NEA ARTSVOL 1 2009
Reaching Millions with Art The NE A’s Support for Film, Television, and Radio
11 Caught in the Act: Great 13 Sowing Seeds: NEA’s Support 15 NEA New Play Development Performances Brings the for Independent Filmmaking Program Selections Performing Arts into American through AFI and Sundance Homes NEA ARTS Preserving and Presenting Furthering the Public’s Access to the Arts
Film, radio, and television —the media arts—have been a Programming in the high priority at the National Endowment for the Arts Arts, which since 1999 (NEA) almost from the start of the agency. In fact, one has been known as the of the most signiRcant early initiatives taken by the Arts Arts on Radio and Tele - Endowment was the creation, in 1967, of the American vision. In supporting Film Institute to conserve America’s precious cinematic the work of media arts
heritage. For several years the AFI was funded entirely N organizations, inde - E L L A
by the NEA, serving in ePect as the Arts Endowment’s N pendent Rlmmakers, I V E K
Rlm program. Y local exhibitors, and B O T
During the chairmanship of Nancy Hanks, the NEA O national broadcasters H P began to look toward expanding its media programs Media Arts Director Ted Libbey. through its Media Arts beyond Rlm preservation. In 1970 it established the program, the NEA has Public Media program, forerunner of today’s Media Arts aQrmed the value that Rlm, radio, and television have as program, and in 1972 it created the funding category art forms in and of themselves, and has recognized the enormously important role the media play in furthering \U`Z]\U[ V]a\VZ[ ]\ `YW U^`_ the public’s access to, and appreciation of, all the arts. Patrice Walker Powell Acting Chairman Oe range of media arts activity supported by the James Ballinger Miguel Campaneria Arts Endowment has been very broad. From the mid- Ben Donenberg JoAnn Falletta 1970s until the late 1990s the NEA played a leading role Lee Greenwood in funding new work by independent Rlmmakers. It Joan Israelite Charlotte Kessler continues to fund the creation of works on Rlm, mainly Bret Lott documentaries, through grants to nonproRt organiza - Jerry Pinkney Stephen Porter tions. It funds the exhibition of Rlm and video art at Barbara Ernst Prey Frank Price dozens of festivals around the country and assists organ - Terry Teachout izations across the media spectrum in providing services Karen Wolff such as workshops for youth, professional training, and Wc-]XXZVZ] access to equipment and facilities. It continues to sup - Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) port Rlm, video, and audio preservation ePorts, and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) Rep. Patrick Tiberi (R-OH) plays a major part in sustaining the nation’s leading radio and television broadcast series devoted to the arts, \WU U^`_ _`UXX Paulette Beete Editor which include such well known programs as Great Per - Don Ball Managing Editor Ted Libbey, Rebecca Ritzel, formances, Performance Today, and From the Top. Elizabeth Stark Contributors Oe articles which follow highlight not only the Beth Schlenoff Design scope of the NE A’s involvement in the media arts, but
]\ `YW V]bW^: the extraordinary beneRts its media grants deliver to the Members of the Polaris Quartet, a student group from the Music American people. Institute of Chicago, rehearse before a From the Top show taped in Indianapolis, Indiana. The musicians are (left to right): violinists Andrea Jarrett and Vince Meklis, cellist Gabriel Cabezas, and violist Ted Libbey Matthew Lipman. Photo by Lisa Utzinger Director, Media Arts
2 NEA ARTS Reaching Millions with Art Oe NE A’s Support for Film, Radio, and Television
In the technological age of the 21st century, media has reporters, and audio artists from the U.S. and abroad to a larger inSuence than ever before. From Rlm to radio share their expertise and best work. Arts on Radio and to television to DVDs and the Internet, the media peo - Television grants support the development, production, ple use to connect with their world has been growing at and national distribution of radio and television pro - a furious rate. Now one can reach millions of people grams that highlight the spectrum of arts disciplines. easily with a program shown on television or broadcast ETV Endowment of South Carolina, for example, has on the Internet. Oat’s why the media has become so received Arts Endowment support for its radio series important in the creation and presentation of art. headlined by NEA Jazz Master Marian McPartland. In 1967, the Arts Endowment awarded four public Reaching more than 400,000 listeners each week, Marian media grants totaling $788,300 “in support of a range of McPartland’s Piano Jazz has featured nearly 600 jazz educational television programs in the arts.” As the pro - artists ranging from NEA Jazz Masters Sarah Vaughan gram grew, the Arts Endowment seeded many Sedgling and Benny Carter to emerging artists over the last two organizations that are now household names, such as decades. Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, which continues Oe NEA has also identiRed critical needs in the to receive NEA support for its Feature Film Program, a media arts Reld. For instance, when hundreds of early series of workshops for Rlm professionals. Media Arts American motion pictures, such as Charlie Chaplin’s grants support a range of activities, such as production 1921 Rlm
A public television series about contemporary S I L E
M visual artists, a radio and television series Y B O
T that introduces young classical musicians to O H P new audiences, a documentary Rlm about NEA Jazz Master Ramsey Lewis being interviewed by Marian McPartland (herself an NEA Jazz Master) on her radio show, Marian international adoption, and a prominent museum’s lead - McPartland’s Piano Jazz. ership role in Rlm preservation.
