I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1520
To amend National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of
1995; to establish the American Cultural Trust Fund, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 7, 1995
Mr. WILLIAMS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities
A BILL
To amend National Foundation on the Arts and the Human-
ities Act of 1995; to establish the American Cultural
Trust Fund, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘1% For Culture Act
of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.
(a) AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION
ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES ACT OF 1965.—The
National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 951–960) is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘Arts, Humanities, and Museums Act of 1995’.
‘‘(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents
of this Act is as follows:
‘‘Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
‘‘TITLE I—NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE
HUMANITIES
‘‘Sec. 101. Declaration of findings and purposes.
‘‘Sec. 102. National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.
‘‘TITLE II—NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
‘‘Sec. 201. Definitions.
‘‘Sec. 202. National Endowment for the Arts.
‘‘Sec. 203. National Council on the Arts.
‘‘Sec. 204. National medal of arts.
‘‘Sec. 205. Administrative provisions.
‘‘Sec. 206. Authorization of appropriations.
‘‘TITLE III—NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
‘‘Sec. 301. Definitions.
‘‘Sec. 302. Establishment of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
‘‘Sec. 303. Establishment of the National Council on the Humanities.
‘‘Sec. 304. Administrative provisions.
‘‘Sec. 305. Authorization of appropriations.
‘‘TITLE IV—MUSEUM SERVICES
‘‘Sec. 401. Purpose.
‘‘Sec. 402. Institute of Museum Services; establishment.
‘‘Sec. 403. National Museum Services Board.
‘‘Sec. 404. Director of the Institute.
‘‘Sec. 405. Activities of the Institute.
‘‘Sec. 406. Contributions.
‘‘Sec. 407. Authorization of appropriations.
‘‘Sec. 408. Definitions.
‘‘TITLE V—AMERICAN CULTURAL TRUST FUND
‘‘Sec. 501. Establishment of American Cultural Trust Fund.
‘‘Sec. 502. Administration of trust fund.
‘‘TITLE 
I—NATIONAL 
FOUNDA-
TION ON THE ARTS AND THE
HUMANITIES
‘‘SEC. 101. DECLARATION OF FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
‘‘The Congress finds and declares the following:
‘‘(1) The arts and the humanities benefit and
belong to all the people of the United States. They
are essential to cultural survival and social, cultural,
and economic progress.
‘‘(2) The encouragement and support of na-
tional progress and scholarship in the humanities
and the arts, while primarily a matter for private
and local initiative, are also appropriate matters of
concern to the Federal Government.
‘‘(3) An advanced civilization must not limit its
efforts to science and technology alone but must give
full value and support to the other great branches
of scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve
a better understanding of the past, a better analysis
of the present, and a better view of the future.
‘‘(4) Democracy demands wisdom and vision in
its citizens. It must therefore foster and support a
form of education, and access to the arts and the
humanities, designed to make people of all back-
grounds and wherever located masters of their tech-
nology and not its unthinking servants.
‘‘(5) It is necessary and appropriate for the
Federal Government to further the advancement of
the humanities and the arts and the access of all
Americans to the humanities and the arts, in part-
nership with local, State, regional, and private agen-
cies, organizations, and individuals. In doing so, the
Government must be sensitive to the nature of pub-
lic support and the need to use public funding to ad-
vance the public good. Public funding of the arts
and humanities should contribute to public support
and confidence in the use of taxpayer funds. Public
funds provided by the Federal Government must ul-
timately serve public purposes the Congress defines
and must be subject to the conditions that tradition-
ally govern the use of public money.
‘‘(6) Federal support of the arts and the hu-
manities reflects the high place accorded by the
American people to the Nation’s rich cultural herit-
age and to the fostering of mutual respect for the
diverse beliefs and values of all persons and groups.
‘‘(7) The practice of art and the study of the
humanities require constant dedication and devotion.
While no government can call a great artist or schol-
ar into existence, it is necessary and appropriate for
the Federal Government to help create and sustain
not only a climate encouraging freedom of thought,
imagination, and inquiry but also the material condi-
tions facilitating the release of this creative talent.
‘‘(8) The world leadership which has come to
the United States cannot rest solely upon superior
power, wealth, and technology, but must be solidly
founded upon worldwide respect and admiration for
the Nation’s high qualities as a leader in the realm
of ideas and of the spirit.
‘‘(9) Americans should receive in school, back-
ground and preparation in the arts and humanities
to enable them to recognize and appreciate the aes-
thetic dimensions of our lives, the diversity of excel-
lence that comprises our cultural heritage, and artis-
tic and scholarly expression. Increased access to the
arts and the humanities for all Americans, including
diverse cultures and urban and rural populations, re-
quires encouraging and developing quality education
in the arts and humanities at all levels, in conjunc-
tion with programs of lifelong learning in the arts
and humanities for all age groups and with formal
systems of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary
education; developing and stimulating research to
teach quality education in the arts and humanities;
and encouraging and facilitating the work of schol-
ars, artists, arts institutions, and Federal, State, re-
gional, and local agencies in the area of education
in the arts and humanities.
