[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE
HUMANITIES AND THE NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS: OVERVIEW
OF PROGRAMS AND NATIONAL IMPACT
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTHY
FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
COMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. House of Representatives
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 8, 2008
__________
Serial No. 110-91
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
Available on the Internet:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/house/education/index.html
----------
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COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
GEORGE MILLER, California, Chairman
Dale E. Kildee, Michigan, Vice Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon,
Chairman California,
Donald M. Payne, New Jersey Senior Republican Member
Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin
Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, Virginia Peter Hoekstra, Michigan
Lynn C. Woolsey, California Michael N. Castle, Delaware
Ruben Hinojosa, Texas Mark E. Souder, Indiana
Carolyn McCarthy, New York Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan
John F. Tierney, Massachusetts Judy Biggert, Illinois
Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania
David Wu, Oregon Ric Keller, Florida
Rush D. Holt, New Jersey Joe Wilson, South Carolina
Susan A. Davis, California John Kline, Minnesota
Danny K. Davis, Illinois Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona Kenny Marchant, Texas
Timothy H. Bishop, New York Tom Price, Georgia
Linda T. Sanchez, California Luis G. Fortuno, Puerto Rico
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Charles W. Boustany, Jr.,
Joe Sestak, Pennsylvania Louisiana
David Loebsack, Iowa Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Mazie Hirono, Hawaii John R. ``Randy'' Kuhl, Jr., New
Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania York
John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky Rob Bishop, Utah
Phil Hare, Illinois David Davis, Tennessee
Yvette D. Clarke, New York Timothy Walberg, Michigan
Joe Courtney, Connecticut [Vacancy]
Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire
Mark Zuckerman, Staff Director
Vic Klatt, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTHY FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
CAROLYN McCARTHY, New York, Chairwoman
Yvette D. Clarke, New York Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania,
Carol Shea-Porter, New Hampshire Ranking Minority Member
Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon,
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona California
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Kenny Marchant, Texas
Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania Luis G. Fortuno, Puerto Rico
John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky David Davis, Tennessee
[Vacancy]
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on May 8, 2008...................................... 1
Statement of Members:
McCarthy, Hon. Carolyn, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Healthy
Families and Communities, Committee on Education and Labor. 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 2
Platts, Hon. Todd Russell, Senior Republican Member,
Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities, Committee
on Education and Labor..................................... 2
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Statement of Witnesses:
Burns, Ken, filmmaker........................................ 4
Prepared statement of.................................... 6
Cole, Bruce, chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities. 13
Prepared statement of.................................... 14
Gioia, Dan, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts........ 20
Prepared statement of.................................... 22
Glacken, Hon. William F. Mayor, Freeport, NY................. 27
Prepared statement of.................................... 28
Kelly, Ryan, Captain, U.S. Army, retired..................... 35
Prepared statement of.................................... 36
Schmedlen, Jeanne H., board member and former chair,
Pennsylvania Humanities Council; former speaker's
representative, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts........... 29
Prepared statement of.................................... 31
Watkins, Katrine, librarian, Shaler Area Intermediate School. 33
Prepared statement of.................................... 34
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE
HUMANITIES AND THE NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS: OVERVIEW
OF PROGRAMS AND NATIONAL IMPACT
----------
Thursday, May 8, 2008
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
Committee on Education and Labor
Washington, DC
----------
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m., in
Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Carolyn McCarthy
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives McCarthy, Shea-Porter, Kucinich,
Sarbanes, Platts, and McKeon.
Staff present: Tylease Alli, Hearing Clerk; Adrienne
Dunbar, Education Policy Advisor; Lloyd Horwich, Policy Advisor
for Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary
Education; Lamont Ivey, Staff Assistant, Education; Deborah
Koolbeck, Policy Advisor for Subcommittee on Healthy Families
and Communities; Margaret Young, Staff Assistant, Education;
Stephanie Arras, Minority Legislative Assistant; James
Bergeron, Minority Deputy Director of Education and Human
Services Policy; Cameron Coursen, Minority Assistant
Communications Director; Chad Miller, Minority Professional
Staff; Susan Ross, Minority Director of Education and Human
Resources Policy; and Linda Stevens, Minority Chief Clerk/
Assistant to the General Counsel.
