The NEA and the Reauthorization Process: Congress and Arts Policy Issues

Abstract

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is the legislative ward of the House Committee on Education and Labor working through subcommittees variously entitled Select Education, Post-secondary Education, Labor-Management Relations and the Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. In the course of the NEA's reauthorization hearings before the cultural subcommittees, during the period 1967-85, 222 days were spent in public session. In the absence of statutory specifics, the NEA has developed policies and programs deemed compatible with the legislative intent of P.L. 89-209 and Congress has reacted to these over two decades with fairly persistent concerns. The reauthorization hearings over the NEA's administrative lifetime, however, are a valuable source of insight into the politics and administration of public arts policy. While the NEA had consciously chosen to largely support cultural institutions, a few performance-artist grants threatened to undermine the foundations of public support for the arts.