Oh boy - art - my favorite topic!! I know this wont last though so Im going to savor the moment. You guys dont care about art.
Anyway, the NEA is simply a granting organization last I looked. If you are an artist, you can apply for a grant and a board reviews your request and you may get in. NYC is the art capital of the world, there is a lot of money generated in the business of art and this NEA thing is kind a promotional investment on the part of the govt in order to encourage the art business to keep going in NYC instead of moving back to Berlin (where it was in the 20s).
Its not a lot of money, and if the NEA gets demolished it will be too bad but it in no way regulates art at all. As I said, its just money for grants. As an example, Maya Lim (sculptor responsible for the Vietnam memorial) has been the recipient of one of these grants. When they give them, they look at the body of work the artist has done, and they in no way dictate what the new work should be - it has to be that way.
It was Buchanan that latched on to this NEA grants issue in his last campaign. He played clips from a movie on his TV ads which showed some sort of gay social event (?) and claimed to be outraged that this film was funded with an NEA grant. What he neglected to point out is that the film was in fact a film about filmmakers - and this scene was a part of the life of one of the filmmakers - in other words it was VERY out of context.
Falwell goes further and actually tries to ban exhibitions etc. the most notable being the Maplethorpe exhibit a few years ago.
I dont know, personally Id rather see the NEA dismantled if it meant the ultra right wing (Falwell etc) would get his nose out of art. But right now, I dont think the NEA has anything to do with it, which is why the art community still supports NEA. Falwell will be vocal in his criticisms regardless imo.
How would you guys like it, if I decided that Hockey was too violent for my hypothetical son to watch, and I was a mother in politics, and went on this crusade to kill Hockey exibitions, Hocky camps etc (which no doubt get funding from the federal govt). |