Chairwoman McCarthy [presiding]. Calling the hearing to
order. A quorum is present. The hearing of the subcommittee
will come to order.
Pursuant to Committee Rule 12(a), any member may submit an
opening statement in writing, which will be made part of the
permanent record.
Before we begin, I would like everyone to take a moment to
ensure your cell phones and BlackBerrys are off, members
included.
I now recognize myself, followed by the ranking members,
Mr. Platts from Pennsylvania, for an opening statement.
To be very honest with you, Mr. Platts and I have already
decided that we are going to change this around a little bit.
We will both introduce our opening statements for the record. A
number of our witnesses are on time constraints. We are
scheduled to have votes around 10:15, 10:20. So to try to get
this thing moving and try to get all the testimony in so there
is not a delay for a lot of people, we are going to really just
go straight into the testimony.
Mr. Platts?
[The statement of Mrs. McCarthy follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Carolyn McCarthy, Chairwoman, Subcommittee
on Healthy Families and Communities
As you all know, if you attend my hearings, I often speak of how
much I like this subcommittee because we handle a lot of issues which
directly impact people's lives.The hearings we hold and give us the
opportunity to improve people's lives and the community in which they
live. That's why it seems so appropriate to me that the Subcommittee
has the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National
Endowment for the Arts under our jurisdiction.
The arts and humanities directly impact the lives of each citizen
in this nation and the arts and humanities have the potential to
improve communities across this nation. During my time in Congress I
have become increasingly familiar and impressed with the work of both
the NEA and the NEH.
The history of these agencies is not without its questions or
concerns. In the late 1980's and early 1990's the NEA, and with it NEH,
suffered from controversy. In the mid-1990's, perhaps in response to
other grant controversies and other concerns, Congress cut the budgets
of both agencies by approximately one third and reforms were enacted.
Since the mid-1990's the agencies have seen less controversy. This is,
in part, due to the fact that the leadership of both agencies has led
them forward. Sensible reforms have also been made.
There is no way that we could possibly explore all of the
remarkable programs that both of these agencies are engaged in during
the course of this hearing.
In recent years, the NEA has set a goal to have at least one grant
recipient in every Congressional district in order to increase access
to the arts for each citizen. The NEH has been working on the Digital
Humanities Initiative which is aimed at fostering the growth of
programs that incorporate digital technologies. As we are living in the
digital age, the humanities and the arts are carrying us forward.
The endowments and their missions have evolved over time, and I am
happy to help spread the word about these programs and their impact.
Today we are going to hear from the heads of both agencies, as well as
from grantees of each agency. We will hear about their experiences
working with the two agencies.
Both the NEA and NEH are involved in more programs than would seem
obvious to the casual observer. For example, I recently learned that
the NEA was involved in the Mayors' Institute for City Design. This
program connects mayors with architects and designers to tackle local
challenges and help Mayors transform communities through good planning
and design. Mayor William Glacken from the Village of Freeport, NY, in
my district, attended this institute and we will hear from him today.
Research shows that experiences with the arts and humanities
improve students' creative problem-solving and innovative thinking
skills and can strengthen the mental agility in our older population.
Experts say this sort of thinking process may help ward off mental
diseases such as Alzheimer's.The arts and the humanities ground us,
inspire us, and challenge us to grow and expand. Both are truly part of
the human condition and have a major impact on people's lives, in our
nation's communities and around the world.
I look forward to today's testimony.
______
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad to submit my
statement for the record. And thank you for holding this
important oversight hearing.
And just want to, most importantly, thank all of our
participants on the panel for your dedication to telling the
story of the importance of the arts and the humanities and the
impact it has on our nation's citizens and, I will say
especially as a parent of a 3rd-grader and 5th-grader, on our
youth and the lasting impact it has on them.
So, appreciate. We will get right to your testimonies. And
thank each of you for being here.
