NYFA Blog

Artists Communities, Funding, and Inspiration

November 1, 2010 at 2:54 pm Rebecca Wohl 5 comments

This post is guest blogged by Rebecca Wohl, NYFA.

How do we advance today’s artists in our new economy? The 2010 Alliance of Artists Communities Conference, held in Providence from October 20^th through October 23^rd, centered on this question. While the conference stressed the importance of artists’ communities and residencies, the keynote addresses and breakout panel discussions also spoke about more general issues, like relationships between artists and their communities and the financial problems faced by artists.

Funding is one major issue that artists deal with today: where and how do they get it? Of course, grants are one way for artists to support themselves and their craft. One of the afternoon breakout sessions of the conference focused specifically on the so-called “Culture Wars,” the turbulent history of the National Endowment for the Art’s individual artist grant program. The panel featured Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Animating Democracy at Americans for the Arts; Howard Ben Tré, artist, Wayne Lawson, Ohio Arts Council; and Hunter O’Hanian, Alliance of Artist Communities (moderator).

The panelists and attendees looked to the past in order to develop and discuss new ways to be stronger advocates for individual artist support in the future. A short history of the NEA individual artist grant: Established in 1965, the NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education (NEA website). Until 1994, the NEA gave unrestricted grants to artists. Unrestricted grants were given to artists based on their previously completed work and contributions to culture and their community, as opposed to project-based grants, for which funds go to specific projects to be completed.

To the chagrin of many, a series of controversial artists were directly funded by the NEA in 1994. (Two artists involved in the NEA culture wars were actually NYFA fellows: Karen Finely, who was part of the NEA Four, and Andres Serrano, who was chastised for his work Piss Christ). Congress took action to restrict government funding to individual artists, and as a result, most artists, excluding literary artists; jazz musicians; opera singers; and folk artists, are no longer eligible for direct NEA funding. Sixteen years after Congress’ motion, the majority of artists are still not able to receive direct funding from the NEA.  Direct awards to individuals are made by the NEA only through Literature Fellowships, NEA Jazz Masters Fellowships, NEA Opera Honors, and NEA National Heritage Fellowships in the Folk & Traditional Arts.

What kind of message does the government send by directly funding only certain artistic disciplines? Does the government acquiesce to the Heritage Foundation’s Ten Good Reasons to Eliminate Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (which include Reason #2: The NEA Is Welfare for Cultural Elitists and Reason #5: The NEA Will Continue to Fund Pornography)?  The NEA funds the arts indirectly by supporting organizations which, in turn, grant money to artists. Is this system effective? Do the government’s limitations on supporting the arts deter other organizations from supporting them? Do the Culture Wars of the 1980’s and 90’s in fact continue to affect where and how artists can find funding?

Once the panel discussion finished, the attendees and panelists began to tackle some of these questions together. The panelists all agreed that we must facilitate a national conversation on government support for the arts. Panelist Barbara Schaffer Bacon advised that organizations begin to work with the College Art Association (CAA) to target students to become involved in arts advocacy.

Another suggestion, which resonated throughout the conference, was that artists must organize themselves through their own self-interest and to work together as a group. Whether working to restore eliminated government funding, to engage the arts and the environment, or to build a culture of abundance (all of which were topics for breakout discussions during the conference), artists must promote themselves and their importance to culture and the community. While people support the arts, they do not know how to support artists. Artists must break down what the panel called the “aura of preciosity” that surrounds artists. They should tell stories of their work and creative process to allow the individual artist to connect with the community. Through connecting to the community level, artists can teach the public and government officials the best ways to support the individual artist.

The conference itself used this tactic—visual artist Anna Schuleit and choreographer Elizabeth Streb (four-time NYFA fellow), among others, delivered keynote addresses that gave insight into their artistic process, discussed their work, and told stories of their economic hardships. The conference attendees were moved by their speeches and work and were inspired to find new, creative ways to support the individual artist.

Is this a good way to continue to advocate for the individual artist? Are there other ways to connect the artist to the community? Should we be advocating for government funding of the arts? These are only some of the questions that artists, the general public, and hopefully our readers will begin to discuss.

Entry filed under: Arts Administration, Events, Fellowships, Non-Profit Policy. Tags: Art, Artist, Arts Administration, Arts funding, Inspiration, NEA.