EDITH KURZWEIL
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was criticized, although I heard it mentioned, once or twice, in the
breakout sessions. Many participants did rally to Alexander's repeated call
for her audience to "connect," which set the tone for more tolerance
and candor - if only temporarily and superficially. Some people met old
friends, and others discovered dissenting soul mates. In her closing address
she wisely and bravely stated that all consituencies, even the so-called es–
tablished ones, were in need of funds and were entitled to a place in the
sun - a sun we are expected to soar to on our projected superhighway.
As we know, Jane Alexander has inherited a mess. The controversies
over art versus pornography, religious versus secular values, artists' free–
dom to
epater les bOllrJteois
versus doing so at government expense have
been debated ad nauseum. I won't rehash them. But, as is customary in
America, simplistic and political polarizations (unavoidable when politi–
cians are the funders) have helped turn questions of esthetics into political
footballs. That this football has been dropped into a playing field which
already had been highly politicized by players who either were claiming
to be above politics or to get onto the field because they had been kept
off for too long, only complicates the issues.
Beginning with the creation of the NEA in 1965, there has been a
concerted effort (and success) to bring the arts to the people - in every
state and every region of the country. Whether this was done to enrich
lives, create jobs, distribute enjoyment and funds, or to provide political
leverage for elected officials are moot questions: these priorities shift and,
periodically, have induced both philistines and connoisseurs to advocate
abolishing the agency altogether. In my own view, taxpayers' money
supports all other constituencies, including business, and thus ought to
support deserving artists as well; but what we hang in museums is subject
to esthetic taste and thus ought to be judged by discerning individuals.
Still, in contrast to other countries, which support art without expect–
ing it to improve education, morals, character, job skills, diversity, self-es–
teem, equal rights, ethnicity, or some other worthwhile cause, discern–
ment as well is based primarily on extra-artistic criteria.
I was able to attend only one of each of the four breakout sessions
held simultaneously, but a similar pattern of discourse seems to have
emerged in them alL Analogous to what goes on in initial therapy ses–
sions, Thursday afternoon was stormy all around, with controversial pre–
sentations and contestations from the floor. In the meeting on "Facing
Society's Censure," Nedra Darling began by telling us how she had gone
about rediscovering her own (Cherokee) and other Native Americans'
histories and how, in the production of a PBS series, these histories had
not been properly understood. Brian Freeman, a gay black artist, de–
clared that his talk should have been entitled, "Fears, Queers, and Guess
