Ah, it's a lonely job. Christ, find Obama a brother, shoot in black and white, raise Kruschev from the dead and be done with it! I mean, is there ever a picture of the President in the Oval Office doing the Happy Dance or lighting a fart? #barackobama
They also did the same thing (JFK at Window burdened with leadership, probably during the Missle Crisis) for the opening credits of both West Wing and Commander in Chief . #barackobama
Blah blah blah. The NEA budget is something like .0001% of the national budget. We give far less money (not just proportionally, but on a dollar basis) to artists through the NEA than most other industrialized countries give their artists. The budget for the NEA is like $150 million a year. The budget for the arts in Britain is over 2 billion pounds.
There is no story here. A conference call to "encourage artists to make art about Public Service" is not a promise of funding for said art, or any other work, by the people participating in this conference call.
The NEA will probably remain the same toothless, inoffensive organization it has been for years -- primarily funding folk art and dull "worthy" arts education-y stuff. The biggest likely change will be the return of throwing small sums at individual artists who might, maybe, make something controversial once in a while, just so everyone in the office can feel a little relevant and brave again.
No, the issue was that they were telling artists to promote pro-obama/Democrat issues through their federally subsidized art. Which technically is a no-no.
@Lance Uppercut: Are they asking them to promote these topics in a fashion positive towards the administration, or are they requesting that artists just bring these topics to the table? There's a subtle difference there and I'm not certain that anyone here has enough information to be doing anything above or beyond raising an eyebrow right now - a couple commenters here have already jumped to the concept that the artists are meant to be "celebrating" universal health care, but similar past initiatives haven't explictly forced artists to look at these issues in a favorable-to-the-govt manner and I am not sure there's reason to think that here.
Of course, if you think giving the guidelines or requests at all is coercion or would only interest artists who are pro-Obama (or Bush or whomever past president), then the debate is over.
SO bloody 1990, Pareene. Makes sense that we'll have to go through all this shit again, cyclically. Breitbart and his awful "Big Hollywood" site gets to judge what's patriotic art! I understand fundraising for a national monument venerating "Red Dawn" is underway.
This doesn't seem hugely interesting. I don't think you can do art on a contentious issue without it being partisan, somehow. And is there a comparable amount of rejection by the NEA of arts groups that are on the conservative end of the spectrum?
@braak: I think the problem here is probably that the people being asked to convene on this conference call were all pro-Obama.
It's not explicitly stated that either the NEA or the Whitehouse asked for this to happen. But for this NOT to have been made explicitly a bipartisan grouping is a pretty huge oversight for either organization to make.
@braak: Well, which isn't so bad if it just happens inadvertently. But since this conference call was organized specifically, and these candidates selected specifically, then it becomes much more stringently looked at.
All art invites discussion, whether it's "Girl With A Pearl Earring" or "Girl With A Pearl Necklace: Ashley, Honey Is That You?".
Even those boring, dangly airborne mobile sculptures in primary colors which look like they belong in an office lobby or hanging over the bananas at Whole Foods are controversial, as in "Will it decapitate me when it falls, or merely maim me?"
Public art should be accessible to the public. That probably means no vajayjays. But nipples are another matter altogether.
10/28/09
10/28/09
Get on it Souza, you hack! #barackobama
10/28/09
10/28/09
I haven't seen one like this yet... #barackobama
10/28/09
@Lizawithazee: Or this. #barackobama
10/28/09
10/29/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
Are you younger than 40? You aren't getting Social Security! #barackobama
09/21/09
This is such a non-issue.
09/21/09
The NEA will probably remain the same toothless, inoffensive organization it has been for years -- primarily funding folk art and dull "worthy" arts education-y stuff. The biggest likely change will be the return of throwing small sums at individual artists who might, maybe, make something controversial once in a while, just so everyone in the office can feel a little relevant and brave again.
09/21/09
09/21/09
Of course, if you think giving the guidelines or requests at all is coercion or would only interest artists who are pro-Obama (or Bush or whomever past president), then the debate is over.
09/21/09
09/21/09
09/21/09
It's not explicitly stated that either the NEA or the Whitehouse asked for this to happen. But for this NOT to have been made explicitly a bipartisan grouping is a pretty huge oversight for either organization to make.
09/21/09
09/21/09
09/21/09
Even those boring, dangly airborne mobile sculptures in primary colors which look like they belong in an office lobby or hanging over the bananas at Whole Foods are controversial, as in "Will it decapitate me when it falls, or merely maim me?"
Public art should be accessible to the public. That probably means no vajayjays. But nipples are another matter altogether.
09/08/09
09/09/09
[www.washingtonmonthly.com]
09/08/09