Sam,

Our museum was embroiled in 1993 in a fairly contentious and controversial
project:  "Art Rebate," part of a larger NEA-funded exhibition called "La
Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/U.S. Border Experience."  We got
ourselves onto the front page of the New York Times twice, into their
editorial pages once (skewered there, by the way), and George Will wrote a
scathing piece on us that ended up syndicated around the country -- the
simplified version of "Art Rebate/Arte Reembolso" was artists handing $10
bills to undocumented Mexican workers; the signed bills then circulated
through the San Diego economy, a tangible demonstration that these workers
contribute greatly to the community in economic terms -- something of great
dispute in our region of the country as elsewhere.  In fact it was an
interesting conceptual artwork by David Avalos, Louis Hock and Liz Sisco,
three artists in the San Diego area, that was one of nearly 40 artworks that
were part of "La Frontera."  The total amount of federal dollars involved in
the project was minuscule.   But it came at an especially heated moment, when
"immigrant-bashing" was just getting started in the U.S..  Many politicians
grabbed onto the sound bite and ran with it.  It caused considerable uproar
locally as well as further afield; but in the end, we feel that there was a
positive outcome in the Museum's taking a stand behind the artists.  We had a
number of donations come in (we also lost some, I hasten to add); but in the
end, our reputation as a contemporary art institution of integrity was
intact.

Anne Farrell, Development Director, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego