NEA-Annual-Report-1997.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: t is my pleasure to transmit herewith the Annual Report of the National Endowment for the Arts for Fiscal Year 1997. I The Arts Endowment awards more than a thousand grants each year to non-profit arts orga nizations for projects which touch the lives of millions of Americans. While it would take several books to detail the profound effects of Arts Endowment support on our citizens and communi ties, this single year’s report of grants displays the sprawling diversity of our nation’s culture and reveals the unfettered creativity of our artists. From seeing a classic production at a theater in Connecticut to visiting an art museum in Ari zona, from hearing symphony musicians in an Iowa school to participating in a fine arts training program for inner-city students in Louisiana, people who benefit from Arts Endowment grants have made the arts an integral part of their lives. They know that the ability to create and sustain art must be developed and nurtured. Arts Endowment grants in 1997 continue the agency’s tradition of supporting: ¯ projects in theater, dance, music, visual arts, and the other artistic disciplines, demonstrating that our diversity is an asset--and helping us to interpret the past, understand each other in the pre sent, and envision the future; ¯ folk and traditional arts programs, which strengthen and display our rich cultural heritage; and ¯ arts education, which fuels our children’s skills, intellect, and fullness of life. We take pride in the power of imagination that animates and sustains our democracy. We are, and always will be, a nation of creators and innovators. This small agency fosters the creativity that has made democracy the call heard around the world. May it long continue to preserve such cre ativity and freedom. William J. Clinton President of the United States PRESIDENT’S HESSAGE THE YEAR IN REVIEW 5 NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS GRANTS AND AWARDS Grants to Organizations Creation & Presentation 9 Education & Access 50 Heritage & Preservation 66 Planning & Stabilization 78 Partnership Agreements 89 Contents Leadership Initiatives Millennium Projects 93 International Programs 97 Other Initiatives 102 Grants to Individuals Literature Fellowships 107 American Jazz Master Fellowships 110 National Heritage Fellowships 112 Policy, Research, & Technology 114 AccessAbility 116 National Medal of Arts 118 PANELS 120 FINANCIAL SUHMARY 126 World Music, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts hosted a residency of Bale Folclorico da Bahia, of Brazil, which included performances and master dance classes. Photo courtesy of Bale Folclorico da Bahia. Basic pot formation is taught at satellite sites of the Claymobile, a traveling ceramics class organized by the Clay Studio in Philadelphia. Photo courtesy of the Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1997." THE YEAR IN REVIEW The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent Federal agency. Its mission is: To foster the excellence, diversity, and vitality of the arts in the United States, and To broaden public access to the arts. A New Look for Grants Partnership Agreements support the des This annual report documents the first year of ignated state, jurisdictional, and regional arts sweeping changes in the Arts Endowment’s agencies. They represent a consolidation of the grantmaking structure, as foretold in last year’s Basic State Grants, Arts-In-Education Partner annual report. After 30 years, the Endowment ship Grants, and Underserved Communities reorganized its grant programs from discipline- Set-Aside Grants issued in previous years. based categories into broad-based, thematic Partnership Agreements remain strong stimuli categories to meet the financial and social chal for state governments to provide funding for lenges of the times. Stimulated by a 39 percent the arts. Congressional budget cut in 1996, the reorga Leadership Initiatives allow the National nization included staff reductions, elimination Endowment for the Arts to take an active role of most individual grants, and elimination of in developing and carrying out pioneering or seasonal support and general operating grants hallmark projects in the arts--such as activi for organizations, who now are generally lim ties that mark the new millennium, have inter ited to one grant application per year. In Fiscal national significance, or link the arts in new Year 1997 the Endowment awarded over 1,OOO ways with non-arts fields of human activity. grants totaling $90.6 million in the following The success of many of these initiatives de areas: Grants to Organizations, Partnership pends on the effective collaborations estab Agreements, Leadership Initiatives, and Grants lished by the Arts Endowment with other Fed to Individuals. eral agencies and with local and national Grants to Organizations fall into four ma nonprofit institutions. jor categories: Creation & Presentation, Educa Individuals may apply directly for Litera tion ~ Access, Heritage ~ Preservation, and ture Fellowships. Awards in the other two