[The statement of Mr. Platts follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Todd Russell Platts, Ranking Minority
Member, Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
Good morning and welcome. I would like to first thank Chairwoman
McCarthy for holding this hearing to learn more about the National
Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I
would also like to thank all of the panelists for joining us today and
providing some insight as to how the arts and humanities are used to
educate children across America.
I have seen first-hand the benefits of NEA and NEH local grants in
my District, including a living museum program interpreting the
Underground Railroad, several ballet and symphony performances, and a
symposium on the events at Little Round Top during the Civil War battle
at Gettysburg. In addition, their national projects, such as The Big
Read, Shakespeare in American Communities, and We the People, have
positively impacted students in my District and across the country.
As a member of both the Congressional Arts Caucus and the
Congressional Humanities Caucus, I strongly believe that exposing
children to the arts and humanities can spur their interest in various
subjects, as well as afford students with well-rounded educations. The
NEA and NEH stimulate children by allowing them to learn through
paintings, photographs, poetry, plays, and other interactive
activities.
I look forward to learning more about how the Endowments not only
engage teachers and schools, but educate teachers about effective ways
to teach the arts and humanities to their students. In addition, I am
interested to hear about the various state initiatives and how states
respond to the different educational needs of students in diverse
geographical and economic settings.
Again, I thank all of the witnesses for joining us and look forward
to their testimony. With that, I yield back.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Platts.
Without objection, all members will have 14 days to submit
additional materials or questions for the hearing record.
Let me explain quickly the lighting system. In front of
you, you will see that little box. It is green, yellow and red.
When your testimony starts, it will start on green. Yellow
means start to wind up your testimony. And red means, you know,
we will let you finish your sentence, but then go forward with
that.
Today we will hear from a panel of witnesses. Your
testimonies will proceed in the order of your introduction. I
am going to be brief with the introductions, given that we have
such a large panel for this hearing.
Our first witness is Mr. Ken Burns. I yield to the
distinguished Congresswoman from New Hampshire, Ms. Shea-
Porter, to introduce him.
Ms. Shea-Porter. Thank you, Chairwoman.
I am pleased to have the opportunity today to introduce a
resident of my home state of New Hampshire, Ken Burns. Probably
you really don't need this introduction if you have ever
watched television or a documentary.
Ken Burns has built quite the impressive resume through
over 30 years of work as a documentary filmmaker. The topics of
his documentaries range from Thomas Jefferson, my personal
hero, to the Civil War to World War II and even a history of
the Congress. Of course, these are just a few.
The honors and awards that have been bestowed upon Ken's
work include two Oscar nominations, the Peabody Award, and
seven Emmy awards. And my staff member pointed out that that is
seven more than I have ever received. The full list of his
awards is certainly much longer than this, but I think, based
on these examples, we can all get a sense of how truly
accomplished Ken really is.
And I would like to add, Ken, that you were the one who
managed to get every generation of my family sitting together,
interested in the same show at the same time. So I thank you
for that.
So, in the interest of keeping this very brief, I will just
conclude by welcoming you, thank you for coming, and saying how
happy I am to see you here today testifying on such an
important issue.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairwoman McCarthy. I thank you, Ms. Shea-Porter.
Again, we are going to be a little unorthodox. Again, Mr.
Burns has to leave here by 10:55, and we are going to have
votes.
So, Mr. Burns, if you would give your 5 minutes of
testimony, and then we will follow through. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF KEN BURNS, FILMMAKER
Mr. Burns. Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and
distinguished members of the subcommittee, Ms. Shea-Porter,
thank you. It is an honor for me to appear before you today,
and I am grateful that you have given me this opportunity to
express my thoughts on the programs of the National Endowment
for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Let me begin by saying that I am a passionate supporter of
the Endowments and their unique role in fostering creativity
and scholarship and the transmission of the best of our diverse
culture to future generations. In my view, anything that
threatens the Endowments weakens our country. While they have
nothing to do with the actual defense of our nation, I know
that, they just help to make our country worth defending.
Few institutions provide such a direct, grassroots way for
our citizens to participate in the shared glories of their
common past, in the power of the priceless ideals that have
animated our remarkable republic and our national life for more
than 200 years and in the inspirational life of the mind and
the heart than an engagement with the arts and humanities
always provides.