3 NEA ARTS Film Stars Cleveland Presents an International Film Festival
Cleveland, Ohio, may be better known for its orchestra, to the Cleveland festival. “Oere’s great cachet from get - but many residents consider the Cleveland International ting money from the NEA,” Goodman said. Film Festival (CIFF) a local treasure. Since 1977, when Local cineastes aren’t CIFF’s only fans: the Academy the festival screened just eight Rlms, Executive Director of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently named it Marcie Goodman and her staP have been committed to as a qualifying festival in the category of Short Films, presenting foreign and independent Rlms that might meaning that CIFF Best Live Action Short Film and Best never make it to a Midwestern multiplex. To be sure, the Animated Short Film awardees may qualify as Oscar festival has booked its share of art house hits—including nominees. the 2008 documentary Young @ Heart —but the majority But perhaps the greatest testament to the festival’s of movies screened at the festival would never see a popularity are the more than 3,000 people who bundled Cleveland marquee, Goodman said. up and braved a late-winter blizzard to attend screenings For its Rrst 14 years, the festival hosted screenings at at the 2008 festival’s opening weekend. Many of those a variety of theaters in the metro area. In 1991, Tower moviegoers spent the night in Cleveland’s Public Square, City Cinemas became the festival’s permanent home. trapped by some 15 inches of snow that fell while they Since 2006, festival admissions have held steady at were indoors watching Jump, Projector Award for writing novels N A R F A that successfully transfer to the big J M I T screen, Cunningham declared the Y B O T honor his favorite, other than “this O H thingy called the Pulitzer Prize.” P Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Cunningham accepts the Oese educational ePorts and community partnerships Cleveland International Film Festival’s 2008 From Page to Projector are two reasons why the NEA consistently awards grants Award from Marcie Goodman, the festival’s executive director. 4 NEA ARTS Through New Eyes Hecho en Encinal Brings Filmmaking to Rural Texas In the rural southern Texas community of Encinal, the scarcity of opportunities to become involved in the arts is a fact of life. Since 1996, local arts organiza - tion Art’s For Everyone, or Hecho en Encinal as it’s better known, has pro - vided a variety of dance, music, literary arts, theater, and visual arts program - ming for the community, including A T S I T U aTer-school art clubs, theater and dance A B A Z T performances, and oral history projects. I R A One discipline Hecho en Encinal M Y B O T hadn’t explored, however, was the O H media arts. Working with local Rlm - P Young filmmakers from Hecho en Encinal, Appalshop, and Indonesia makers, Hecho en Encinal reached out for guidance to shoot footage for their documentary on energy with filmmaker Tom Kentucky’s Appalshop, whose signature Appalachian Hansell as part of the 2008 Rural Filmmaker Exchange. Media Institute (AMI) provides media production training for youth, teachers, and community groups in round trip from Encinal to the area’s middle and high central Appalachia. With help from the NEA, Hecho schools. en Encinal and Appalshop created the Rural Filmmaker A year later a group of Encinal Rlmmakers and two Exchange to help the two organizations share ideas. young participants traveled to Appalshop’s Kentucky Oe exchange began in June 2007 in Encinal with a headquarters in Whitesburg for another three-day AMI mixed group of 10 young people from Encinal and from workshop and Rlm screenings by participants. Oeir the AMI program, two Appalshop Rlmmakers, and a experience at Appalshop overlapped with a visit by a professional Rlmmaker from nearby Laredo, Texas. Oe group from rural Indonesia, an opportunity that allowed Rlmmakers and youth from Appalshop’s AMI program the Texas group to see how Rlmmakers from a very joined the Encinal community for Rlm screenings and a diPerent rural area were tackling issues in their own three-day intensive youth media workshop. Oe young community. Oe Encinal group joined the international Rlmmakers together planned, shot, and edited two short Rlmmakers on several projects, including a documen - topical documentaries, which they shared with the com - tary about energy consumption. munity during a special screening. As a result of the Rural Filmmaker Exchange, Hecho Prior to the workshop, the attitude among Encinal en Encinal developed its own annual youth media work - youth was that their town did not have any interesting shops modeled on the AMI program. Media del Monte material for a documentary. Oe Appalshop students is a six-week summer program to study and discuss helped the young Texans to recognize what made their documentaries, learn to use the Rlmmaking equipment, community unique. Oe Rrst documentary produced and create their own Rlms. As Hecho en Encinal board during the workshop explored life on a South Texas member Sean Chadwell noted, the greatest lesson taught ranch, while a second Rlm, Bus Ride Stories, featured a by the program was that “you don’t have to be from New series of interviews by students making the 55-mile York or Los Angeles to be a Rlmmaker.” 