cate Planning ~ Stabilization. These awards support gories of grants for individuals--the American exemplary projects in the full range of arts dis Jazz Master Fellowships and the National Her ciplines, including dance, design, folk and tra itage Fellowships--are made solely on the basis ditional arts, literature, media arts (film, tele of nominations submitted to the agency. vision, and radio), museums, music, musical theater, opera, presenting, theater, visual arts, Research and Public Policy arts education, and multidisciplinary forms. As the the lead government agency for public Grants are awarded on the basis of artistic ex arts funding in the United States, and as the na cellence and merit, the impact of the project, tion’s largest single funding source for the non and the applicant’s ability to carry out the pro profit arts, the Endowment carries out various ject. Nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations may research and public policy activities pertaining apply for one grant each year, excluding appli to America’s cultural life. cations submitted as part of a consortium. All In 1997 the National Endowment for the Endowment funds awarded as grants to orga Arts released American Canvas, a report exam nizations must be matched by non-federal ining the economic and social conditions of the sources at least 1-to-1. nonprofit arts in America. The report is the re sult of a privately supported, year-long series of six regional public forums held across the coun President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. try. It offers practical recommendations and Late in 1997, Congress changed the Council calls on all Americans to help preserve our na structure so that, beginning in 1998, this body tion’s cultural legacy for future generations. is comprised of 14 private citizens appointed Another outcome of the American Canvas by the President and six members of Congress process will occur in 1998 when the Endowmentwho serve in a non-voting capacity. will institute a pilot program ArtsREACH, de Panels of experts, including professional signed to increase the level of direct grant assis artists, arts administrators, and knowledgeable tance to arts organizations in underserved areas. laypersons, review all of the Arts Endowment’s The Endowment’s Office of Policy, Research, grant applications. In 1997, applications were and Technology carried out a number of other reviewed initially by panels in single artistic research studies, including the 1997 Survey of disciplines, and then by combined, multidisci Public Participation in the Arts that assessed fre plinary panels organized by grant category. In quency of and barriers to American arts par 1998, applications will be reviewed entirely by ticipation. This report will be published in panels organized by artistic discipline. 1998. For a second year, the Office conducted The staff is comprised of a senior executive Open Studio: The Arts Online, a project provid team, directors and staff specialists with exper ing free Internet access to artists and arts orga tise in the arts, and administrative personnel. nizations nationwide. The Office of Access- The staff receives and processes applications, Ability continued to address arts accessibility provides technical assistance and information issues for persons with special needs, by work to constituents, processes awards and rejec ing with arts organizations and other Federal tions, and remains informed of trends and de agencies, and by organizing special projects velopments in the arts field. Staff members also such as the first national forum on careers in keep the American public apprised of the En the arts for people with disabilities. dowment’s work and the accomplishments of The Arts Endowment also administers the its grantees. annual nomination process for the National Medal of Arts, which was created by Congress This Annual Report in 1984, is conferred by the President, and rec The organization of this annual report reflects ognizes extraordinary contributions to the life the changes in the Endowment’s grantmaking of the arts in the United States. structure that took effect during the Fiscal Year which began on October 1, 1996 and ended on Operations September 30, 1997. All grants, cooperative Jane Alexander was nominated by President agreements, and interagency agreements exe William J. Clinton and served as the sixth cuted that year are described. The narratives Chairman of the National Endowment for the preceding each section provide an overview of Arts from October, 1993 to October, 1997. Fol Endowment programs. Because organizational lowing her departure, President Clinton nom grants are no longer awarded by artistic disci inated William Ivey to serve as the Endow pline, the discipline of each project is indicated ment’s seventh Chairman. in parentheses as part of each grant listing. A The National Council on the Arts advises summary of financial transactions based on the the Chairman on policies, programs, proce new structure and a history of Endowment ap dures, and grants. Council members represent propriations are included at the end.