For all of my life, I have been a student of our nation's
diverse, fascinating history and rich cultural legacy. I have
been foremost a filmmaker, but I also think of myself as an
amateur historian--``amateur'' in the classic 19th-century
sense. That is, one who engages in the study of a subject out
of a deep and abiding love and a desire to share that knowledge
with as many of his fellow citizens as possible.
And for more than 30 years, I have been producing
historical documentary films that shed light on facets of that
subject that I love so dearly. These films range from the
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty
to the turbulent life of the Southern demagogue Huey Long; from
the serene simplicity of Shaker architecture to the jubilation
and spontaneity of jazz; from the sublime pleasures and
unexpected lessons of our national pastime to the terrible
watershed experiences of our civil war and World War II.
Over this time, I have been able to realize my dream of
sharing the American experience, what I have found so
compelling and enduring about our epic American story.
Throughout my professional life, I have been fortunate to
work closely with both the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. Nearly all
of my films have been produced with the support and
encouragement of the National Endowment for the Humanities,
either at the state or national level. On other occasions, I
have enjoyed support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
I first received an NEH grant in 1979, as I embarked on my
first project for public television, a film about the
construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. The application process
was not unlike the building of that bridge: complex, demanding
and time-consuming. [Laughter.]
But at this very early stage of my development as a
filmmaker, the experience of competing successfully for an NEH
grant helped me set high standards of excellence in filmmaking,
writing, scholarship, even budgeting. Throughout, we were
encouraged and challenged to maintain and strengthen our
commitment to the inclusion of all communities who have
contributed to this great nation.
Over the years, I would apply many times to NEH for support
on a variety of projects. Working with NEH staff and humanities
scholars ensured that my projects stayed true to rigorous
intellectual standards and reached a broad, receptive, national
audience of Americans.
This interaction has been a powerful influence on my own
work, even when my applications have not been successful. On
the few occasions in my professional life when I did not enjoy
Endowment support, I tried, with decidedly mixed results, to
duplicate the arduous but honorable discipline the NEH imposes
on every project that comes its way, simply because I thought
it would make my films better.
Without a doubt, my work could not, would not, have been
possible without the Endowments. My series on the Civil War,
for instance, could not have been made without early and
substantial support from NEH. The NEH provided one of the
project's largest grants, thereby attracting a host of other
funders.
Many applicants find that grants from NEH or NEA are a kind
of seal of approval that signify excellence. This coveted
imprimatur helped me to convince private foundations,
corporations and other public funders that my films were worthy
of their support.
NEH oversight and involvement helped me in every aspect of
the production. And through unrelated grants to other
institutions, they helped restore the archival photographs we
would use to tell our histories. Much of the seminal research
our scholars provided also came from NEH-supported projects.
And NEH's interest in our progress ensured at critical
junctures that we did not stray into myth or hagiography. I am
extremely grateful for all those things.
The Endowments were a tremendous help to my work, and their
recent initiatives continue to provide crucial support where it
is most needed: in the preservation of Americans' cultural
legacy.
I am especially impressed with the work of both Endowments
in helping teachers bring Shakespeare, jazz and American
history to life in the classrooms.
NEA Chairman Dana Gioia and NEH Chairman Bruce Cole have
each brought new vigor to the missions of their respective
agencies.
Chairman Dana Gioia, a poet, has developed popular programs
that engage hundreds of thousands of high-school students in
the recitation of poetry and the pleasure and power of great
language spoken well. The NEA is bringing literature back into
public discourse through The Big Read, introducing hundreds of
thousands of students to their first live performances of a
Shakespeare play and giving our military veterans a voice to
write their own stories through Operation Homecoming.
Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Burns follows:]
Prepared Statement of Ken Burns, Filmmaker
Madame Chairwoman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee: It
is an honor for me to appear before you today, and I am grateful that
you have given me this opportunity to express my thoughts on the
programs of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Let me begin by saying that I am a
passionate supporter of the Endowments and their unique role in
fostering creativity and scholarship and the transmission of the best
of our diverse culture to future generations.