5 NEA ARTS Up Close and Personal Susan Sollins Discusses the Television Series Art:21 Broadcast on PBS since 2001, Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century features intimate proRles of con - temporary visual artists. To date, more than 7,399 airings on 459 PBS stations have featured artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Maya Lin, Martin Puryear, and William Wegman. Here’s an excerpt from a recent e-mail exchange with Art:21 Executive Producer Susan Sollins. Read the complete interview at www.arts.gov/features/ index.php?choosemonth=2009_03. NEA: What do you hope viewers learn from Art:2 1? SUSAN SOLLINS: I trust that the takeaway is an enthusi - asm and interest in today’s artists, and that Art:21’ s K R O public understands through the series that artists work Y W E N , extremely hard, that their ideas are substantial, and that Y R E L L new art oTen needs new forms to contain it. Our artists A G R A not only reSect our society, but also tell us a great deal D K A N O about our identity and the issues that are in the van - B A Y N guard of our political, cultural, and social discourse. A T Y S E And they provide us with role models for creative think - T R U O ing in many areas of our collective life as a nation. C Scala Naturae, 1994, by Mark Dion, one of the artists featured on the NEA: What types of outreach activities are part of television series Art: 2 1—Art in the Twenty-First Century. Art:2 1? SOLLINS: Events include screening and discussion during National Arts and Humanities Month to present programs for adults and young people, artist talks, and 400 screening events in all 50 states and 20 countries professional development workshops for teachers. We internationally. have developed an extraordinarily large network of organizational partners across the country—including NEA: How important is NEA funding to Art:2 1? museums, community galleries, youth organizations, SOLLINS: NEA has played a crucial role in Art:21’ s exis - libraries, school districts, and PBS stations—with which tence and growth. At the earliest stages of development, we collaborate in order to reach local audiences more the NEA provided the seed money that was necessary to directly. Over the last few months we have collaborated kick-start the organization. Since that time, Art:21 has with the Museum of Modern Art to present a workshop received crucial funding from the Arts on Radio and on teaching with contemporary art, the Smithsonian Television program for the production of the series, and Museum of American Art to host a monthly screening from the Access to Artistic Excellence program for our series, and the New York City Public Library to present education and outreach activities. Without this funding a series of artist talks. Last season we worked with from the NEA, or the endorsement that funding implies, Americans for the Arts and more than 350 local venues Art:21 would simply not exist. 6 NEA ARTS Telling Tales Katahdin Produces Documentary Filmmaking Outside the Mainstream In 1966 , the Borshays, a California family, adopted eight-year-old Cha Jung Hee from South Korea. Or so they thought. Oe real Cha Jung Hee had been reclaimed by her family days before the adoption. Instead, the little girl the Borshays named Deann was given Cha Jung Hee’s name and told to keep it secret by the orphanage, who then erased her previous identity. Ois compelling story is the subject of Deann Borshay Liem’s auto - biographical documentary, provisionally titled In In Productions. Founded in 2003 by Lisa Oomas, H C Y the mission of the Berkeley, California-based B O T O H company is “to tell compelling stories oTen P ignored by mainstream media—stories that inspire, Filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem searches for the real Cha Jung Hee in engage, and even enrage.” As Katahdin’s executive direc - a documentary produced by Katahdin Productions. tor, Liem oversees the company’s fundraising, outreach, and other strategic initiatives, allowing other Rlmmakers Liem’s Rlm focuses on three women, all named Cha to have a similar chance to tell their own stories. Jung Hee, who are all the same age as the Rlmmaker. Among other Katahdin projects are Homeland: Four Liem also interviews other Korean adoptees from around Portraits of Native Action, about Native-American eco- the world about their own struggles with issues of iden - activists, and Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning, tity. “I decided to use this story of searching for this girl, which also received NEA support. 