The author examines Senator Jesse Helms' proposed 1989 amendment to the appropriations bill for the National Endowment for Arts, which would bar federal funds from being used by the NEA and other federal agencies and institutions to support the creation, performance, or exhibition of materials, which might be considered obscene. The author also examines the trial that resulted from the exhibition of the Robert Mapplethorpe's exhibition at the Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center. The museum's director was indicated by a grand jury for pandering obscenity and improper use of a minor in a

The author's essays discusses and defends music and culture in the United States. Of particular importance is the author's emphasis on American music: the problems of maintaining American compositions in the repertory, the fate of orchestras and opera companies, the role of public and private funding, the destinies of performers, the nature of arts administration, and the hunt for the wider audience.

Between March of 1989 and October of 1990, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) confronted the most serious congressional challenge and public controversy of its twenty five year history. The controversy was sparked by conservative and Christian fundamentalist objections to two NEA grants. One, a fellowship to visual artist Andres Serrano granted through the Southeast Center for Contemporary Art was criticized for supporting work, such as Piss Christ, which was considered blasphemous and offensive to the religious beliefs of some citizens. The second grant - to the Institute for

The Report to Congress on the National Endowment for the Arts that was prepared by the Independent Commission headed by Dr. John Brademas and Leonard Garment has at last been released and the first thing to be said about it is that its emphasis - indeed, the thrust of its attack on past practices at the NEA - has been significantly misrepresented in the press.

When Congress passed the FY 1990 appropriations bills for the National Endowment for the Arts, much attention was paid to the so-called anti-obscenity restrictions and the punitive $45,000 cut to the agency's budget. In an attempt to quell an outcry stirred from certain quarters over two recent NEA grants, legislators took steps to help ensure that federal funds did not go to support works that may be considered obscene.

Examining the effects of fifty years of corporate growth on American culture, [the author] argues that corporate control over such arenas of culture as museums, theaters, performing arts centers, and public broadcasting stations has resulted in a board manipulation of consciousness as well as an insidious form of censorship.

Included in this pamphlet are essays focusing on the concept of censorship and the direct response of artists to censorship. Prepared to accompany an exhibit in the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, California, September 22 - October 28, 1989. Like any overly-mediated term, censorship has been conceptually bandied about into oblivion. The dictionary definition of censorship implies moral directiveness, but where these morals come from, and how they are disseminated are highly complex issues that clearly cannot be cohesively attached to a single word.

This article examines the issue of colorization of black and white films. In particular, the author focuses on the issue of copyright protection as it relates to colorization, with emphasis on its notable absence of protection for moral, as opposed to economic, rights of authors and creators.

The author examines the relationship between artists and the social control of the state when the state supports them. He looks at the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) in the 1970s-1980s.

This article explores the nature of creativity itself and speaks about artistic creation, freedom, and control. It is a call for the total integration of the creative process in society and the placing of the artist in a leadership position to effect such integration.