the third federal agency to publish its Section 504 Regulations in the federal register. The AccessAbility Office, in addition to serving as an advocate for those who are older, disabled, or living in institutions, established a series of initiatives to advance the Arts Endowment’s access goals: Universal Design, Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities, Arts in Healthcare, and Creativity and Aging.

In a 1998 speech to the National Forum on Careers in the Arts for People with Disabilities, Chairman Ivey reiterated the importance of the work of the Arts Endowment in the field of accessibility. “Most Americans will experience disability at some time during their lifespan, either themselves, or, like me, within their families. As with aging, it is an experience that touches everyone. Thus working towards a fully accessible and inclusive culture is important to all Americans.”

Ivey Moves On

The end of 2000 brought a presidential election and the victory of Republican George W. Bush. The new First Lady, Laura Bush, made her vigorous support for culture and the arts clear from the beginning of her residence in the White House.

Bill Ivey remained in charge of the Arts Endowment, and—like Nancy Hanks two decades earlier—wondered whether the NEA chairmanship could become a nonpartisan appointment. Bill Ivey served nine months under the new Republican Administration. In April 2001 he announced that he would resign in September of that year, six months before the expiration of his term. Before his departure, he championed the NEA’s FY 2002 budget request before Congress and expressed his hope that “the new Administration will be able to move efficiently to choose new leadership for the Arts Endowment.” But the controversies that had plagued the agency remained vivid, and the public image of the Arts Endowment continued to be dictated largely by its critics.

*  *  *  *

[Chapter 9, “In Dark Hours,” the next installment of “A History of the National Endowment for the Arts,” chronicles the brief 2002 chairmanship of musician and educator Michael Hammond (1932-2002), who died of a heart attack one week after being sworn in.]

chapter 9

In Dark Hours

Before a successor to Chairman Bill Ivey could be appointed, America underwent the frightful experience of September 11, 2001, stunned by the horror of the attacks on New York and Washington, DC. Federal employees close to the Capitol, and in tall buildings such as the Old Post Office, were especially alarmed. On the day of the attacks, panelists reviewing fellowship applications for literature projects gazed out the windows as smoke rose from the Pentagon across the river. Evacuated from the building, they decided to assemble in a nearby hotel and continue to work.

Because New York City, the main target of the terrorists, is the nation’s arts center, the impact of September 11 on artists and cultural institutions was felt nationwide. Immediate action was taken by the Heritage Emergency National Task Force to assess structures and collections in the areas of the 9/11 attacks. Within hours, the American Association of Museums reported that all New York museum staff were accounted for and museum collections safe.

However, on the 105th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the Cantor Fitzgerald investment firm had suffered the horrific loss of hundreds of employees. The world’s largest corporate collection of works by sculptor Auguste Rodin and numerous works by Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, and Louise Nevelson were destroyed. Next door in the South Tower, the National Development and Research Institutes Library was completely wrecked, as were the offices of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. The Broadway Theater Archive, with 35,000 photographs, that stood a block from the World Trade Center was also lost, and 13 other historically or architecturally significant structures, including the Federal Hall National Memorial, were damaged.

[The Federal Hall National Memorial, established in 1955, is in the historic building at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is owned by the United States federal government and operated by the National Park Service as a national memorial. The memorial is named after a Federal style building on the same site, completed in 1703 as City Hall, which the government of the newly independent United States used during the 1780s.  It was demolished in 1812.

[The current national memorial commemorates the historic events that occurred at the original structure. With the establishment of the United States federal government in 1789, the Federal style building was renamed Federal Hall. It was the home of the Congress of the Confederation. the first U.S. Capitol building, and the site of George Washington’s inauguration.]

In the days and weeks immediately following September 11, Americans turned to the arts, especially to music and poetry, to express their grief. Media focused on the dark stages of Broadway and paid little attention to the blight of the nonprofit arts community. Congress debated how to expedite relief to New York City while arts groups navigated eligibility requirements to secure loans from the Small Business Administration and aid from the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency.

The economic impact of the terrorist attacks on each of the arts fields was assessed by the NEA. There was a dramatic downturn in year-end giving to nonprofit arts organizations as donors directed giving to 9/11 charities. Revenues were lost from cancelled performances and low attendance at arts events. The general economic slump, decline in tourism and travel, and reduction in state tax revenues brought about cuts in state and local arts budgets. New York City announced a 15 percent across-the-board cut in funding for cultural organizations. Insurance costs rose, in part because of increased security needs at public performances.

The Arts Endowment issued a Chairman’s extraordinary action grant through the New York State Council on the Arts to help artists in Lower Manhattan begin the process of cleaning and repairing offices and purchasing equipment. Over the years, the Endowment had provided similar emergency disaster grants to arts organizations devastated by floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes, and help after the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building.

[The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was the target of a bombing by domestic terrorists Timothy McVeigh (1968-2001) and Terry Nichols (b. 1955) on 19 April 1995. The truck bomb that was detonated in front of the building killed 168 people, including 19 children at a day-care center housed in the building, and injured 680 others.