7 NEA ARTS Young at Heart From the Top Showcases Young Classical Musicians “Just get your show picked up by twelve to 15 radio sta - summer home in western Massachusetts. Oe produc - tions.” Oat’s what veteran radio producers told Gerald tion team sent out demo recordings and launched an Slavet when he announced plans for From the Top, a aggressive marketing campaign. By the time From the radio show that would feature kids playing classical Top oQcially went on the air in January 2000, nearly 100 music. “We were met with great skepticism,” Slavet said. stations had signed on to broadcast the program. Oe At a public radio conference, station managers asked show’s mix of music, interviews, and sketch comedy, all him, “Why would I ever put a kid on the radio when I featuring teenage musicians, soon proved a winning can pull Yo-Yo Ma oP the shelf?” A few conceded that combination with listeners. With Boston’s Jordan Hall as the kids he booked were good, but said there weren’t its base, the show toured the country, taping episodes enough prodigies in the talent pool to justify more than from coast to coast. Today From the Top is preparing to one season for such a show. enter its tenth season. Oe number of subscribing sta - tions from across the nation has held steady at 220, with airplay in nine of the top ten markets. Oe show has branched into tel - evision, taping a dozen shows each year at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Oe NEA began supporting the Sedgling project in 2001 with an Arts on Radio and Tele - vision grant. Oe program’s continued quality has ensured ongoing Arts Endowment sup - port; in 2008 From the Top M received $135,000 toward the O S L A B radio show and the three-year- D I V A D old television series, some of Y B O T which is invested in From the O H P Top’ s education programs. Accompanied by host Christopher O’Riley, 10-year-old violinist Alice “Oere’s quite a lot going on, and there’s quite a lot Ivy-Pemberton rehearses a Bartók rhapsody before a From the Top radio taping at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall in Boston, more to do,” said Christopher O’Riley, the concert Massachusetts. pianist who has served as host almost from the begin - ning. “What’s been gratifying is that we have succeeded Slavet and his co-producer, Jennifer Hurley-Wales, in creating an arena for young people to connect with pressed on. In late summer of 1999, they partnered with their audiences, and use their personal passions as a way the New England Conservatory and WGBH-FM, one of to make them emissaries for classical music in the Boston’s public radio stations, to begin taping episodes United States.” of From the Top at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony’s Ostensibly, From the Top is a program that shows oP 8 NEA ARTS From the Top has gradu - ally poured more resources into tracking alumni and encouraging students to return home as cultural lead - ers. Every young musician participates in a leadership workshop, and each year several student performers are proRled in McGraw-Hill’s Spotlight on Music textbooks. In 2005, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a non - M proRt founded by the late O S L A B Washington Redskins owner, D I V A challenged Slavet and the D Y B O From the Top team to book T O H P more low-income students. Priscilla Wadsworth, a flutist from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, performs for In return, each of those students would receive a a From the Top radio taping in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. $10,000 scholarship and the chance to compete for addi - tional funding. To date, the program has distributed $1 prodigiously talented musicians—from violinists to million in scholarship money. Finding young perform - composers to singers—ages eight to 18. But it’s more ers like Joshua Jones, a 16-year-old percussionist from than that. It’s a show about kids who like classical music, Chicago who took up the marimba because he was and what makes them tick. “It’s all [generated] from the “always banging on stuP,” takes some persistent search - kids,” O’Riley said. “Oere’s an awful lot of delving into ing. It’s worth the ePort. “Our kids illustrate that anyone who they are, and the most important, unique things who learns discipline, passion, and focus can succeed at about them.” almost anything,” Slavet said. Oousands of musicians audition for From the Top Many of the series’ featured young performers go on each year. Oe best players don’t automatically make the to become professional musicians. As O’Riley travels stage. Producers evaluate the diversity each student the country playing concertos with orchestras, he oTen would oPer in terms of musical talent, demographics, crosses paths with alumni. At Philadelphia’s Kimmel and personality. Once performers are selected, they Center, he was reunited with Carol Jantsch, a tuba player respond to questionnaires and speak with staP by phone. who, at age 17, played “Flight of the Bumblebee” on Oen it’s time to brainstorm. When a swim team captain From the Top. Now she’s a principal brass player in the from Texas made the show, a From the Top roving renowned Philadelphia Orchestra. In January 2009, reporter showed up at practice to interview her team - O’Riley shared the