So does the Provincetown Art Association, which was founded in 1914. Rice's article is an exuberant reminder of the power of volunteerism in American culture. For more than half a century, the Wallace Stegner Fellowships at Stanford University have sustained promising new writers. So have the Hopwood awards at the University of Michigan. Ross Perot paid for the concert hall that houses the Dallas Symphony.
Examples are numberless.
The story of the arts in America is one of stunning private generosity, unmatched by any society on earth. The NEA neither catalyzes, sustains, nor enriches American culture. The Huntington Theater Company can get along fine without it. So can we all.