The recipients all took care to pronounce themselves pleased with their grants, even though the money pales by comparison to what it was when the NEA was flush. It will be in our endowment forever. Plans call for audio descriptions of plays for the blind and sign language interpretations, and a scheme to draw in a more diverse audience. The exhibition will allow Tucsonans to see the same paintings that their hometown artist displayed in Venice last fall at the prestigious Venice Biennale. The Congressional reformers ruled that writers, like Evans, can still get individual artist grants.
Books apparently have a lower shock quotient than paintings or photographs.
In the wake of controversies over Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, visual artists are out of luck. We already have the administration in place. The hike was the first in the re-granting category in 10 years, Magie said. The Partnership had reason to be gleeful too. Right now the loan money for arts spaces in the old warehouse district at the north edge of downtown is considered an extra.