The Arts at a New Frontier

Profound changes were taking place in American society during the period of the 1960s and 1970s when legislation for the National Foundation for the Arts and the Humanities was enacted and the agencies went into operation. It was a period of soul-searching by the American public when the cherished prejudices and civil inequities of the past decades were wiped out and old wounds began to heal; at the same time, however, the Vietnam War was creating new fissures and antagonisms. Into this newly healing, newly questioning society, congressional action thrust the National Council on the Arts in 1964, and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965. Their mission was to encourage and support the arts, and the men and women charged with this responsibility went about their work with the zeal and enthusiasm of religious converts. The idea of even a minute amount of federal financial assistance to the country's chronically beleaguered and often impoverished artists and arts organi zations seemed strange to a segment of the population that had existed in forgot ten independence from government intervention. Many of the nation's artists and arts leaders were wary, partly because of the uncertainties and constraints of previous patterns of governmental support.

1 Development of Government Support for the Arts.- History of Federal Arts Support to 1965.- Reference Notes.- 2 Reaching Legislative Consensus, 1960-1965.- Patterns of Arts Support prior to 1965.- Important Events Leading to the Passage of Arts Funding Legislation.- Reference Notes.- 3 The Roger Stevens Years.- Roger Stevens' Background.- The National Council for the Arts.- Stevens Responds to Criticism.- The National Endowment for the Arts Becomes Law.- Initial and Trend-Setting Grants.- Laboratory and Theatre Project.- Dance Program Begins.- Costume Design and Folk Art.- Literature Program/Poets in the Schools.- The Kenneth Patchen Grant.- International Arts Events Supported.- Musical Beginnings: Some Cacophony.- The American Film Institute.- Housing for Artists.- Spreading Resources.- American Theatre Laboratory.- Architecture and Design Starts Slowly.- Visual Arts.- Beginning the Federal-State Partnership Program.- The Arts Endowment Begins to Take on Character.- Reauthorization.- Cooling the Inner Cities.- The President Hosts a Dinner.- Final Months.- Reference Notes.- 4 The Nancy Hanks Years.- Hanks Assumes Chairmanship.- Deputy Chairman Michael Straight.- The Belmont Report.- Reauthorization.- Late Summer Report, 1972.- Federal Design Improvement Program.- Establishing Expansion Arts.- Expanding Aid to Individual Artists.- Coordinated Residency Touring Program.- The "City" Programs in Architecture.- The Bicentennial.- Triennial Authorization.- Nancy Hanks Reappointed to Chairmanship.- Growing State and Community Arts Agencies.- Tenth Anniversary of the Arts Legislation.- Reference Notes.- 5 Opening up the New Frontier.- Touring Projects.- Media Projects.- Expansion Arts Projects.- Accessibility and Awareness Projects.- Special Projects Activities.-Preservation of Heritage Projects.- Federal-State Partnership Program.- Residency Programs as a Means of Achieving Arts Availability.- Artists-in-Schools.- Reference Notes.- 6 At the End of Ten Years.- Reference Notes.- Epilogue.- Reference Notes.- Appendix A National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.- Appendix B National Council on the Arts.