I Want My NEA Grant!

Chairman Rocco Landesman
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),  Washington, D.C.

Dear Chairman Landesman:

With all this fuss on Big Hollywood.com, Big Government.com and elsewhere over the NEA’s government-funded forays into partisan political propaganda, I thought maybe we could help each other out. 

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Right now, you probably want to support some art that addresses vital current issues from a right-wing perspective in order to demonstrate your impartiality (ha ha!), and I just want to cash in your organization’s evident willingness to spend good tax money on any kind of nonsense that can be passed-off as “art” (ca-ching!)   

Well, I am uniquely suited to provide you with just what you’re looking for!  As a college student, I got a “B” in my Visual Arts 1 class for dressing up a juniper bush in one of my Hawaiian shirts to draw attention to man’s essential oneness with nature while providing a stinging critique of America’s consumerist culture.  Sure, my black-clad, Bauhaus-loving classmates protested that I was a fraud who was more concerned with collecting four easy credits than internalizing our professor’s commie insights about how expressionism equals imperialism, but hey – aren’t all great artists rebels?   Or, at least, weren’t they before last January 20th? (more…)

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Tags: Andres Serrano, Bauhaus, biggovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, healthcare reform
Posted Oct 16th 2009 at 8:23 am in Art, Politics | 24274218 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/10/16/i-want-my-nea-grant/I+Want+My+NEA+Grant%212009-10-16+15%3A23%3A43Kurt+Schlichter

Latest NEA Controversy Isn’t the First

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is always one of the hottest topics in the theatre community.  A huge amount of theatre in the US is created or presented at non-profit theatres that operate under the protection of or were first started with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The latest NEA controversy broken here at Big Hollywood by Patrick Courrielche has become a fascinating Rorschach test within the theatre community.  The response has been disappointing yet predictable from the left-leaning proponents of the NEA and this administration.

Robert Mapplethorpe

To fully expose the inconsistencies and intellectually dishonest positions they have taken in their knee-jerk defense of everything Obama, we first need a little background for the Big Hollywood readers who might not remember all of the details in the recent history of controversies with regard to NEA funding in the theatre community.

NEA Primer: Now I don’t pretend to suggest that the following breakdown of the NEA struggles dating back to 1990 is a definitive or even thorough explanation of the recent history of left vs. right combat over the NEA.  I encourage all of my readers to research and read about this issue.  And, I especially want them to read the perspective of liberals/progressives/leftists who were in the middle of the struggle on the other side.  It is informative and enlightening to read how they really feel about the subject. (more…)

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Tags: Andres Serrano, Jesse Helms, Karen Finley, National Endowmen, national endowment for the arts
Posted Sep 26th 2009 at 5:31 pm in Art, Featured Story, Politics | 22737084 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/09/26/latest-nea-controversy-isnt-the-first/Latest+NEA+Controversy+Isn%27t+the+First2009-09-27+00%3A31%3A39Stage+Right

The NEA: More Than Just A Little ‘Gay’

Last month, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman said that, in American politics, ”the arts are a little bit of a target.  The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay.”

Well, the NEA has certainly earned that reputation these past few weeks.  Just like the LGBT community, the NEA – which purports to help struggling artists of all kinds - is following in lockstep with The One, regardless of whether it’s good for artistic expression, free speech, or real people.

Last fall, I was amazed at how many folks in the gay community let themselves believe that getting Obama elected would be the magical first step towards achieving “equality” – at least in terms of appropriating the word “marriage” - despite the fact that He had already stated clearly that He is against gay marriage.

And no one seemed to care (much less recall) that, in 2007, The One had told CNN that building a consensus for gay marriage would be “difficult and distracting” – you know, like the Iraq war?  (Or gnats.) (more…)

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Tags: 'Health Care Reform, Andres Serrano, Art, Bobby Jindal, Chris Ofili
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 3:33 pm in Art, Politics | 22802273 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/09/22/the-nea-more-than-just-a-little-gay/The+NEA%3A+More+Than+Just+A+Little+%27Gay%272009-09-22+22%3A33%3A06Charles+Winecoff