CAA News Today

As a result of House rules prohibiting chairpersons from serving more than three terms, there is a new chairperson for the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Representative Joe Skeen (R-NM), and a new chair for the Senate Subcommittee of the Interior, Senator Conrad Burn (R-MT). Both committees fund the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). While Congressman Skeen has consistently voted no on budget increases for the federal cultural agencies, Senator Burns has opposed Republican-sponsored bills to eliminate the NEA.

With a new administration and Congress, arts and humanities advocates must come together in full force to demonstrate a visible presence on Capitol Hill.

On March 19-20, 2001, Americans for the Arts will host the Arts Advocacy Day conference in Washington, D.C., which will bring together a broad cross-section of the United States’ national cultural organizations and grassroots arts leaders to underscore the importance of developing strong cultural public policies and appropriating long-term public funding for the arts, humanities, and arts education. On Monday, March 19, there will be advocacy training sessions in the afternoon, followed by the fourteenth Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy with the New York Times op-ed columnist Frank Rich at the Kennedy Center. On Tuesday, March 20, participants will make Congressional lobbying visits.

On March 27, 2001, the National Humanities Alliance will host Jefferson Day, a humanities advocacy event coinciding with the NEH’s annual Jefferson Lecture in Washington, D.C. This year’s speaker is noted playwright Arthur Miller. Jefferson Day will include a briefing session and Congressional lobbying visits.

As a cosponsor for both of these events, CAA will be in a position to help craft the advocacy message for the planned Congressional visits, as well as send a staff representative to meet with elected officials and other arts and humanities advocates. For more information on Arts Advocacy Day, please visit Americans for the Arts’ website at www.artsusa.org. For information on Jefferson Day, see the National Humanities Alliance’s website at www.nhalliance.org.

CAA cosponsored Arts Advocacy Day (March 19�20), hosted by Americans for the Arts, and Jefferson Day (March 26�27), hosted by the National Humanities Alliance, in Washington, D.C. Both events brought together a broad cross-section of national cultural organizations, academics, and grassroots arts leaders to promote the arts, arts education, and humanities to Congress through increased support for the federal cultural agencies.

In addition to increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS), advocates at Arts Advocacy Day focused on two key policy issues championed by President George W. Bush�s administration–taxes and education. Advocates urged elected officials and their staffs to support tax legislation that will encourage private contributions to all nonprofit organizations by expanding the charitable gift deduction to those who do not itemize on their tax returns. Other proposals include the retention of some charitable giving incentives in the estate tax, and permission to direct IRA gift rollovers and withdrawals to charities without penalty. Another tax change could allow artists to deduct contributions of their artworks at full market value. For the first time, Republican legislators and staffers said that they definitely can agree with the arts community on this and were excited to hear about this issue. It is important to note that should Congress enact any charitable tax legislation, the resulting financial benefits to the nonprofit community�and specifically the cultural and education communities�could easily surpass any federal funds currently available through the NEA, NEH, or IMLS. Indeed, some estimates put the amount at $14 to 16 billion.

Advocates also urged members of Congress to support legislation that ensures a place for arts education in all public elementary and secondary education programs, including professional-development opportunities for arts teachers, funding for afterschool arts learning, and support for arts-education partnerships between schools and community cultural organizations. The message was reinforced at the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy. Frank Rich, an op-ed columnist and theater critic for the New York Times, spoke about the need to develop audiences for the arts through education and improved access to cultural events.

CAA representatives Marta Teegen and Paul Skiff visited the offices of Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Thad Cochran (R-MS) on Arts Advocacy Day. CAA learned that the general tone regarding an increased level of government funding has stabilized�and overall pessimism has softened�as a result of the benefits museum and visual-arts organizations have emphasized during the past several years on education programs, and because of tangible financial impact on communities served by cultural organizations. To representatives from both parties and legislative branches, however, individual-artist grants continue to be neglected by key arts lobbyists and members of Congress. This year, they were at least willing to discuss reinstating these grants, but, as the office of Senator Cochran acknowledged, these grants have become a political liability for the NEA rather than a substantive flaw in the endowment’s mission. Senate staffers found it easy to consider arts advocacy issues relating to tax questions, but it seems that a more ideological initiative, such as grants for individual artists, is still not something our elected officials have the outspokenness to treat.

One person who was outspoken�though on a different issue�was Arthur Miller, the thirtieth annual Jefferson Lecturer. He targeted the role of “acting” by politicians, and gave a scathing analysis of the recent presidential election. Not only did Miller find fault with President Bush and the Supreme Court, but he also expressed disappointment with Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Attended by more than one thousand people, Miller�s lecture drew loud cheers and applause from many in the audience who shared his opinions.

On Jefferson Day, a humanities advocacy day scheduled in conjunction with the Jefferson Lecture, CAA representatives Marta Teegen, Rachel Ford, and Deirdre Barrett visited the offices of the following senators: Conrad Burns (R-MT), Ted Stevens (R-AK), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Harry Reid (D-NV), and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), all of whom sit on the Senate Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies�the group that deals directly with funding for federal cultural agencies. After explaining that NEA and NEH Challenge Grants have allowed CAA to offer Professional Development Fellowships to individuals from traditionally underrepresented populations at the professional level in museums and universities, CAA was encouraged to hear that, at the very least, Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee members currently have no plans to make further cuts to federal cultural agency budgets in the coming year. Similarly, President Bush presented his first budget request to Congress in mid-April that included level funding for all federal cultural agencies, with an additional request for cost-of-living salary increases for 2002. Neither the Senate nor the president, however, has committed to a specific timetable for budget increases to the NEA, NEH, and IMLS.

