NEA Four
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The "NEA Four",
Karen Finley Karen Finley (born 1956) is an American performance artist, musician, poet, and educator. The case, '' National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley'' (1998), argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, was decided against Finley and the other artist ...
, Tim Miller, John Fleck, and Holly Hughes, were
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ists whose proposed grants from the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
government's
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
(NEA) were vetoed by
John Frohnmayer John Frohnmayer (born June 1, 1942) is an American writer and retired attorney from the U.S. state of Oregon. He was the fifth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a program of the United States government. He was appointed by Presiden ...
in June 1990. Grants were overtly vetoed on the basis of subject matter after the artists had successfully passed through a
peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...
process. John Fleck was vetoed for a performance comedy with a toilet prop. The artists won their case in court in 1993 and were awarded amounts equal to the grant money in question, though the case would make its way to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
in ''
National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley ''National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley'', 524 U.S. 569 (1998), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, as amended in 1990, ((d)(1)), was facially valid, as ...
'', which ruled in favour of the NEA's decision making process. In response, the NEA, under pressure from
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
, stopped funding individual artists.


Lead up to the controversy


Peer review process within the NEA

The NEA has used peer review panels since 1966 (one year after its inception). The NEA's Founding Chairperson Roger L. Stevens did not want to use panels, preferring that staff members review applications. Due to the increase of funds and applications, Stevens turned to peer review panels. Nancy Hanks (the next chairperson appointed by President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...
in 1969) expanded panels and created a list of three criteria: appointments must be merit-based; appointees must serve the panel as individuals, and may not make decisions based on any particular interest group, institution or viewpoint; the panels must be insulated from external pressures. The last criterion became more difficult to enforce as the budget of the NEA grew, and public interest in how the money was spent mounted. In 1979, ''Report: a Study of the Panel System at the National Endowment for the Arts'' recommended that the panels be split into a policy panel that reviewed policies within the NEA panel process and a review panel that only made granting decisions. Once adopted this split panel allowed for more review panelists to be engaged who represented more diverse art practices. Also in 1979, a House report found that the NEA was failing to establish a coherent system of review and had not established a uniform system of review.


The NEA and President Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
began his presidency in 1981 and by the end of his two terms in office in 1989 the NEA's funding had dropped by 50% based on inflation. After his election in 1980 the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' ran an article by Hilton Kramer stating that Reagan arts policy advisors believed that both the NEA and the
National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
had strayed from their original intent, and that their standards of artistry had been lowered to an unacceptable level. Kramer stated that there were opposing views within the group of Reagan's policy makers on how to deal with the perceived issues of the two Endowments. One solution offered was the adoption of narrower programs and renewing an emphasis on high art and scholarly practice, the other solution reported by Kramer was the abolishment of the Endowments entirely. Kramer's reportage was subsequently corroborated by
Livingston L. Biddle, Jr. Livingston Ludlow Biddle Jr. (May 26, 1918 – May 3, 2002) was an American author and promoter of funding of the arts, from a wealthy Pennsylvania family. Life Livingston Ludlow Biddle was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on May 26, 1918. His mo ...
the third NEA chairman in his 1988 book ''Our Government and the Arts'' (American Council for the Arts, 1988). In 1981 President Reagan convened a Special Presidential Task Force on the Arts and Humanities to assess the endowment process and its policies for awarding federal funds for culture. The task force reported that the agencies were basically sound and in need of only minor improvements. The task force also supported the peer review process as fair and able to act effectively. Despite this finding, pressure to decentralize NEA funding – funneling it through state and local agencies – mounted during the 80s and into the 90s from both conservative and liberal interest groups. In June 1985 Representative
Steve Bartlett Harry Stephen Bartlett (born September 19, 1947) is an American politician and former president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, an advocacy group lobbying the U.S. federal government on financial services legislation, a position w ...
(R-Texas) proposed an amendment to a 1986 appropriations bill that would not allow the NEA to fund artwork considered to be "patently offensive to the average person". The amendment was struck down but laid the groundwork for future debate on what makes an artwork obscene. In October 1985 the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
passed two amendments to the budget that limited the NEA to funding artistic work with "significant literary, scholarly, cultural or artistic merit" and requiring that recipients file financial reports within 90 days of the end of their grant period. The NEA was also pressured to rely on formulas for arts assessment.
Frank Hodsoll Francis Samuel Monaise "Frank" Hodsoll (May 1, 1938 – July 24, 2016) was an American historian. He was the fourth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and served from 1981Hall, Carla"Hodso ...
(chairperson from 1981 to 1989) and John Frohnmayer (chairperson from 1989 to 1992 during the heart of the NEA Four controversy) both had to fight such political pressure to retain the peer review model as well as their own roles within the NEA.


Additional events

In 1989 two art pieces drew controversy to the NEA, Andres Serrano's ''
Piss Christ ''Immersion (Piss Christ)'' is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a small glass tank of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Ce ...
'' and Robert Mapplethorpe's ''The Perfect Moment'' (which was canceled at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC due to political pressure). The controversy around these two art pieces led to increased interest in how the NEA was spending its money from conservative lawmakers. In June 1989, prompted by Andres Serrano's ''Piss Christ'', Senators
Alfonse D'Amato Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (born August 1, 1937) is an American attorney, lobbyist, and Republican politician who represented the state of New York in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999. From 1995 to 1999, he chaired the Senate Banking C ...
and
Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the Conservatism in the United States, conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the ...
, joined by twenty-five members of the Senate, co-signed a letter written to the NEA requesting reforms to its grant making policies. A month later the House passed an amendment that no NEA funds may be re-granted by other organizations, therefore only work that the NEA sponsored itself will receive its funding.⁠ In March 1990 NEA grantees began receiving a new clause in their agreements that states:


References


Further reading

* Hughes, Holly and Richard Elovich. "Homophobia at the NEA," ''New York Times'' (July 28, 1990), p. 21. * Noriega, Jimmy A. and Jordan Schildcrout. "The NEA Four" in ''50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre''. Routledge, 2022, pp. 179-183.


External links


Timeline Of NEA 4 Events
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