As winter’s fury whipped Washington, D.C., forcing cancellation of President Reagan’s outdoor inauguration ceremonies and the elaborate parade which was to have drawn more than 100,000 spectators to the edges of Pennsylvania Avenue, arts advocates and congressional supporters alike were donning battle gear for yet another effort to prevent cuts in federal appropriations for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.
Early budget documents revealed that the President’s proposed budget for fiscal 1986 included an 11.7 percent reduction in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and a 10 percent slash to the National Endowment for the Humanities appropriation.
The Administration’s 1986 request of $144.5 million for the NEÄ in fiscal ’86 is more than $19 million below the appropriation approved by the 98th Congress for fiscal ’85.
Similarly, the $126 million asked for the Humanities agency is well below the current $140 million approved by the Congress for fiscal ’85. In each of the past four years, the Congress has provided more money than the President has asked for the arts and humanities agencies.
Reaction to the new budget proposals was swift and severe. Senator Claiborne Pell, the Rhode Island Democrat who helped write the legislation which gave birth to the two Endowments in 1965, noted that the cuts “could create a financial crisis” for many arts institutions. Despite the Administration’s rhetoric over the past four years, he continued, “the private sector is unable to fill the gap created by cuts in federal support.” Looking ahead to the budget deliberations which face the new 99th Congress, Pell observed, “This proposal is not far different from previous Administration requests, and each time the Congress has made its own judgement.”
Congressman Thomas J. Downey (D-NY), who serves as chairman of the Congressional Arts Caucus, a bipartisan coalition of legislators in support of increased arts and humanities funding, stated, “Everyone knows there have to be sacrifices, but the federal arts and humanities budgets are infinitesimal in the full budget. We should understand that when we starve the Endowment budgets, we starve our own soul, and that’s a bad and stupid thing to do.”
As part of the President’s request, the NEA Theatre Program budget allocation for 1986 would fall to $9.3 million, a 12.3 percent reduction from the Theatre Program’s current $10.6 million budget. “It’s heart-breaking,” reacted William P. Wingate, managing director of the Mark Taper Forum, who serves as a member of the NEA Theatre Program advisory panel. “I can’t imagine dealing with 400 grant applications and having to parcel out such a pitiful amount of money.”
Reaction in other arts spheres was no less strong. “I’m just appalled,” said Beverly Sills, general director of the New York City Opera. “I think that to take that enormous a percentage off such a minuscule amount in support of the arts is a disgrace.” While reductions in federal arts support may be on a par with cuts proposed in other domestic spending programs, many see the criteria applied in the 1986 budget as unjust. “Government support for the arts was a long time coming, and a lot less than we needed,” noted Ardis Krainik, general manager of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. “Any cut from the already low level of assistance is too much.”
Elaborating on the response to the Administration’s call for the private sector to do more, Orville Schell, chairman of the New York City Ballet observed, “We are all out raising money like crazy. It’s all very well to say, ‘Let the corporations and individuals do it,’ but they just aren’t doing it. The money simply isn’t going to be forthcoming. We’re going to lose a lot of institutions.”
Reacting to the impact of the President’s budget proposals on New York City arts organizations, Bess Myerson, the city’s Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, alluded to the President’s call for increased defense department spending. “The effect of these cuts in New York City would be severe. The $19 million these cuts represent would save the government just enough to buy the Defense Department 2,700 new $7,000 coffee pots. However, unlike the Pentagon, there is no fat in the Arts Endowment. Cuts like this rip through blood and muscle; they cripple and kill.”
The hue and and cry against the Administration’s proposed budget actually began well before the new budget figures were announced. Violinist Isaac Stern, one of the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in December, when asked to comment on the President’s praise of his playing, did not mince words. “It is really special and very exciting, a recognition of a lifetime of effort. The President spoke well, but it was interesting what he chose not to mention.” Omitted, Stern continued, was any mention of his advocacy for the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts and the vital role it plays in the life of artists in America. “Nothing can go on in the arts without the caring presence of local, state and federal governments,” he concluded.
In addition to reductions in the Endowment appropriations, the President’s 1986 budget calls for elimination of the Postal Revenue Foregone Subsidy—which allows nonprofit organizations to do bulk mailing at discounted rates. The Treasury Department proposal to repeal the Charitable Contributions Law, which allows non-itemizers to deduct charitable contributions on their federal tax returns, further compounds the picture. Anne G. Murphy, executive director of the American Arts Alliance, was quick to respond. “The budget mavens of this Administration don’t seem to be able to forge relationships. It’s like the old joke, ‘Who’s on first?’ One call is to cut the Endowment budgets and ask the private sector to do more; the second is to eliminate the postal subsidy, which will immediately double the cost of fundraising which depends heavily on direct-mail efforts; on third base, they propose repeal of the charitable contributions legislation—which would largely negate the motivation to give. It makes it impossible to get back to home base. Fortunately, the Congress in its wisdom has historically been able to see these relationships. Increasingly, it’s up to the arts community to point them out. We may feel overwhelmed, but then again—so was David, when he faced Goliath.”
The 1986 budget process gears up on March 19, when the House Subcommittee on the Interior, responsible for appropriation levels for the Endowments, is scheduled to hold its first round of hearings. The House Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Sidney R. Yates (D-IL), includes Rep. Les AuCoin, (D-OR), Rep. Edward Jean Tuttle P. Boland (D-MS), Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-WA), Rep. Tom G. Loeffler (R-TX), Rep. Joseph M. McDade (R-PA), Rep. john P. Murtha (D-PA), and Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH). The committee seat left empty by the November defeat of William R. Ratchford (D-CT) had not been filled at press time.
An ’85 Leap for State Arts Funding
Total state arts agency legislative appropriations for fiscal 1985 rose by 18.5 percent over 1984 levels, according to a survey released by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. The 50 state and six territorial arts agencies reported 1985 appropriations totalling $160.6 million, an increase of $24.8 million over 1984 totals.
“The ability to raise an additional $24.8 million for the arts from state legislatures is a credit to the states’ arts and political leadership,” noted Robin Tryloff, chairman of NASAA’s board of directors. It is also an indication of how important the arts are to individual state constituents.”
The 1985 arts agency appropriations grew twice as fast as they had the year before, while the National Endowment for the Arts budget experienced virtually no growth in 1985. This year, for the first time, state funds are nearly equal to the federal arts appropriation of $163.7 million.
However, the state increases are not uniform; more than two-thirds of the 1985 growth is centered in five states—California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. The largest state arts appropriations are found in New York ($39.1 million), Massachusetts ($13.6 million) and California ($10.3 million). The Massachusetts budget represents a dramatic increase of nearly 60 percent over the previous year, when the Massachusetts Arts Council received an appropriation of $8.5 million. The State of Montana also experienced an extraordinary increase of 94 percent, from $370,236 to $717,860, and while the total dollar amount is relatively small, the appropriation represents nearly two-tenths of one percent of the entire state budget, the third largest proportion of any state. Only four agencies—Louisiana, Maryland, Oregon and Guam—suffered decreases. In per capita spending terms, Alaska continues to be the leader, appropriating $10.83 per person for the arts; Massachusetts moved to second place at $2.36, while the Empire State’s $2.21 per New Yorker ranks third. The states of Idaho and New Hampshire bring up the rear, earmarking only about 13 cents per person for the arts, less than any other states.
The growth of state arts funding is perhaps, at least in part, due to a growing number of arts advocacy organizations functioning at the state level. Just as the American Arts Alliance works on behalf of the arts community on the national level, there are currently 26 state arts advocacy organizations active in 23 states. Nineteen of these are staffed, and nine employ lobbyists. Operating budgets rank from zero to $200,000, and expenditures for lobbying range from zero to $33,000 per year. Half of these organizations have been formed since 1980.
Following this trend, late in 1984, nearly 20 of New York State’s most visible and powerful cultural figures banded together to lobby for an $11 million—or 28 percent—increase in funding for the New York State Council on the Arts. Members of the coalition brought together by State Senator Roy M. Goodman, include Beverly Sills, general director of the New York City Opera; Joseph Papp, producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival; Anthony Bliss, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera; Martin E. Segal, chairman of the board of Lincoln Center; and Lincoln Kirstein, general director of the New York City Ballet.
“The aim of the coalition,” noted Sen. Goodman at a December luncheon meeting of the group, “is significantly enhancing the arts council’s budget as a good business investment.” The arts in New York State are said to generate $7 billion annually, including admissions, salaries to arts professionals, and other income for hotels, restaurants and the like drawn from visitors to the Empire State. “We want the legislature and the governor to know,” noted Lincoln Center’s chairman Mr. Segal, “what arts groups can do for the state. Art in New York is like corn in the Midwest.”
Governor Mario Cuomo’s budget for fiscal ’86 calls for $35.3 million for NYSCA’s grant-making budget—the same figure as the current year. In addition, the governor’s budget includes an additional $2 million in new NYSCA funds for Arts in Education programs in the state’s schools.
