Legacy Of The Great Society The National Endowment For...

Rachel Hollis PPOL 4100 November 10, 2014 Word Count: 2363 Legacy of The Great Society: The National Endowment for the Arts Summary The â€Å"Big Four† policy agendas of President Johnson’s Great Society initiatives tend to garner the most attention: federal aid to elementary and secondary education, Medicare and Medicaid, Immigration Reform, and Civil Rights Act. An often-overlooked policy agenda is the creation of what is now the National Endowment for the Arts (â€Å"NEA†). The NEA is often compared to two Works Progress Association (â€Å"WPA†) programs, the Federal Arts Project and the Federal Writers Project. Both were intended to create jobs as part of a larger economic stimulus package (Bauerlin and Grantham, p. 1). Although parallels are†¦show more content†¦In 1961, Kennedy appointed a Special Consultant on the Arts and made public support for the arts an official policy agenda (Bauerlin and Grantham, p. 6). In 1963 President’s Advisory Council on the Arts was created (p. 7). After President Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson continued to suppo rt Kennedy’s vision of founding a federal arts agency. The next year Johnson signed the National Arts and Cultural Development Act of 1964. This created a 24-member council to â€Å"recommend ways to maintain and increase the cultural resources of the nation and to encourage and develop greater appreciation and enjoyment of the arts by its citizens† (p. 15). The Arts Endowment started its first fiscal year with a budget of $2.5 million and a staff of twelve, and its first grant recipient was the American Ballet Theater (p. 19). They provided support to both classical forms of art (such as ballet and opera) and emerging art and art trends (such as pop art and jazz); and provided funding for both established and up-and-coming artists (p. 22). Furthermore, the committee provided support for art education, and archival and preservation efforts such as the American Film Institute (â€Å"AFI†) (p. 23). It was not long before the NEA began to receive criticism. In 1968 , during its first Congressional review of programs, critics questioned if the NEA would â€Å"bypass the cultural norms of the American majority† (p. 27). Some saw support for new styles of art as a form of censorship against