In particular, the NEA has supported the reemergence of tap in the United States in the last ten years, largely through three of its main program categories: Choreographers' Fellowships, Dance Company Grants, and Services to the Field Grants.
NEA grants have supported the Colorado Dance Festival's tap festivals, Boston's Dance Umbrella's extensive tap programming, and the International Tap Association's existence. These are just some of the broader tap activities supported by the NEA. In addition, many individual artists and companies have successfully used NEA monies to create new works, educational programming, and community outreach activities in their respective local communities throughout the US.
The success rate (the rate of actual funding approval vs. applicants) of tap artists applying for NEA Dance Program grants has been very high. Awardees in the Choreographers' Fellowships Category include Charles "Honi"Coles, Cookie Cook, Jimmy Slyde, Harriet Browne, Brenda Bufalino, LaVaughn Robinson, Savion Glover, Chuck Green, and Dianne Walker. In addition, recipients of awards from the Dance Company Grants category include the American Tap Dance Orchestra, Rhapsody In Taps, and Manhattan Tap. Clearly tap has fared very well in this regard.
This year, beginning in early January, when the US Congress reconvenes,the NEA (as well as NEH and CPB) will be up for both reauthorization (legislation that determines the existence and structure of the agency) and reappropriation (legislation that determines the agency's funding for the next fiscal year if reauthorization is approved).
As you know, the November elections brought about the new Republican Congressional majority. In the Contract With America, the new majority proposes to drastically reduce cultural funding and to encourage its complete elimination, thereby gutting and possibly eliminating our national arts and humanities agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts.
News reports indicate that Congress plans to act on the budgetary aspects o the Contract With America within the first I00 days of its term, which begins on January 4, 1995. Because of the influence of the Contract With America on Congress, pessimists say the NEA will be cut altogether. Optimists say it'II be cut by 50%.
Already, due to political pressure which reduced government funding to the NEA last year, the National Endowment for the Arts has eliminated all re-grant programs in the Media, Presenting and Commissioning, and Music Programs. This cut eliminates $1.3 million in NEA support for the creation and presentation of new work by a diverse group of individual artists and small organizations geographically distributed throughout the country.The $1.3 million cut is 43% of the $3 million in total agency budget cuts made by Congress.
On January 20, Senator Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kansas), Chairperson of the Senate Labor & Human Resources Committee, is scheduled to hold a hearing on the NEAs reauthorization. Jane Alexander, the NEA Chairperson, will testify at this hearing. So you can see that the hearings are already beginning and there is a very real threat to the NEA.
The real danger in the possible dismantling of the NEA is not only the elimination of its direct grants to artists, presenters and service providers, but the fact that the NEA is the glue that holds together the entire infrastructure for public funding of the arts in this country. This is not a Chicken-Little "the sky is falling!" situation. This is not about controversial art. This is about the real threat of a complete gutting of public cultural funding in the United States.
We are not writing to argue whether the Contract With America is right or wrong for our country. It is fair for Congress to periodically ask important questions as to how and where our tax dollars, including those allocated to the NEA, are spent. But it is important that the issue has a fair hearing before Congress and that our Congress people be as fully informed as possible by as many of their constituents as possible so that they can make informed decisions about the future of the NEA.
However, these projected cuts or possible complete elimination of the NFA, NEH and CPB will directly affect your ability to watch tap, study tap, teach tap, perform tap, administrate in the service of tap, tour tap, pay your dancers to dance tap, and create new work and educate the broader public about one of its a rich cultural legacies.
It is critical that people voice their opinions and/or concerns to their US Congress Representatives immediately. Your Congressman needs to know what the loss of NEA funding would mean for his or her constituents. As a constituent, your opinion counts.
Please note also that it is most important to voice your concerns as a citizen. In this way, your concerns will be understood not only from the vantage point of a self-interested artist but also from the point of view of an active voter. So when you call or write your Congressperson, simply state your name and concern and let them know if/how/why public arts funding and the existence of the NEA is important to you and your community.
Write Letters To The Editor of your local newspapers. This is a very effective way of letting your community know your view on this issue. It is a way to build out beyond the arts community and to interface with other members of your local communities, whom may otherwise not have the opportunity to hear your point of view. On another level, this is a media war as well as a discussion of real values, and writing letters is a simple, impactful way to contribute as much verbiage in favor of public arts funding as possible to the public discussion of this issue. Let your community know that you, as an average Joe Citizen, believe that cultural funding at a national level is important. Let them know that these national organizations for public funding for the arts help meet local educational and cultural needs through their humanities and grants programs.
To easily find out the names and addresses of your Congressional Representatives and local newspaper editors, call your local library reference desk or call the National Association of Arts Organizafions (NAAO) at 202.347-6350. You can also inquire with NAAO about voting records of your Congressmen in past NEA legislation.
Remember - Now is the crucial time to contact your local Congressional Representatives and/or newspapers to let them know if and how NEA and other NEA-supported local agencies are important to you, your community, your state and the country. Let them know that you support the continued existence of cultural funding, including the NEA, in the USA. Please use the inserted "Action Sheets,"from the Washington DC-based American Arts Association, which very plainly tells you how to get involved in the decision.
This will be a challenging year for the arts and humanities and a call to rally has been issued. With the help of concerned citizens like yourselves, we can ensure that the arts and humanities, including the practice and development of tap, will continue to flourish. So please make those calls and write those letters and make an impact now, before its too late.
Once again, if you have questions, or want updates, please contact your regional and/or local arts agencies or the National Association of Artists Organizations (NAAO) at National Union Building, 918 F Street N.W, Washington, DC 20004; PH:202-347-6350; FAX: 202.347.7376. Executive Director Helen Brunner.