Federal money

Combined, the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting receive about $740 million annually.

Ultimately, the administration’s proposal must go through the congressional budget process.

The conservative Heritage Foundation has advocated cutting the organizations for decades and has again in “A Blueprint for Balance: A Federal Budget for 2017.” Paul Winfree, who was lead editor on the document, is now the White House director of budget policy.

“We fundamentally believe the arts are able to flourish independently of the federal government,” said Romina Boccia, the foundation’s deputy director.

Among the problems she says federal financing can create: A distortion of the art market as private money migrates to projects seen as having the “federal stamp of approval” and “cultural cronyism.”

Such cronyism, she alleges, can be seen in the NEA’s distribution of grants to regional arts projects in every state. “Not necessarily because it creates the best art but because they [the NEA] are trying to secure political support so they can continue to exist,” Boccia said.

In a March 16 press briefing, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said “there’s completely defensible reasons” for eliminating funds for the agencies. “I put myself in the shoes of that steelworker in Ohio, the coal-mining family in West Virginia, the mother of two in Detroit, and I’m saying, ‘OK, I have to go ask these folks for money and I have to tell them where I’m going to spend it.’ Can I really go to those folks, look them in the eye and say, ‘Look, I want to take money from you and I want to give it to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting’? That is a really hard sell.”

Arts advocates in Connecticut, however, are quick to defend the programs.

Kristina NewmanScott, Connecticut’s director of cultural programs, said the NEA allocated $740,000 last year to the state, which allocated $1.4 million from the general fund. NEA grants to local groups are matched by state money, she said.

Newman-Scott said the arts in Connecticut generate $660 million in economic activity. “It’s a combination of both the spending of nonprofit arts and cultural institutions as well as the spending of the many patrons and audiences those institutions attract,” she said.

“We reach every region in the state of Connecticut,” she said. “Our funding reaches every corner of the state.” And unlike private donors, the state has to ensure that its giving is equitable and takes diversity into account.

The arts are worth far more than their entertainment and economic value, said Newman-Scott, who oversees the Office of the Arts and the Office of Tourism. As an example, the Hartford-based Judy Dworin Performance Project goes into the York Correctional Institution, the state’s women’s prison, using “performance art as a tool to help women re-enter society and reconnect with their family.”

“Over 80 percent of Americans believe the arts are fundamental” and students fare better, with higher graduation rates, when they are involved in the arts, Newman-Scott said.

Without the agency, “We would have to reimagine our entire grantmaking program and so much of it would have to be cut down to bare bones.”

“I don’t think Trump is going to be able to pass this without a lot of pushback,” she said. “It’s the first time in the nation’s history that a president has proposed eliminating the NEA.”

Amy Wynn, executive director of the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council, said the NEA, along with the state Office of the Arts, serves an important function. When sponsors and donors see “that this proposal has passed a very important milestone … they’re more likely to give to that organization or that artist.”

Wynn said her agency, which serves 25 towns, won’t accept the demise of the NEA. “We’re attacking it. We don’t really want to admit defeat at this point. Our main objective is to really reinforce those legislators in Washington, both Democrat and Republican, who still believe in this very important institution, although it represents such a minuscule portion of the federal budget.”

Among the organizations the council supports, aided by NEA funds, are the Warner Theatre in Torrington, the Litchfield Jazz Festival, the Sharon Playhouse and afterschool programs throughout the region. It also sponsors the Open Your Eyes Studio Tour featuring area artists.

In addition, “In our state there are some organizations that get funding direct from the NEA and that will dry up,” Wynn said. Without the money, arts groups “will have to charge what it costs to put on these productions. The level of innovation and out-of-the-box thinking diminishes because they can’t afford to take that risk because they need to appeal to the masses.”

The NEA “ensures that truly innovative thinking is supported and people are allowed to experiment and to be innovative and not to do the same-old, same-old, not to dumb down the creative product in America.” 2,000 more tickets, and “that’s a lot of tickets for our market. Sometimes we don’t sell 2,000 tickets to a play.”

“The elimination of NEA funds is going to eliminate those programs for the people that have the least access to art,” Borenstein said. But he said he is hopeful the endowment’s budget won’t be eliminated. “It does have a lot of bipartisan support … It will be kept in one form or another,” he said.

Elaine Carroll, chief executive officer of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, echoed Borenstein in her concerns about “the ability to serve our community better” being hindered. Last year, 30,000 students attended performances for free, she said.

Concerts for children are performed at the Davis Street Arts and Academics School in New Haven and Shelton Intermediate School. Held at one time at the Omni New Haven Hotel, attendance more than tripled to 350 once the concerts were moved to the Davis Street school.

“That one grant from the NEA helped build the community relations and the understanding on our part of the responsiveness,” Carroll said. “It made more sense to get the people to attend more concerts in their neighborhood than to go downtown.”

The NHSO has performed nine world premieres in eight seasons and, Carroll said, “For an orchestra our size to do world premieres is really kind of a stretch.” The NEA allows the orchestra to support work by young composers, such as Hannah Lash, who is on the faculty of the Yale School of Music.

“Let your representatives know it’s important to you, because I think it makes a difference,” Carroll said.

Lee Godburn, chairman of the Middletown Commission on the Arts and a photographer, said he thinks the NEA will be saved. “Of course I’m concerned with reduced funding as everyone is, but somebody told me years ago … that they always threaten to reduce funding. … It’s a tail-wagger. They never do what they’re threatening to do. I think in this day and age even the most conservative politicians know how important the arts [are] to our lifestyle.”

Godburn said much of the commission’s support goes to “make up a lapse in the educational budget. … We certainly don’t want to see the children suffer and not get the arts support that they need.”

Stephan Allison, director of Middletown’s Arts and Culture Department, said a cut in the NEA money he receives through the state grant “would impact my ability to do my largest summer programs, my kids’ arts program and my July fireworks festival” because he wouldn’t be able to hire the additional help he needs to put them on. He added, “All the arts organizations pretty much in Middletown would be impacted by the loss of NEA funding and that affects the whole city.”

The commission and Arts and Culture Department also support organizations such as ARTFARM, Oddfellows Playhouse, Artists for World Peace and the Buttonwood Tree performing arts center.