From:   PO2::"[log in to unmask]" "Folklore Discussion List"  4-JAN-1995
 15:05:45.79
To:     Multiple recipients of list FOLKLORE <[log in to unmask]>
CC:
Subj:   Joe Wilson, NCTA Memo
 
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Sender:       Folklore Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Poster:       claude d stephenson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Joe Wilson, NCTA Memo
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                      NCTA Advocacy Letter
 
 
  I recently received an urgent memo from Joe Wilson of the National Council for
the Traditional Arts which has put together such wonderful tours as "Masters of
the Folk Violin," "Masters of the Banjo," Masters of the Steel Stringed Guitar,"
as well as the great National Folk Festivals.  I have known Joe for over fifteen
years and I have a lot of respect for him.  Joe is not a person to cry wolf.
Normally he is the one reassuring us when others are maintaining that the sky is
falling, so if Joe is worried, then I am worried.  He has many connections on
 the
Hill in Washington DC and is well positioned to know the true situation.
 
I spoke to Joe this afternoon and he agreed to allow me to post this message to
various folklore List Services and News Groups, so I apologize to all of you
 who,
as I am, are subscribed to these multiple lists and discussion groups for the
redundancy of multiple receptions of this message; but I consider it to be
important.  It was recently posted by Ken Irwin of Rounder Records to the
Bluegrass List, but I feel that we as folklorists and people committed to the
transmission of traditions and culture need to know of this as well.
 
   Feel free (Joe says it's OK) to pass along the information to anyone or any
lists who you feel might be interested in what is going on and will be going on
with the fate of the traditional arts and funding sources that we have all come
to depend upon for our important work.
 
Thanks,
 
Claude Stephenson
Folk Arts Coordinator
State of New Mexico
[log in to unmask]
 
What follows is quoted directly from Joe Wilson's memo:
 
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As you know from the national news, these are very troubling times for all
organizations in the arts.  The new Republican majority in the House
and Senate is circumspect about the arrangements they are making.
They are trying to avoid lots of small fights.  They believe they can
achieve their goals by putting all cultural agencies on the table at the
same time and pushing their legislative agenda hard while the opposition
is still unorganized and off balance.
 
Here's the current situation:
 
A House focus group charged with cultural budget-cutting has been
working quietly and with a gag rule for a month and a half.  In its
cross-hairs is funding for the NEA, NEH, IMS, Smithsonian, Library of
Congress and other federal libraries, CPB, the National Gallery of Art
and the Kennedy Center.  Two questions drive discussion:  What can be
eliminated?  How?  When?  What can be cut?  By how much?
 
Institutions viewed as having a "liberal bias" or image problems are
highest on the eliminate list.  Top slot seems to have been given to CPB.
 
Speaker-designate Gingrich announced his intention to eliminate
funding for CPB three weeks ago.  Two days later Senator Pressler
announced that his committee would advocate "privatizing" CPB (same
thing, Senate rhetoric).
 
Best guess as to the reasons the Chairmen broke silence and announced
that they intended to eliminate the CPB:
  1) they perceive it as "liberal",
  2) it is relatively weak, and,
  3) they needed a trial run - how much hell
would be raised by the public broadcasting people?  Thus far the answer
is virtually none.
 
The second organization on the eliminate list is the NEA.  All of it.
 
Please understand that this planning is not in the hands of those who
wish to spank the NEA for funding naughty art and who would,
therefore, send more money to the states.  The funding that states
receive from the NEA is in as much danger -- perhaps more -- than NEA
program funds.  These planners believe the government should not be
funding art, period.  They are critics of the transfer of funds raised
through federal taxes to states for any reason.  This view derives from
an ideological stance: they believe the taxing authority closest to the
voter should raise funds for any "frills" citizens support ....
 
Last week the chairman-designate for the new full Appropriations
Committee let it be known that he wished to have a 10 per cent rescission
of funds in the current NEA budget.  Some in his corner will argue for a
higher rescission percentage whenever this comes to a vote.  That is
money for this year.
 
There are two ways to eliminate the NEA.  One is zero funding.  The other
is to not reauthorize the agency ...  in the session that begins in
January.
 
The Appropriations chairman-designate has said that reauthorization
must be done before he will appropriate.  So both hurdles must be
jumped.
 
In the past a portion of those in our camp have tended toward a "they
can't mean us" stance whenever arts funding is discussed.  But among
the gibes recently aimed at the NEA by a columnist reviewing this
planning was a shot for its funding of "some Ph.D. planning a folklore
ritual."
 
We have a very little time in which to organize resistance to what looks
to be an impending disaster for folk arts programs at both the federal
and state level.  Legislation concerned with this will come to the floor
early in the year and there's a tendency to take first shots at agencies
that have lots of enemies -- and the NEA has plenty.    .....
 
The message that we need to get across is that the NEA Folk Arts
Program is ... the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Sacred Harp Singing, and a
thousand other things that reflect the shared strengths of American
communities.  Can we turn these planners around in regard to our
work?  Only by forcefully informing those who represent us that there are
wonderful babies in the NEA bath water and some nice adolescents, too.
They need to hear passionate and articulate voices -- yours.
 
Even before this meeting we need to be talking to members of Congress,
especially those who are Republican and in positions of leadership.
Many members will be home during the holiday season and members
tend to listen far more closely when they are home.  Can you visit your
representative and senators while they are home?  This is very important
and far better than the "cards and letters" gambit.
 
A National Heritage Fellow has made an interesting suggestion: he is
willing to bring his accordion to Washington and play for an influential
congressman from his state -- one on the wrong side of this issue.
Should we try to do this with others?  Will you help?
 
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End of Quotes
 
 
     TO SUMMARIZE: The National Council for the Traditional Arts is
     coordinating a January 11 meeting in Washington to share information, act
     where possible, and to develop plans to coordinate individual visits to
     representatives on Capitol Hill.  Individuals wishing to attend will have
     to pay their own costs.
 
     You can contact the NCTA by fax (301-565-0472) or regular mail (1320
     Fenwick Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20910) for information on this meeting or
     to find out what you can do to help.
 
Another quote:  Anyone who tells you that private funders can take up this work
is either an ignoramus with no understanding of the history of this area of art
or an ideologue who could care less about what happens to it.  The few private
foundations who make grants to folk art projects view this threat with shock and
horror.