�Marta Teegan, CAA manager of governance, advocacy & special projects, and Paul Skiff, assistant director for Annual Conference

The election in the U.S. Senate was a plus for the federal cultural agencies, as three vocal opponents were defeated. They include Spencer Abraham (R-MI) who was defeated by Debbie Stabenow; John Ashcroft (R-MO), who was defeated by Jean Carnahan; and Rod Grams (R-MN), who was defeated by Mark Dayton. Other new senators likely to be favorable to the arts and humanities include: Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and Ben Nelson (D-NE).

The Center for Arts and Culture in Washington, D.C., is near completion of a cultural policy document to present to the incoming administration. The document entitled, “Creative Transition,” will focus on the following policy areas: creativity and the law; globalization; access & equity, preservation; community life; federal funding; education; and support for creative workers. Recommendations for the new administration include establishing a cultural advisor to the president; establishing a joint Congressional Committee on Culture; and appointing an undersecretary of culture to the State Department.

This initial nonpartisan document will be followed by a series of more in-depth issue briefs that explore the effect individual national policies have on creativity in the U.S. “Creative Transition” and all subsequent issue briefs will be available to the public at www.culturalpolicy.org.

In October, President Clinton signed legislation (S. 2686) that sets the postal rate for nonprofit mailers at 40 percent of the commercial rate. If legislation had not passed, nonprofit postal rates would have faced possible increases of as much as 48.6 percent for 2001. At a time when funding for the arts is already low, assisting nonprofit organizations, and especially nonprofit arts organizations with preferred postal rates, will be essential in many cases to their very survival.

On October 11, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed HR4578, the Interior and Related Agencies appropriations bill for FY-2001. Flanked at the Rose Garden signing by National Endowment for the Arts’s (NEA) Chairman, Bill Ivey, and National Endowment for the Humanities’s (NEH) Bill Ferris, the President hailed the bill as ” a truly historic achievementachieved in genuinebipartisan spirit to create permanent basis for preserving our natural heritage and advancing common artistic cultural values.”

This marks the first time in five years that the NEA budget will be raised. The budget increases are as follows: NEA $7 million, NEH $5 million, Institute for Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) $600,000. As a cover for the House GOP leaders, the NEA is shown to be receiving $98 million with a separate line carrying $7 million for Challenge America, an NEA initiative focused on rural and underserved Americans. NEA will administer the additional funds earmarked for Challenge America.

On January 27, 2000, President Bill Clinton once again proposed a $150 million budget for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This would be an increase of $50 million over the previous budget. Last year, on July 14, 1999, the Slaughter Horn Amendment for the NEA was turned down in the House of Representatives by a very narrow margin of 217 to 207. If the Slaughter Horn Amendment had passed that would have been, after negotiations, only a $10 million increase for the NEA. We find this unacceptable and urge you to contact your representatives in Congress; see www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html. This site allows you to find out who represents you in Congress and how to contact their office. The vote on the NEA appropriation will be during the summer.

Held in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2000, Arts Advocacy Day targeted members of the U.S. Congress who voted against last year’s budget increase. CAA joined representatives from fifty other national organizations by making visits to the targeted Congress members’ offices to lobby for support. Over three hundred people registered to participate in and promote this initiative.

At issue is the $50 million NEA budget increase that President Clinton proposes as a specific program, Challenge America. This program focused on funding five areas: 1) art education; 2) youth at risk; 3) called cultural preservation; 4) community arts partnerships; and 5) improved access to the arts for all Americans. This program can be seen as a consolidation of initiatives for areas of support that are not controversial and therefore difficult to attack on conservative grounds. Clinton’s “play it safe” strategy for the NEA demonstrates just how much control the conservatives have in Congress. Indeed, the NEA’s own grant policies directly reflect the tolerance level Congress has for progressive art. Consequently, the agency has taken on the status of a bellwether for party politics and national cultural health.

The consensus of most advocates this year is that the NEA has turned a corner. This is due to several factors. There is an apparent increase in bipartisan support in the House-President Clinton’s initiative is a direct challenge to the pessimism of the conservative leadership. Over the past twelve to fifteen years, arts organizations at every level nationwide have substantially reconfigured their programs and orientation to goals to mitigate negative views promoted by the Republican majority in the House. Support for artists’ projects, exhibitions, and outreach has instead been turned toward educational programs and the emphasis on direct positive effects that cultural institutions have on local economies. These restructurings, which are a direct attempt to position more favorably for decreased levels of federal underwriting, have conformed to restricted NEA grant guidelines imposed as a result of conservative attacks on the endowment.

On the question of reinstating grants for individuals in the visual and performing arts, things have not changed. CAA representatives Katie Hollander, Lee Whitehead, and Paul Skiff made visits to the offices of House Representatives: Bernard Sanders (I-VT); Nita M. Lowey (D-NY); Michael McNulty (D-NY); Louise Slaughter (D-NY); Amo Houghton (D-NY); and Rick Lazio (R-NY). Their attitudes toward grants for individual artists ranged from complete silence, to the pronouncement that it will not happen, to an affirmation that, given time and continued improvement of the NEA’s position, such grants will once again be considered. These responses were from representatives who are on record as pro-NEA supporters. In attempts to schedule appointments with several House members who have records of nonsupport for NEA funding, the phone calls of our advocates were not returned.

CAA joined representatives from Cornell University and Columbia University on March 28, 2000, to support the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Visits were conducted with a number of representatives from New York State to discuss future funding of the agency and to ask for support of President Bill Clinton’s request of $150 million for the National Endowment for the Arts and the NEH.