Few institutions provide such a direct, grassroots way for our
citizens to participate in the shared glories of their common past, in
the power of the priceless ideals that have animated our remarkable
republic and our national life for more than two hundred years, and in
the inspirational life of the mind and the heart that an engagement
with the arts and humanities always provides.
For all of my life, I have been a student of our nation's
fascinating history and rich cultural legacy. I have been foremost a
filmmaker, but I also think of myself as an amateur historian--
``amateur'' in the classic sense. That is, one who engages in the study
of a subject out of a deep and abiding love.
And, for more than 30 years, I have been producing historical
documentary films that shed light on facets of that subject I love so
dearly, American history and culture. These films range from the
construction of Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty to the
turbulent life of the demagogue Huey Long; from the serene simplicity
of Shaker architecture to the jubilation and spontaneity of jazz; from
the sublime pleasures and unexpected lessons of our national pastime,
baseball, to the terrible watershed experiences of the Civil War and
World War II. Over this time, I have been able to realize my hope of
sharing what I have found so compelling and enduring about our epic
American story.
Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work closely with
both the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National
Endowment for the Arts. Nearly all of my films have been produced with
the support and encouragement of the National Endowment for the
Humanities, either at the state or national level. On other occasions,
I have enjoyed support from the National Endowment for the Arts. I
first received an NEH grant in 1979, as I embarked on my first project,
a film about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. The application
process was not unlike the building of that bridge--a complex,
demanding, and time-consuming process. But, at this very early stage of
my career, the experience of competing successfully for an NEH grant
helped me set high standards of excellence * * * in filmmaking,
writing, scholarship, and even budgeting.
Over the years, I would apply many times to the NEH for support on
a variety of projects. Working with NEH staff and humanities scholars
ensured that my projects stayed true to rigorous intellectual standards
and reached a broad, receptive audience of Americans. This interaction
has been a powerful influence on my work, even when my applications
have not been successful. On the few occasions in my professional life
when I did not enjoy Endowment support, I tried--with decidedly mixed
results--to duplicate the arduous but honorable discipline the NEH
imposes on every project that comes its way, simply because I thought
it would make my films better.
Without a doubt, my work would not have been possible without the
Endowments. My series on the Civil War, for instance, could not have
been made without early and substantial support from the NEH. The NEH
provided one of the project's largest grants, thereby attracting a host
of other funders. Many applicants find that grants from NEH or NEA are
a kind of ``seal of approval'' that signify excellence. Especially
early in my career, this coveted imprimatur helped me to convince
private foundations, corporations, and other public funders that my
films were worthy of their support. NEH involvement helped me in every
aspect of the production, and, through unrelated grants to other
institutions, they helped restore the archival photographs we would use
to tell our histories. Much of the seminal research our scholars
provided also came from NEH-supported projects. And NEH's interest in
our progress ensured at critical junctures that we did not stray into
myth or hagiography. I am extremely grateful for all those things.
In a filmed interview several years ago, the writer and essayist
Gerald Early told us that ``when they study our civilization two
thousand years from now, there will only be three things that Americans
will be known for: the Constitution, baseball and jazz music. They're
the three most beautiful things Americans have ever created.'' His
wonderful, smile-inducing comment made me realize that my professional
life in a way has been a series of projects that have tried to honor
that statement of his. We grappled with many Constitutional issues in
our Civil War series (the Constitution's greatest test) and in many
other films, including, I might add, a history of this great
institution, the Congress; explored our national pastime and its
exquisite lessons in our series on baseball; and more recently we
struggled to understand the utterly American art form of jazz.
In producing all these films we were reminded daily that the true
genius of America is improvisation, our unique experiment a profound
intersection of freedom and creativity, for better and for worse, in
nearly every gesture and breath. We discovered that nowhere is this
more apparent, of course, than in jazz--the subject of a 2001
documentary series we made with support from both the NEA and the NEH.
To me jazz is an enduring and indelible expression of cultural
diversity and our nation's great genius and promise. Jazz was founded
by African-Americans, people who have had to improvise even more than
other Americans. And in that struggle, they were able to create the
only art form we Americans have ever invented, jazz music, out of
which, nearly every other musical form that we enjoy today has sprung.
