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Subject: 
Re: Art Debate Was: [Re: Swearing?]
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Wed, 5 Jan 2000 12:50:11 GMT
Viewed: 
1906 times
  
Mr L F Braun wrote:

"Scott E. Sanburn" wrote:

Now, if the NEA is funding the Virgin-Mary-statue thieves in Texas (if they're ever
caught!), then I'll have a real problem.  ;)  But as far as a fund that doesn't
cover artistic endeavours, but rather local libraries and other fora, what are you
envisioning?  To a certain extent, a fund like that without an artistic agenda does
exist, called the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities).

But as far as deciding "where your $1.50/whatever goes" in the NEA, think of the law
of averages--for a project like the elephant-dung portrait, the money could just be
shifted to cover the "lack" from that sector or group.  The net result wouldn't be
any different; it would just add more bureaucracy, because there's no simple or
efficient way to micromanage tax expenditures for a quarter-billion-plus people.
What's more effective is to write to the NEA; if they're anything like the NEH, they
take cogent, reasoned feedback that someone has bothered to target specifically to
them very seriously.  Here's why:

The NEH is a rotating board of prominent scholars and professors who do much of the
committee work gratis (at least my advisor did it gratis); I'd gather that the NEA
is much the same, only with a few academics and many seasoned artists (not
necessarily exclusive categories, granted), also working gratis while doing their
regular work as well.  However, both groups have a veritable quintillion of grant
applications to go through, and they're looking for *any reason* to thin that number
out.  If they have feedback from the public at large that opposes a particular level
and type of expression, they'll be less likely to fund it without very serious
consideration, which is something an NEH/NEA reader isn't going to want to do after
12 hours looking at applications.  At least the NEH ones are generally well-written;
I understand that some of the NEA grant proposals are written
"stream-of-consciousness."  That's got to wear really thin after a while.  At least
the NEH gets to throw those out right away.

Anyhow, just an insight into how the NEA probably works--don't know if it helps.


I am not really interested in how the NEA, NEH, etc. work. I don't think
they should be there, period. Any funding to the arts should be through
private organizations. Artists have somehow survived and thrived before
the advent of socialistic bureaucratic federal governments. I for one
would rather have that money go to something that the Founding Fathers
wanted. When you say, oh, well what if they funded x instead of y, I
don't really think it is an issue. I think the real issue is why the
taxpayer has to fund either x or y in the first place. If you want to
make shock art, good art, bad art, etc. Fine. Don't expect me to pay for
it. I do things on my own, and I don't look for government handouts. The
United States was founded on principles and concepts that this does not
fit into.

Scott S.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Scott E. Sanburn-> ssanburn@cleanweb.net
Systems Administrator/CAD Operator-Affiliated Engineers ->
http://www.aeieng.com
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Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Art Debate Was: [Re: Swearing?]
 
(...) True--they thrived, often, through the patronage of aristocrats or crowned heads. It's a different world and the shift has occurred. The NEH and NEA are part of the knowledge-based society we pretend to be. (...) Trying to imagine how the (...) (25 years ago, 11-Jan-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Art Debate Was: [Re: Swearing?]
 
(...) Now, if the NEA is funding the Virgin-Mary-statue thieves in Texas (if they're ever caught!), then I'll have a real problem. ;) But as far as a fund that doesn't cover artistic endeavours, but rather local libraries and other fora, what are (...) (25 years ago, 5-Jan-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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