For a look at the impact of state funding on the nonprofit theatre, see Theatre Facts 84, a special report in this issue of American Theatre.
Richards Nominated to Council
Yale Repertory Theatre artistic director Lloyd Richards is among the eight names put into nomination by President Reagan to serve on the National Council on the Arts. If confirmed as expected by the Senate, his appointment will mark the first time a representative from the nonprofit professional theatre has served on the 26-member body in the two decades since the Endowment was created.
Richards, who is also dean of the Yale School of Drama, artistic director of the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference and president of Theatre Communications Group, was one of 8 nominations announced for 10 vacancies on the Council. Also placed in nomination for terms expiring in 1990 were: Joseph Epstein, an author and editor of The American Scholar; painter Helen Frankenthaler; architect M. Ray Kingston; Margaret Hillis, conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus; Talbot MacCarthy, chairman of the Missouri Arts Council and Trustee of the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis; pianist Carlos Moseley; and James Woods, director of the Art Institute of Chicago. At press time, no nominations had been announced for two additional open seats on the Council.
France-U.S. Exchange
The United States and France have signed an agreement establishing a new artist exchange program that aims to form “a bridge between nations.” Fellowships of up to $25,000 will be awarded to 10 American artists for work and study in France, while 10 French artists will receive funds to pursue their disciplines in the U.S.
The agreement, first announced by President Reagan during a state visit by French President Francois Mitterand last spring, and signed recently at a formal ceremony at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., will be jointly administered by the National Endowment for the Arts and the French Ministries of External Relations and Culture.
Fellowships will be available to promising professionals in the visual and performing arts, literature, art museums and the media. For guidelines and applications contact United States/France Exchange Fellowships, International Program, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C. 20506.
Move for Bennett
William J. Bennett, a team player in President Reagan’s post-inaugural game of musical chairs, has moved from his seat as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities to become U.S. Secretary of Education. Bennett ended his frequently controversial three-year stint at the NEH with a bombshell, a long and sharply worded report issued in December charging that the humanities “have lost their central place in the undergraduate curriculum” in U.S. colleges and universities.
The NEH report, which will be the subject of policy discussions and public debate in coming months, reflects Bennett’s staunch classical approach to humanities studies, an approach that has brought criticism from several quarters. The American Historical Association asserted that under Bennett the Endowment discriminated against newer fields of study, such as women’s history and ethnic studies. An April ’84 article in The Nation criticized his ultra-conservative leanings in grant making, and called Bennett a “point man” in the Reagan Administration “war of ideas.”
Bennett has responded to such criticism by saying that the study of the humanities should not bend to any current fashion or trend. As Secretary of Education, he brings to the Reagan cabinet an outspoken style that is almost the opposite of his predecessor, T.H. Bell, who resigned in December.
In its announcement of Bennett’s and other appointments, the White House backed away from proposals to abolish the Departments of Energy and Education, a 1980 Reagan campaign pledge. Bennett has reportedly been asked by the President to conduct a feasibility study on the elimination of the Education Department, which was granted department status under President Carter.
A successor to Bennett as NEH chairman had not been named at press time.
Money for Music
The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded grants totalling $668,000 to support the creation, development and production of new works of American opera and musical theatre. Forty grants totalling $518,000 were awarded through the agency’s New American Works category; another 11 grants to producers totalled $150,000.
The New American Works category is intended to make audiences more aware of contemporary opera and musical theatre, with hopes that such new work will find its way into the standard opera-musical theatre repertoire. Producer’s grants are intended to encourage music theatre production through fellowships to individual producers and production companies.
Among the grants in the New American Works category were: California Institute of the Arts, $15,000 for the world premiere of an opera by composer Norton Subotnick and director Lee Breuer; Center Theatre Group, Los Angeles, $5,000 to commission a new piece based on the life of Jacques Offenbach by Hugh Wheeler, Conrad Susa and Richard Pearlman; Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York, $2,500 in support of workshop productions of musical work from projects given prior staged readings at EST; O’Neill Theater Center, $25,000 for the seventh annual Opera/ Musical Theatre Conference; Music-Theatre Group/Lenox Arts Center, $5,000 to support production of Martha Clarke’s The Garden of Earthly Delights; New York Shakespeare Festival, $15,000 to support workshop development of musical theatre pieces to be rehearsed and produced for public performance; Repertorio Español, New York, $5,000 to commission a new work based on Calderon de la Barca’s The Phantom Lady by Joaquin Nin-Culmell; and San Francisco Mime Troupe, $7,300 to commission a full-length musical production based on the highly successful Fact Wino plays.