stage with violinist Jason Moody, a mates. More recently, a young pianist from California Rrst-season From the Top performer who is now a mem - voiced concerns about competing against guys with big - ber of the Spokane Symphony. But he’s equally proud of ger, stronger hands in competitions, so the producers Nicole Ali, a violinist and pianist who has gone on to compiled a segment on famous female pianists. conduct stem cell research at Harvard. As the show pre - “Oere’s a lot of preparation that goes on,” O’Riley pares to enter its tenth season, O’Riley knows the list of said. “It’s not a bunch of us sitting around, wondering distinguished alumni will only grow. what smart alecky things we can do.” 9 NEA ARTS Taking a Look Back Oe Museum of Modern Art Preserves American Film History Given its extensive visual arts collection, it would be expected that New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) would receive funding only under the NE A’s museum discipline. But in fact, since the 1970s, the NEA has been a major supporter of MoM A’ s ePorts to preserve and protect its collection of approximately 23,000 Rlms. E V I Oe museu m’s Rlm department began in H C R A S 1935 as a library of seminal works on Rlm that L L I T S were no longer in distribution, such as silent A M O and international Rlms. While its collection M F O Y S contains Rlms from around the world, as part of E T R U its role as a founding member of the Interna - O C E G tional Federation of Film Archives, MoMA also A M I is committed to the acquisition and preservation Brute Force, 1947, starring Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn, is one of American Rlm heritage, including classic Rlms such of the films restored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as Academy Award Best Picture winners It Happened with funding from the NEA. One Night (1935) and On the Waterfront (1955). MoM A’s curators consider a number of factors be used for MoM A’ s public programs, screened at Rlm when selecting Rlms for preservation, such as scarcity festivals, or viewed by Rlm scholars. According to con - of surviving prints or negatives and whether the Rlm is servator Peter Williamson, “[It] opens a window into an “orphan,” meaning it no longer has a rights holder what Rlmmaking was like.” Ois glimpse into the past is or will be lost without the museum’s help. In FY 2008, the reason MoMA recently focused on restoring six a $50,000 Arts Endowment grant supported the preser - Rlms from its Oomas Edison Company Collection pro - vation of ten American Rlms from MoM A’ s archive, duced between 1913 and 1917. Although this period in including His Majesty, the American. Starring Douglas the company’s history previously had been dismissed by Fairbanks, Sr., the romantic comedy was the Rrst motion scholars as unimportant, MoMA maintains that these picture produced by the Sedgling United Artists studio. works are valuable as indicators of culture at the time Like others in the collection, His Majesty, the American the Rlms were produced and of what people then con - had been copied onto 16mm acetate Rlm some time sidered entertaining. around World War II to keep it from being lost when A number of the restored Rlms will eventually be 35mm nitrate Rlm became scarce. In restoring the Rlm available on DVD, expanding their reach considerably. to its original 35mm format, conservators extended However, just as a print of a painting is not the same as intertitles to their original length and repaired tinting, the original, MoMA respects each Rlm as a piece of resulting in a print of superior quality that’s closer to the modern art, recognizing the value of restoring works to original. their original format. As former Rlm curator Steven Oe museum’s conservation program ultimately Higgins asserted, MoM A’s mission is to “restore Rlms as results in greater accessibility, as the restored Rlms can Rlm and make them available as Rlm.” 10 NEA ARTS Caught in the Act Great Performances Brings the Performing Arts into American Homes While most Americans weren’t able to make it to New York’s Richard Rodgers Oeater to see Jennifer Garner’s Broadway debut as Roxane to Kevin Kline’s Cyrano in the 2007 production of Cyrano de Bergerac, they were able to catch Garner and Kline’s performances for free when Cyrano premiered on PBS’s Great Performances series in January 2009. For more than 35 years, Great Performances, produced by Oirteen/WNET with sup - port from the NEA, has transformed American televi - sions into concert halls, dance theaters, and Broadway auditoriums, bringing works by Leonard Bernstein, Twyla Oarp, and Aaron Copland, to name a few, directly into American homes. Oe nation’s longest continuously running arts program, Great Performances has garnered an impressive 61 Emmy Awards and a slew of other top honors. When it launched in 1972, Great Performances spot - lighted classical symphonic and opera performances as K well as regional theater. Two years later, thanks to part - R O Y W nership funding from the NEA, the Corporation for