[One third of the building collapsed and the remains were demolished a month after the attack. The Oklahoma City National Memorial, formally dedicated on the fifth anniversary of the bombing, 19 April 2000, was built on the site.

[McVeigh was tried and found guilty of the attack, and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2001. Co-conspirator Nichols is serving multiple sentences of life without parole in a federal prison.]

More substantial help for New York’s cultural organizations came from private foundations. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation created a special $50 million fund [$80.7 million in 2023] to benefit those museums, libraries, and performing arts organizations most directly affected. Several years later President Bush presented the Mellon Foundation with the nation’s highest award to artists and arts patrons, the 2004 National Medal of Arts for “civic leadership in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.”

Hammond Appointed

Eight days after September 11, President George W. Bush announced his intention to nominate Michael Hammond, dean of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, as chairman of the Arts Endowment.

Hammond was a conductor and composer, but he also brought vast educational and arts administration experience to the agency. A Wisconsin native, he attended Lawrence University and Delhi University, India, and earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where he received degrees in philosophy, psychology, and physiology. Before joining the Shepherd School in 1986, Hammond directed the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee, and then moved to New York State to become the founding Dean of Music at the State University of New York at Purchase [in Westchester County, a suburban country north of New York City]. Subsequently, he served as president of the college. While in New York, he founded the celebrated international arts festival at Purchase, known as Pepsico Summerfare [1980-1989; named for its principal sponsor, the former Pepsi-Cola Company, headquartered in Purchase]. The new chairman, at 69, had long been active in orchestral and vocal music, but his biography was so diverse that it also included lecturing in neuroanatomy to medical students in Wisconsin.

In a statement reflecting the somber mood of the country in those days and weeks, Hammond declared, “I am deeply honored by President Bush’s confidence in me. . . . The arts can help heal our country and be a source of pride and comfort.” As Hammond prepared for his Senate confirmation, he further articulated his vision for the Arts Endowment, “Our heritage embodies all the efforts that have gone before us, what we imbibe, and what we wish we could say but cannot put into words.” He cited the Guide to Kulchur [1938] by Ezra Pound as “a primer for American poets” that “begins with words and gestures, and finds new metaphors.” Western civilization is “a conversation,” he said, influenced by new voices and cultures. For Americans to join that conversation wisely, they must be trained in it, and so he saw his primary mission to be arts education. “We have never made a serious effort in the United States to engage our youth with the arts,” he lamented. “We can make the greatest impact on preschool children, and then move onward with technique-based, prolonged involvement with the arts. This will help formulate good taste and deepen understanding.”

Hammond compared the task before him to the moon-landing mission brought forth by President Kennedy, which took nearly a decade to accomplish. “What use is creating awareness of the arts,” Hammond asked, “if it is not a long-term, crucial task?” Hammond anticipated the agency’s Shakespeare in American Communities program, proposing that ten Shakespeare touring groups be selected for funding, “with two or three of them on the road most of the time.” He also called for a renewal of interest in representational painting and for attention to classical music on radio.

With Chairman Ivey gone and Michael Hammond not yet in place, Robert S. Martin was designated acting chairman of the Arts Endowment on October 1, 2001. While serving as acting chairman of the NEA, Martin was also director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a sister agency of the Arts and Humanities Endowments. Formerly, Martin had been a professor and interim director of the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, and Texas State Librarian. He served until January 23, 2002, when Hammond was sworn in.

On his third day in office, Chairman Hammond called an all-agency staff meeting and spoke eloquently about art and the creative process. Those in attendance were moved by the promise of his remarks and looked forward to his inspirational tenure, but Hammond served as chairman for only seven days—from January 23 to January 29. On Tuesday, January 29, he did not report for work. Hammond had felt ill over the weekend and had gone to the hospital for a series of tests on January 28. That night he attended a gala at the Shakespeare Theatre Company with Michael Kahn, the theater’s artistic director, and Queen Noor of Jordan, followed by a performance of The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster. Hammond left the performance early and returned home in a taxicab. The next morning, when he did not show up for work, police were called to his home. There they found Michael Hammond, dead of natural causes at age 69.

[It was later confirmed that Hammond died of a hear attack. While he was at Rice University, he’d been treated for cancer.]

“There was great sadness among the staff,” Senior Deputy Chairman Eileen Mason recalled. “They had waited four months for a new chairman and were excited about the breadth of Hammond’s intellect, his passion for the arts, and his lifelong work in music education. On January 23, they had welcomed him with food and song at an all-agency reception, and had heard about his love of the arts and his vision for the agency.” Now the agency needed a new leader, and Mason assumed the post of acting chairman.

The Mason Interim

Eileen Mason came to the agency with a background in education, publishing, and governmental service. A native New Yorker, she began studying the violin in grade school, and continued her lifelong commitment to symphonic and chamber music under the tutelage of composer and conductor Karel Husa at Cornell University. With a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell, where she studied English and music, she worked as a book editor at Little, Brown in Boston, editing college textbooks in literature and the social sciences. In Washington, DC, she served as a manager at two federal energy agencies, and earned a master’s degree in public administration from American University. She became vice president for grants on the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, before joining the Arts Endowment in 2001.