‘‘(10) It is vital to a democracy to honor and
preserve its multicultural artistic heritage as well as
support new ideas, and therefore it is essential to
provide financial assistance to its artists and the or-
ganizations that support their work.
‘‘(11) To fulfill its educational mission, achieve
an orderly continuation of a free society, and provide
models of excellence to the American people, the
Federal Government must transmit the achievement
and values of civilization from the past via the
present to the future, and make widely available the
greatest achievements of art.
‘‘(12) In order to implement these findings and
purposes, it is desirable to establish a National
Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.
‘‘SEC. 102. NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE
HUMANITIES.
‘‘(a) There is established a National Foundation on
the Arts and the Humanities (hereinafter referred to as
the ‘Foundation’), which shall be composed of a National
Endowment for the Arts, a National Endowment for the
Humanities, a Federal Council on the Arts and the Hu-
manities, and an Institute of Museum Services.
‘‘(b) The purpose of the Foundation shall be to de-
velop and promote a broadly conceived national policy of
support for the humanities and the arts in the United
States and for institutions which preserve the cultural her-
itage of the United States pursuant to this title.
‘‘(c) In the administration of this Act no department,
agency, officer, or employee of the United States shall ex-
ercise any direction, supervision, or control over the policy
determination, personnel, or curriculum, or the adminis-
tration or operation of any school or other non-Federal
agency, institution, organization, or association.
‘‘(d) In any case in which any money or other prop-
erty is donated, bequeathed, or devised to the Foundation
without designation of the Endowment for the benefit of
which the gift is intended, each Chairperson of an Endow-
ment shall have authority to receive such gift. The gift
shall be deemed to have been to that Endowment whose
function it is to carry out the purpose of any condition
or restriction on the gift. Unless the Chairpersons of the
Endowments agree otherwise, the gift shall be deemed to
have been in equal shares to each Endowment if the gift
is unrestricted, if some purposes of a restriction are cov-
ered by one Endowment and some by the other Endow-
ment, or if one or more of the purposes of a restriction
is covered by both Endowments.
‘‘(e) For the purpose of the income tax, gift tax, and
estate tax laws of the United States, any money or other
property donated, bequeathed, or devised to the Founda-
tion or one of its Endowments and received by the Chair-
person of an Endowment pursuant to authority derived
under this section shall be deemed to have been donated,
bequeathed, or devised to or for the use of the United
States.
‘‘TITLE II—NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
‘‘SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘As used in this title—
‘‘(1) the term ‘the arts’ includes, but is not lim-
ited to, music, dance, drama, creative writing, archi-
tecture, design, painting, sculpture, photography,
motion pictures, television, radio, film, videotape,
and sound recording; folk and traditional arts prac-
ticed by the diverse peoples of this country; graphic,
digital, craft, and multimedia arts; the arts related
to the presentation, performance, execution, and ex-
hibition of such major art forms; and the study and
application of the arts to the human environment;
‘‘(2) the term ‘Challenge funds’ means those
funds appropriated under section 206(a)(3)(A) for
the purpose of the Challenge Program, as that Pro-
gram is authorized in section 202(e);
‘‘(3) the term ‘developing arts organization’
means a local arts organization of high artistic
promise which—
‘‘(A) serves as an important source of local
arts programming in a community; and
‘‘(B) has the potential to develop artis-
tically and institutionally to broaden public ac-
cess to the arts in rural and innercity areas and
other areas that are underserved artistically;
‘‘(4) the term ‘determined to be obscene’ means
determined, in a final judgment of a court of record
and of competent jurisdiction in the United States,
to be obscene;
‘‘(5) the term ‘final judgment’ means a judg-
ment that is either—
‘‘(A) not reviewed by any other court that
has authority to review such judgment; or
‘‘(B) is not reviewable by any other court;
‘‘(6) for purposes of programs established pur-
suant to section 202, the term ‘grant’ includes loan,
contract, and cooperative agreement;
‘‘(7) the term ‘group’ includes any State or
other public agency, and any nonprofit society, insti-
tution, organization, association, museum, or estab-
lishment in the United States, whether or not incor-
porated;
‘‘(8) the term ‘local arts agency’ means a com-
munity organization, or an agency of local govern-
ment, that primarily provides financial support, serv-
ices, or other programs for a variety of artists and
arts organizations, for the benefit of the community
as a whole;
‘‘(9) the term ‘obscene’ means with respect to
a project, production, or workshop, that—
‘‘(A) the average person, applying contem-
porary community standards, would find that
such project, production, or workshop, when
taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient inter-
est;
‘‘(B) such project, production, or workshop
depicts or describes sexual conduct in a pa-
tently offensive way; and
‘‘(C) such project, production, or work-
shop, when taken as a whole, lacks serious lit-
erary, artistic, political or scientific value;