E N T E Public Broadcasting, and Exxon, Dance in America N W , T debuted as a separate series that was ultimately folded T O N N I into the Great Performances family while retaining its S E O J own branding. As Executive Producer David Horn Y B O T explained, “With Great Performances, while we [feature] O H P regional opera and theater and music organizations, it Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner, and Daniel Sunjata star in Cyrano de does take on an international aspect as well. But we still Bergerac on the PBS series Great Performances, supported by the retain in our dance programming a primary focus on NEA. American dance companies, choreographers, and per - formers.” Today, according to Horn, fans of Great Per - episodes on the series’ Web site, and the series’ availabil - formances can expect to see “anything from modern ity on DVD. Oe Web site also features lesson plans so drama to modern dance to classic ballet to musical the - teachers can integrate Great Performances video clips ater. You name it, we do it on Great Performances.” into their curricula. Each Great Performances and Dance in America Horn maintained that it’s the idea of access that fuels episode has an estimated cumulative reach of nearly the program. “Over the years we’ve received a few e- three million viewers, or approximately 1,200 times mails from somebody, who ultimately became a per - the capacity of a large performing arts venue such as former, in a small town . . . or somewhere outside of one New York’s Carnegie Hall. Ois reach is increased expo - of the major cultural cities in this country, and the Rrst nentially by the availability of selected clips and full time they saw a dance [performance], they saw an 11 NEA ARTS S T R A G N I M R O F R E P E H T R O F N O I T A D N U O F P A R T F L O W , E D I R B C M R E T E P Y B O T O H P opera, they saw real theater, was on public television, Hawaii’s famed dance company H a-lau O Kekuhi performs at Volca - usually Great Performances. And that inspired them to noes National Park in “Wolf Trap’s Face of America,” a Dance in America presentation. want to enter into a career as a performer, or in some other capacity in the arts. And that story gets repeated over and over again. . . . Particularly with the cutbacks rare, archival footage and interviews with Pavarotti’s in arts funding over the last several years, I think that friends and colleagues. our service is even more important.” Horn also credited Horn credits the NEA with helping to ensure the Dance in America with being particularly important to series’ survival. “Once the NEA has given you a grant, conserving the nation’s dance heritage by creating video it’s like the seal of approval. It makes it so much easier to archives that can be used to recreate future perform - get other individuals and foundations on board. It’s even ances of work by masters like George Balanchine. more critical now because corporate funding has pretty Oe Great Performances team delivers 14 –16 new much dried up for public television. . . . It’s also the episodes each year, many in partnership with the thing that helps us maintain a strong focus on American nation’s pre-eminent arts organizations, including the performing artists and companies.” Metropolitan Opera, the Roundabout Oeatre Company, Despite the nation’s economic woes, Horn remains and the Chicago Symphony. One 2008 show teamed optimistic about the future of Great Performances. “We Oirteen/WNET with the Wolf Trap Foundation for the hope that we’ll be able to continue to leverage the grant Performing Arts and the National Park Service. “Dance that we get from the NEA to be able to get this impor - in America: Wolf Trap’s Face of America” showcased tant work that American companies are doing on televi - Wolf Trap’s commissions of dance makers, musicians, sion for the rest of the country to see. We really want to and performing artists from across the U.S. to create Rgure out a better way to get younger audiences to view site-speciRc dance works at U.S. national parks, includ - the things that we do. We think there’s a lot of vitality ing Yosemite National Park, Coral Reef National Monu - out there. We sense from the signals we’re hearing that ment, and the Wright Brothers’ National Memorial. the new administration has committed to the culture Another recent episode, “Pavarotti: A Life in Seven and arts in this country, and we just hope to be part of Arias,” was a retrospective of the tenor’s life featuring that, as we have been for over three decades.” 