Ensuring Equitable Access to Resources: a National Endowment for the Arts panel in Chicago (part 1)

Note: [Although this is identified on the tape as "Part 3" of the panel, this is the first segment Lomax had on his shelves.] June Choi deplored the trend of arts and non-profit organizations modeling themselves on for profits, calling themselves CEOs and demanding comparable salaries to business executive. Trickle-down doesn't work in the arts. Need to address institutional mechanisms that perpetuate inequitable access to resources. Artistic activities not recognized as wealth. Grass-roots Asian arts organizations already exist and reach people but are under funded. Current system too hierarchical. Need to do cultural homework and research. Alan Lomax praises Clinton and his genuine respect and interest in writing and painting. He stood on a platform with Arthur Miller and Ray Charles and picked an artist, Jane Alexander, to head the national endowment, rather than an administrative type. Our native arts are caught between the entertainment industry and the fine arts. Commercialization inevitably cheapens folk arts - for example, Big Bill Broonzy turning out 10 blues an hour for record companies. Had to change style for the companies. Cowboy music becomes "Riders of the Purple Sage." Epic spirit the cowboys really liked is lost. Arts administrators could make difference. Wonderful singers, basket makers could be in the schools, as was done in an experiment in Flint, Michigan, bringing grandparents into the schools. Children began to learn who they were, violence diminished. Homogenization is threatening to diminish diverse ways of cooking, singing, aesthetic structures. NEA could compile guidebooks on how to document customs, help with lighting, sound, etc. Example of founding of Preservation Hall in New Orleans by single individual and concomitant revival of jazz parades and activities. Taking care of one group of musicians can have a snowball effect. Alan Lomax on his relationship with Woody Guthrie. June Choi: Community arts not inferior, class issues, hot button issues, some artists ripped off. Audience comments from African-American grass-roots organizations, Madeline Phelan, vice president of regional Actors Equity Theater Panel. T7341: Audience comments continued. Michael Garcia on being refused admission to a hotel because of limits on his credit card. Eva Cavanaugh on need for outreach, same people apply for grants over and over. Alan Lomax complains that arts establishment, ballet, symphony takes up most of the money. Audience member who is a jazz musician complained he got grants in New York but not when he lived in Washington, D.C. or Chicago. Woman from New Orleans complains about involved application format. Patricia Chavez from San Diego's Centro de la Raza on need for honoring differences rather than tolerance. Origin of Endowment structure as tax shelter for the wealthy. Gisele Mercier, an artist, worries about pigeonholing people with labels, finds term "outreach" alienating. Regional fellowships help artists stay in their communities. Jesse Helms responsible for obstacles and delays in application process. Kate Horsefield on lack of audiences outside of New York City. We need conference on visual and media arts. Alan Lomax: Media staff consists of four or five people and a secretary. Local people need own organization. Kate Horsefield: We are very organized in Chicago. June Choi: NEA can be a catalyst to break down isolation. Has tremendous power to validate groups. Scottie Davis of the Salt and Pepper Mime Company of Erie, PA and Eileen Klein of the Peabody Conservatory of Baltimore: small organizations should get the money because they have shown that they can handle it. People shouldn't be told that only a certain kind of music is "their music." Alan Lomax: Heritage Program uninitiated by Bess Hawes does in fact recognize people around the country who are master artists. Joyce Fernandez, teacher at the Art Institute, on small institutions versus large and the need not to put eggs in one basket. Need resources to send students, not just children, to art school. Carol Foster, arts coordinator of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, on need for building institutions, danger of projects designed just to get grants. Paula Martinez, artist: give artists who work in communities a break. William Fisher, theater performance program at Ohio University: Validation important but Jane Alexander should demand more funding for the arts. The future is in our state-supported institutions. We should have a ministry of culture in the cabinet like other countries.