EDITH KURZWEIL
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Her conference set the tone for changing the NEA's direction, but her
ultimate success wilJ depend on strong leadership - of an organization
which ever since its start has depended on partisan panelists and experts,
some of whose populist and "anticapitalist" biases have ignored quality
and content of innovative work, or discarded such criteria as too
"traditional. "
I wish Jane Alexander welJ in her dedication to save the NEA. But
we should recalJ that it bears only a superficial resemblance to the origi–
nal conception of the National Endowment for the Arts. Maybe it
should be renamed the National Endowment for Arts and Crafts, or the
National Endowment for Education through the Arts. ·Education is, of
course, the primary means to keep the country competitive in the next
century. And becoming skilJed in an art form may well help students ac–
quire the discipline to learn other skilJs, and to move them out of their
ghettos. But it is not clear that this can best be done without con–
fronting the negative byproducts of populism and regionalism, which not
only ignore artistic traditions and substance, but ultimately also hamper
the sought-for "connecting." Perhaps one solution to the thorny prob–
lems this conference revealed is the creation of an Endowment specifically
for the arts. One hesitates to advocate the creation of a new governmen–
tal agency that may be taken over, once again, by competing groups and
interests. But unless we support the best of our museums, symphony or–
chestras, balJets, writers, artists, literary magazines - as they are supported
in all the countries of the West - we will not help the most gifted tal–
ents to survive. I don't know whether it might be possible to set up a
sub-agency that could be immune to pressure by regional, multicultural
or any other criteria which, of course, are indispensable in the political
arenas. But I hope that Jane Alexander wilJ have the courage, and the
support of enough people in her entourage, to push strongly for the
"high arts" - not just for the sake of NEA but for the reputation and
the future of our country.