Producer’s grants awarded include $15,000 to Maryanne Amacher, Renovo, Penn. for creation and development of a new Musical for Television, to be written, designed and produced for interactive digital sound and video disc, and presented as a feature story in broadcast; and $20,000 to Cheryl Crawford, New York, for rehearsal, script development and testing of a new musical, Hurrah Boys Hurrah by Willy Holtzman, with original folk music by the Red Clay Ramblers.
A Winter’s Tale
Once upon a January day the Presidential Inaugural Committee ran a Backstage ad recruiting 200 “attractive, clean-cut all-American types” to perform gratis at the 50th Inaugural ceremonies. While no one commits a gaffe with greater or louder élan than the White House, in this particular case it was hard for many observers to decide which faux pas to object to first.
The performing arts factions erupted with knee-jerk switfness, citing both the unethical non-payment of performers, as well as the discriminatory potential of the notice’s wording. Actors’ Equity Association executive secretary Alan Eisenberg decried the Committee’s all-expenses-paid, non-salaried working terms, charging that the actors were being treated like
“wandering troubadours who had to sing for their supper.” Screen Actors Guild spokesman Kim Fellner saw the incident as “a slap in the face to professional entertainers from a quarter that ought to know better.” (Reagan headed the Guild from 1948 to 1960.)
The ethnic minorities committee of Equity objected to the ad’s wording, suggesting that it “has a chilling effect on ethnic minority participation.” And the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists charged discrimination of another sort, in the Committee’s use of non-union entertainers.
John Buckley, deputy press secretary for the inaugural committee, initially said that the advertisement may have been phrased infelicitously, asserting that the committee’s intention has been misinterpreted as a result. “We were looking for non-professionals—high school and college students—not specifically non-union members,” he said, neglecting to note the paucity of union members enrolled in high schools and colleges. The committee’s strategy further neglected the unemployment statistics of Equity, AFTRA and SAG, whom 85,000 out of 100,000 are without jobs on any given day.
Perhaps the greatest slight was the glaring inequity of the committee’s decision to withhold salary for these 200 “non-professionals” while simultaneously paying minimum scale to musicians in no fewer than 25 orchestras performing at parties, as well as similar arrangements made for inaugural entertainers Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kool and the Gang and Diana Ross. The committee responded to this discrepancy by explaining that their $12 million budget would not accommodate the 200 non-professional performers.
A week after the furor began—during which time singer Diana Ross removed her name from the entertainment roster—the budget suddenly expanded to reverse the original decision, as the committee announced a triple-union scale payment of $375 for each performer.
There can be no happy ending without at least one character wiping the egg from his face, and in this instance it was the event’s producer Robert F.
Jani. According to John Buckley, Jani had not cleared his hiring and advertisement decisions with the committee. And so the show went on as scheduled, with President Reagan’s inaugural committee passing the bucks on all fronts.
—Jan Stuart
1985 NEA Pie Divided
The 1985 Arts Endowment budget allocations distributing the $163.7 million appropriation passed by Congress last fall includes $10.8 million for the Theatre Program, an increase of roughly $200,000 over last year’s level. Fifty-seven percent of the total budget is earmarked for the NEA’s core programs, while the remainder is divided among such uses as education, local arts agencies, challenge grants and the legislated share awarded to state arts agencies, as well as such internal NEA activities as research and administration.
Following is a complete breakdown of the total 1985 NEA appropriation:
Dance: $9,016,000
Design: $4,312,000
Expansion Arts: $6,762,000
Folk Arts: $3,136,000
Inter-Arts: $4,165,000
Literature: $5,145,000
Media Arts: $9,849,000
Museums: $12,152,000
Music: $15,386,000
Opera-Musical Theatre: $6,076,000
Theatre: $10,780,000
Visual Arts: $6,272,000
Artists-in-Education: $5,341,000
Education Programs: $98,000
Local Test Program: $2,254,000
State Programs: $24,304,000
Advancement: 2,450,000
Challenge: $20,580,000
Policy, Planning, Research: $980,000
Regional Representatives: $686,000
Administration: $13,916,000
Total: $163,660,000
27 Minutes
Should the 99th Congress approve President Reagan’s budget request for $1.9 trillion in military spending over the next five years, the United States will be spending $43 million every hour on defense until the end of 1990—at an average total cost of $20,000 to every taxpayer. At that rate, the $19 million the government would save by cutting the 1986 appropriation for the National Endowment for the Arts would keep the Defense Department running for less than 27 minutes. (Source: Center for Defense Information)
