New faces Essay Example For Students

New faces Essay Outline1 The arts lose some heroes in Congress, but gain a sense of hope  2 Lobbying still required  3 Counting the losses  4 Bill Clinton: On the Record   The arts lose some heroes in Congress, but gain a sense of hope   After 12 years of Republican Administrations that were, at best, indifferent to the nations cultural communitymore often inhospitable and at times outright hostilethe dawn of the Clinton era spells relief to artists and arts professionals. When, during the early stages of the Presidential campaign, it looked as though George Bush was unbeatable, malaise gripped the arts communityfour more years of eroded policy and shrinking budgets at the National Endowment for the Arts, four more years of battling government bureaucrats fueled by the religious Right, four more years of second-class status in a blighted national economy. But as the Democrats campaign picked up steam and a power shift in the White House actually began to seem possible, the political despair turned to hopeand then to near euphoria on Nov. 3. The new occupant of the White House is just one of many new faces in Washington. When the 103rd Congress convenes later this month, its members will include 110 new representatives to the Housethe most in 44 yearsand 12 new senators. The nations electorate turned out in the greatest force since 1972 and nearly doubled the number of women, African Americans and Hispanics who will represent them. Youth, gender and political affiliationboth houses remain solidly Democraticpromise to impart a more liberal cast to Capitol Hill politics, and the country is looking forward to a more cooperative relationship between the Administration and Congress. Lobbying still required   Even diehard cynics believe that with a Democratic Administration and Congress, legislation will actually be crafted and moved through the legislative process with the distinct possibility of becoming law, rather than continuing the tiresome, endless dance of compromises and vetoes that afflicted the federal government since Ronald Reagan took office. Still, the arts community will have ample need for its recently honed lobbying skills. While the President-elect went on public record during the campaign as supporting a restriction-free NEA and freedom of artistic expression (see sidebar), there are still enough foes in Congress to make the agencys upcoming reauthorization anything but smooth. Acting NEA chairman Anne-Imelda Radicewho told members of the National Council on the Arts that she was proud to have served the Endowment and will leave in January with no regretslanded a seemingly gratuitous parting shot in November by vetoing grants to the National Alliance of Media Arts Centers for three gay and lesbian film festivals, ensuring that her legacy at the agency will be remembered as politically motivated and anti-gay. The prospective designation of a new Arts Endowment chairman by a more sympathetic Administration was generated an avalanche of speculation in the arts community within weeks of the election. Names mentioned for the position ranged from off-repeated ones from the past to highly original new ideas, including several people well known to the theatre community, such as director and former Yale School of Drama dean Lloyd Richards; New York State Arts Council chairman Kitty Carlisle Hart; actress Lauren Bacall and Dayton Hudson Foundation chair Cynthia Mayeda. Other names linked with the position include former New York University president and former Indiana congressman John Brademas; Alberta Arthurs, director of the Rockefeller Foundations arts and humanities division; former National Gallery of Art director J. Carter Brown; Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of NYUs Tisch School of Arts; Anne Hawley, director of Bostons Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and former executive director of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities; New York City cultural affairs commissioner Luis Cancel; and Clinton campaign senior adviser Deborah Sale, who assisted Joan Mondale in the Carter Administration. Paul Slabolepszy: coming of age in the cradle of apartheid EssayDeborah M. Sale, senior advisor to the Clinton/Gore campaign: A Clinton Administration would take the NEA out of the political arena, returning the agency to its tradition of bipartisan cooperation. We would strengthen the peer process, strengthen the Council through appointments of merit. I believe that if we had had stronger leadership from President Bush, debate in Congress would not have reached the fever point it did. Bill Clinton would step forward and put out those fires. We in the Democratic Party were very careful this year to include the arts in our party platform, to be clear about where we stood. Our platform reflects Governor Clintons view about the arts. Arkansas was one of the first states in the nation to require a unit of fine arts for high school graduation. I think it is very important to expand the Endowment beyond the traditional, as was done in the Carter Administration. There are many organizations in minority communities all over this country that have become stronger and tougher because the times have been so hard. With a little bit more focus and encouragement from the federal government, I think those organizations could blossom. Unfortunately, with increased funding from the NEA, the states, instead of using the additional money to expand funding for the arts, essentially just absorbed that money and cut their own arts funding. The federal money has replaced the states money, instead of adding on to the states money. One could argue all night about what is the proper formula. But money was shifted to the states without much regulation, and the result has been less funding for the arts across the board in this nation. Excerpts from statements made at an ArtTable Forum, Election 92: Defining Arts Policy, co-sponsored by the Independent Committee on Arts Policy. Cliff Fannin Baker, producing artistic director, Arkansas Repertory Theatre:   At Arkansas Rep, we know firsthand that President-elect Clinton and Hillary are supportive of the arts. They are subscribers and contributors; they have hosted dinners in their home for potential corporate donors; they attend. More than once theyve slipped into the balcony on a Sunday evening because they wanted to see the show that was running. There was no fanfare, no hand-shaking, just a young governor and his wife who found theatre stimulating, provocative and entertaining. Ive no doubt there will be a new vision and vitality for the National Endowmenta vision that embraces freedom of expression and recognizes that governmental support is crucial.