R& B, soul, rock, hip hop, rap all have their ancestry in jazz music.
Jazz offers a prism through which so much of American history can
be seen--it was a curious and unusually objective witness to the
Twentieth Century. It was the soundtrack that helped Americans get
through two world wars and a devastating Depression. It is about
movement and dance, communication between artist and audience,
suffering and celebration. Most of all, the story of jazz is about race
and race relations and prejudice. It is an uniquely American paradox
that our greatest art form was created by those who have had the
peculiar experience of being unfree in a free land, and during the
production we began to suspect that African-American history might
actually be at the heart of American history--not something we should
separate and segregate into the cold month of February. Jazz musicians,
Black jazz musicians in particular, carry a complicated message to the
rest of us, a genetic memory of our great promise and our great
failing, and the music they created and then generously shared with the
rest of the world. Fittingly, both Endowments helped preserve and
transmit this important story by providing major support that made our
jazz documentary series possible.
The Endowments were a tremendous help to my work and their recent
initiatives continue to provide crucial support where it is most
needed--in the preservation of America's cultural legacy and engagement
of Americans in their intellectual growth. I am especially impressed
with the work of both Endowments in helping teachers bring Shakespeare,
jazz and American history to life in the classroom.
NEA Chairman Dana Gioia and NEH Chairman Bruce Cole have each
brought new vigor to the missions of their respective agencies.
Chairman Dana Gioia, a poet, has developed popular programs that engage
hundreds of thousands of high school students in the recitation of
poetry and the pleasure and power of great language spoken well. The
NEA is bringing literature back into public discourse through The Big
Read, introducing hundreds of thousands of students to their first live
performance of a Shakespeare play, and giving our military veterans a
voice to write their own stories through Operation Homecoming. Their
Shakespeare and Jazz in the Schools educational toolkits have reached
thousands of teachers and millions of students.
NEH Chairman Dr. Bruce Cole, an art historian, has made the study
and understanding of American history an even greater emphasis at his
Endowment. Through the We the People program, the NEH has confirmed its
leadership role in encouraging greater knowledge of American history
and culture * * * among young people as well as their parents and
teachers. Through public programming (like my documentary films),
scholarship, education programs, state humanities councils,
preservation efforts, challenge grants, and special projects such as
Picturing America, that provide teachers with iconic American works of
art as signposts to American history, the Humanities Endowment has
helped address one of the greatest needs of our time--a deeper and
richer understanding of our shared past.
The historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. has said that we suffer today
from ``too much pluribus and not enough unum.'' Few things survive
today that remind us of the Union from which so many of our personal as
well as collective blessings flow, and, in work such as my own, we are
challenged to maintain and strengthen our commitment to inclusion of
all communities who have contributed to this great nation. And it is
hard not to wonder, in an age when the present moment consumes and
overshadows all else--our bright past and our dim unknown future--what
finally does endure? What exists in America today to encode and store
the genetic material of our civilization, to inspire our children to
learn the great stories of history and literature and to master and
create art? I believe the Arts and Humanities Endowments provide one
clear answer.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. I thank you for your testimony.
Mr. Burns, for 30 years you have been a filmmaker, and
during that time you have received grants from the NEA and NEH.
Do you feel those grants from these agencies are critical to
the continued growth of American arts and culture?
And I guess I want to bring it down to even another area.
Like, in my hometown, or in Long Island, we have many young
people that are interested in getting into the arts. And how
would you feel, you know, with the funding that hopefully will
get with the NEH that helps those young students?
Mr. Burns. It is critical. And it is true in the arts, and
it is true in the humanities. I come from a very small state--
in many ways, like our country itself. We are stitched together
by words and, most importantly, their dangerous progeny, ideas.
And at a grassroots level, the arts and the humanities and
the programs, sometimes at a local library, sometimes in a
public television program that attracts tens of millions of
people, help to stitch the still, sort of, fragile constituency
that we have together.
It has been critical over the last 30 years to everything
that I have done. I can't imagine any of the films that I have
been known for being made without the rigorously earned
imprimatur from the Humanities and the Arts.