Mason served for 13 months as acting chairman, focusing on honoring Hammond’s memory, strengthening relations with Congress, supporting arts education, and extending access to quality arts programs in underserved communities. In April 2002 she joined members of the Congressional Arts Caucus led by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Representative Steven Horn (R-CA) to visit 16 New York City arts organizations significantly affected by the destruction of buildings, closing of performance venues, and decrease in tourism after the attacks of 9/11. As the group, hosted by the New York State Council on the Arts, traveled from Times Square theaters to the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Brooklyn Academy of Music to El Museo del Barrio in Harlem, it was clear that the arts industry in New York was determined to rebound, but financial aid was direly needed.

During their visit to the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Artistic Director, National Medal of Arts recipient, and former National Council on the Arts member Arthur Mitchell greeted the group. Mitchell recounted how he had started with a small company years before [DTH was incorporated in 1969 and débuted in 1971], believing that every child in Harlem deserved the opportunity to learn how to dance. “If it weren’t for the National Endowment for the Arts,” he declared, “Dance Theatre of Harlem would not be here today.”

A few days later, Mason represented the NEA at a meeting of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, with First Lady Laura Bush in attendance. Carrying forth the vision of Michael Hammond, Mason stated that the Arts Endowment’s mission “is to acquaint Americans with their rich and diverse artistic heritage.” Two initiatives she put forward anticipated things to come. First, she called for an examination of the state of classical music on nonprofit radio, which would evolve into a full-scale project of the NEA’s Office of Research and Analysis, and, second, she announced a plan to bring professional performances of Shakespeare’s plays into every corner of the country. This idea would later grow under Chairman Dana Gioia [see Chap. 10] into the major Shakespeare in American Communities initiative.

When President and Mrs. Bush presented the 2001 National Medal of Arts and the National Humanities Medals to a distinguished group of artists and scholars, emotions ran high. Only six months after the attack on the World Trade Center, a packed audience sang “The Star Spangled Banner” with reverence and new meaning. Among the Medal of Arts recipients were painter Helen Frankenthaler, film director Mike Nichols, singer Johnny Cash, novelist Rudolfo Anaya, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The highlight of the ceremony was Yo-Yo Ma’s cello performance, accompanied on the piano by [then-current] National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

In 2002, the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission, sponsored a regional conference to demonstrate the positive economic impact that the arts can have on local communities [Building Creative Economies: The Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Development in Appalachia, Asheville, North Carolina; 29-30 April 2002]. More than 300 artists and arts administrators shared information about model programs and best practices. Two Republican North Carolina legislators, Congressman Charles Taylor, a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, which has jurisdiction over the Arts Endowment’s budget, and Congressman Cass Ballenger, a nonvoting member of the National Council on the Arts, attended and endorsed the concept.

In July 2002, the House of Representatives voted for an amendment sponsored by Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) for a $10 million [$15.8 million today] budget increase for the Arts Endowment. Representative Slaughter’s amendment was supported by 191 Democrats, 42 Republicans, and one Independent. The tally indicated that momentum was slowly building in the House, as Republicans were showing signs of support for the agency. The Senate, however, voted for only a modest increase. When a final omnibus bill was passed in February 2003, with rescissions across the board for all agencies, the agency received $115.7 million [$177.8 million] for 2003—a disappointing increase of only $500,000 [$768,300].

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, arts organizations were facing serious shortages in the availability of private and public funding. The eighth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Michael Hammond, had begun his long-awaited tenure on January 23, 2002, laid out his vision for the agency, and passed away a week later. Despite the upheaval of Chairman Hammond’s death, the NEA began to receive growing support from a bipartisan coalition in Congress and established a renewed commitment to extending access to quality arts programs throughout the country.

[These two chapters have brought us close to the end of the NEA history as recorded in “National Endowment for the Arts: A History, 1965-2008.”  There’s still more to present, but Mark Bauerlein and Ellen Grantham’s chronicle only went up to 2008. 

[I promised, however, that I’d try to provide an outline at least of the years from the end of the NEA report and the present day if I can compile one.  Meanwhile, Bauerlein and Grantham have more to say and I’ll post that shortly.  Chapter 10, “Building a New Consensus,” covers the administration of Dana Gioia (b. 1950), a poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist, and NEA Chairman from 2003 to 2009.  That installment of “A History of the National Endowment for the Arts” will be published on ROT on Wednesday, 13 December.

[Before that, though, I’m going to interrupt the NEA history series for another piece from my friend Kirk Woodward on 8 December.

[When I heard a report back in October about the “new” Beatles song about to be released, I immediately urged Kirk, who’s a huge Beatles fan and an experienced musician and singer, to try to hear the record ASAP and write about it for the blog.  And that’s what he did . . . and the result is “‘Now and Then,’” which I’ll be posting next Friday.  The rest of the NEA series will be back after that.]