NEA May Funnel Addtional Funding to Artist ColoniesBy ARTINFO
Published: November 20, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Twelve years after Congress ended most funding to individual artists, the National Endowment for the Arts may launch a program to support poets, musicians, writers, and painters through artist colonies, Bloomberg reports.
The Democratic-controlled House has approved a 2008 budget increase of 28 percent, for a total of $160 million, for the NEA, which plans to direct some of the money to the hundreds of U.S. colonies and communities that provide artists with residencies, funding, and creative freedom. NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said the program—which, if created, wouldn't begin providing money until 2009—would amend the endowment's application categories to create a specific opportunity for artist communities to win funding. When Republicans took control of Congress in 1995, NEA's authority to fund individual artists was severely limited in response to scandals involving publicly financed art that broached controversial subjects such as nudity, homosexuality, and religion. Gioia says the goal of his plan is to support "individual artists creating new work." |
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