12 NEA ARTS Sowing Seeds NE A’ s Support for Independent Filmmaking through AFI and Sundance As he kicked off the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in January 2009, Robert Redford recognized the ePects of the current economy on today’s Rlmmakers: “If you want to come into this business, you need to want it more than anything else in life because it’s going to be a hard road.” Luckily, today’s Rlmmakers have opportuni - ties for both training and public visibility due to organi - zations such as the American Film Institute and the Sundance Institute, both of which have been funded by the NEA since their inception. Following the meeting of the Rrst National Council on the Arts in 1965 the need was identiRed for an organ - ization that could both protect America’s Rlm heritage and shape and support the future of this art form. With an initial National Endowment for the Arts grant of $1.3 E million, the American Film Institute (AFI) was estab - T U T I T lished in 1967. Over more than 40 years, AFI has pre - S N I M L I served more than 27,500 feature Rlms, shorts, newsreels, F N A C I documentaries, and television programs from 1894 to R E M A the present for safekeeping at the Library of Congress. F O Y S In addition, AFI programming includes more than E T R U O 3,000 events annually, and its Life Achievement Awards, C O T O which honor individuals whose careers in motion H P pictures or television, have greatly contributed to the AFI Directing Workshop for Women participant Taryn Anderson enrichment of American culture. Oe AFI Conservatory planning a shot. has trained more than 3,500 artists in cinematography, directing, editing, producing, production design, and as actresses, studio executives, and screenwriters—at screenwriting. a time when very few women worked as professional Oe NE A’s ongoing support for AFI has ranged from directors. Although more than 30 years have passed preservation projects to educational outreach programs since the program’s inception, female Rlmmakers to exhibitions. Until 1995, the NEA also provided fund - remain underrepresented in the Reld, and the workshop ing for AFI to award competitive independent Rlm - continues to serve a vital role. In 2007, women directed maker grants for both new and experienced Rlmmakers. only six percent of the 250 top-grossing Rlms. More recently, the NEA has supported one of AFI’s Each year, AFI selects eight participants for the signature education programs, the Directing Workshop directing workshop through a highly competitive for Women. Established in 1974 with a class that in- process. Classes focus on how to budget, schedule pro - cluded Maya Angelou and Ellen Burstyn, the workshop duction activities, and work with actors, designers, and was designed to provide training in Rlm and television cinematographers. Participants also discuss and edit the for women already involved in the Rlm industry—such short screenplay that each has selected to direct. ATer 13 NEA ARTS making. With a modest initial grant of $5,000, the Sundance Institute held its Rrst Filmmakers Lab, allow - ing independent Rlmmak - ers to spend four weeks working with Rlm produc - ers, directors, writers, and actors. Oe following year, the NE A’s support of the Sundance Institute grew to $35,000; more recently, the agency’s annual support has topped $100,000. Today S E Y A Sundance receives NEA H D E R funding solely for its Fea - F Y B O ture Film Program, provid - T O H P ing workshops for Director Andrew Dosunmu (right), a 2005 fellow in the Sundance Insti - screenwriters, composers, producers, and directors. tute’s Feature Film Program, with Sundance founder Robert Redford. Speaking at the 2008 Congressional appropriations hearing for NEA funding, Robert Redford described the three weeks of intensive classroom instruction, the importance of the agency’s early support: “I will always participants enter Rve weeks of formal pre-production be grateful to the NEA for believing in us at that time. It followed by a Rve-day shoot and post-production. Oe was instrumental in getting us started. It wasn’t just the directors are responsible for hiring their own crews and seed funding, but the seal of approval that gave the idea casting actors. Each receives a stipend of $5,000 and the impetus.” may raise up to $20,000 more for production costs. AFI For AFI and Sundance, the focus remains on allow - helps promote the Rnal Rlms with a public screening to ing the artists to create new and exciting projects. Red - which agents, managers, and production companies are ford describes the Rrst year of his lab: “In the remote invited. natural setting and removed from the pressures of the Executive Vice Dean for the AFI Conservatory Joe marketplace, each emerging artist was encouraged to Petricca said that many participants describe the pro - take creative risks and to craT a Rlm true to their own, gram as “the Rnal key to making the leap to a profes - unique vision.” sional career in directing.” Without the NE A’s support In a sentiment echoed by Joe Petricca, former NEA he says, the Directing Workshop for Women probably Chair Frank Hodsoll asserted, “For major studios, would not exist or could not be oPered free of charge, an return on investment is the bottom line. [Oese pro - aspect which is necessary for most of the women grams] provide a place in which Rnancial return is not involved. the Rrst criterion.” Following the Rnal screening, participants in the Numerous Rlmmakers can trace their successes back workshop go on to promote their Rlms at festivals such to the training and connections they received through as Sundance. Oe exposure these festivals provide is AFI and Sundance, and the NEA can take pride in essential, a fact which Robert Redford recognized when knowing that its early and continuous support of these he approached the NEA in 1980 with his plan to create organizations has contributed to today’s thriving inde - a nonprofit institute dedicated to independent film- pendent Rlm Reld. 14 NEA ARTS In The News NEA New Play Development Program Selections In October 2008, the NEA announced the seven inaugural theaters’ ability to leverage contributions from other selections for the NEA New Play Development sources: each dollar in NEA grant support is associated Program, which is administered for the agency by Wash - with an additional $12 from individual donors, $1.88 ington, DC-based Arena Stage. Launched in December from businesses, and $3.55 from foundations. 2007, the new initiative is intended to help the nation’s nonproRt theaters bring more new plays to full produc - tions. Two projects named NEA Outstanding New Save America’s Treasures Awards American Play selections will receive $90,000 each to New Grants to Conserve U.S. support development activities in collaboration with the playwright, including a full production: McCarter Oe - Cultural Heritage atre’s (Princeton, New Jersey) production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s trilogy nomic Census data, and data from the NE A’s Survey S U M 6 of Public Participation in the Arts. While the research 7 ‘ F O revealed decreasing attendance rates and vulnerability S Y A D A Native-American doll from the Clowser E during economic downturns, it also indicated broad H T Collection at the Days of ‘76 Museum in F O growth and generally positive Rscal health for the Y S Deadwood, South Dakota, one of the artifacts E T nation’s nonproRt theaters. Oe survey also quantiRed R being preserved with a Save America’s U O C the catalytic ePect of Arts Endowment funding on the Treasures grant. O T O H P 15 A Breath of Fresh Air Talking Art on the Radio Oe opening of Fresh Air is unlike any other introduction on public radio. Four saxophones of the Microscopic Septet blast out a syncopated three-chord theme. Oe piano and drums join in, and then listeners hear the assuring voice of Terry Gross saying, “Ois is Fresh Air. ” Oe music introduces a program that also is unlike any other on public radio. Since 1975, when Gross began hosting a local arts-focused talk show on WHYY-FM, Philadelphia’s public radio station, she has been bringing audiences in-depth inter - views with artists, authors, and entertain - ers who are at the forefront of American cultural movements. Y Y Orough the years, Fresh Air has added H W F staP and become syndicated. Today, more O Y S than 450 American public radio aQliates E T R U broadcast the program to roughly 4.5 mil - O C O lion listeners. Overseas, Fresh Air can be T O H heard on the World Radio Network. Oe P NEA began funding Fresh Air in 1988, and Terry Gross has hosted Fresh Air on WHYY-FM, a Philadelphia public radio station, since 19 75. in 2008, awarded WHYY-FM a $65,000 Arts on Radio and Television grant. “We it requires a whole lot of screening in connect these people with their audiences, are so grateful for that funding,” Gross advance.” people who might really like their work if said. Her mission has become more urgent they knew it existed.” Fresh Air receives NEA support not in recent years, Gross said. Across the When opportunity allows, Gross inter - only because it is a quality radio program, country, local book and music stores are views artists whose work will elucidate but because the show consistently devotes closing in record numbers. She sees Fresh current events. On Inauguration Day, for much of its one-hour time slot to arts cov - Air as a counterbalance. For example, example, Fresh Air broadcast interviews erage. Before booking guests for the show, Philadelphia residents can no longer listen with street artist Shepard Fairey, creator Gross and her staP read more books, listen to the latest jazz releases at Tower Records, of the iconic Barack Obama poster, and to more CDs, and watch more movies but they can hear critic Kevin Whitehead the poet Natasha Trethewey —a 1999 NEA than they can possibly count. “Our ambi - review jazz albums on Fresh Air. Literature Fellow —whose work oTen elu - tion is to [present] the people who are “Just because the marketplace is pass - cidates her biracial heritage. good, as opposed to people who are doing ing this music by doesn’t mean that we “We talk to people from the arts mediocre or boring work,” Gross said. “We should,” Gross said. “Oese are people who world—books, movies, music—to better really want to pick out the best things and are doing really important art, but they understand their culture, and to see what’s call our listeners’ attention to [them], but don’t have a market base. Our job is to happening through their eyes,” Gross said. 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20506 www.arts.gov