Chairwoman McCarthy. I thank you for that.
And I have to say, you sound like you are from New York.
You really talk fast. [Laughter.]
Mr. Burns. I was born in Brooklyn, Madam Chairwoman. That
says it all, doesn't it? [Laughter.]
Chairwoman McCarthy. That says it all.
Mr. Platts?
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Mr. Burns, for your passionate
message and important one.
You mentioned the important support of NEA and NEH and
that, kind of, seal of approval, I think is how you said it, to
then go to the foundations or corporations.
Is there a general framework, from a percentage standpoint,
on a typical project that is NEH money or NEA money, kind of
the seed money, you know, that just gives you a start, that
then the return on investment, I guess is how I would say it,
for the taxpayer is dramatically greater?
Mr. Burns. I believe in every, sort of, metric or
calculation that you could apply. Yes, we would normally start
off a project and submit ourselves to the rigorous, time-
consuming process of preparing a proposal for the Endowments,
sometimes going to 200 or 300 pages in the case of a large
series like ``The Civil War'' or ``Baseball'' or ``Jazz.''
Once that support came in, it not only permitted us to
further refine scripts, but to go out into a diverse patchwork
quilt of potential funders in the private sector--private
foundations, corporations--and seek their support. And that
money, that seed money, is helpful in every sense of the word.
And if, which is rare in documentary films, these films
make money, the program income is returned back to the
Endowment. I am extremely proud of the fact that the $1,349,500
grant I received for the Civil War series was paid back in full
to the Endowments, which allowed them to put it back into other
public programs.
And, to me, that is a model of government priming the pump,
in the sense that President Reagan used to talk about, as a
partnership between private and public monies.
Mr. Platts. And that very much--I, kind of, see
government's role, in many ways, beyond just NEH and NEA, of,
kind of, that helping individuals to then help themselves or
advance whatever the cause is.
Mr. Burns. You are looking at, sort of, evidence of that. I
don't recognize the person who first knocked on the door of the
NEH in 1977 and the person I am today. And a lot of it had to
do with that discipline I hope my testimony at least hinted at.
And I will be--I mean this from the bottom of my heart--forever
grateful for that rigorous discipline.
Mr. Platts. And the rigor of it is something that you
obviously endorse----
Mr. Burns. Yes.
Mr. Platts [continuing]. And the changes that have occurred
over, say, the last 20 years in what is demanded of applicants
is something that is a positive and that we are at a right spot
today, as compared to perhaps maybe early on, and we have kind
of refined it?
Mr. Burns. Yes, I think that is true.
One always wishes there was more funding. I was saying
before the testimony that my series on the Civil War and
baseball, the National Endowment for the Humanities'
contribution was fully a third of our budget. By the time we
got to ``Jazz,'' the third of our major series, they gave the
largest grant they could possibly give, but that represented 6
to 8 percent of our budget.
But all of us in the documentary community, some of us
complain about this rigorous process. But I felt early on to
embrace it put me in contact with humanities scholars.
I hired William Leuchtenburg, the dean of American
historians, for my third film on the demagogue Huey Long, and I
have used Professor Leuchtenburg in almost every film I have
made since as a, kind of, you know, backstop, make sure we get
it right, you know?
As you are telling a dramatic story, you cut corners; it is
inevitable. And to have a scholar there or the set of scholars
that we employ reminding us of a higher calling, in essence, I
think has made my work better, not burdened it with
bureaucratic apparatus.
Mr. Platts. Well, my time is about out. I would just say,
as one who grew up with a great love of history--and being born
in York, the Articles of Confederation signed there, Gettysburg
and the heroic efforts of so many Americans on that
battlefield, and Carlisle and Jim Thorpe, I kind of grew up in
the middle of history.
My worry today is how to make sure today's generations and
the generations to come maintain that interest and, actually,
hopefully, strengthen it. And works such as yours, in
partnership with NEA and NEH, certainly are playing a critical
role in making sure that happens.
So thank you for your testimony, and thanks for being here
today.
Mr. Burns. Thank you, sir.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Ms. Shea-Porter?
Ms. Shea-Porter. Thank you.
I, too, was a transplant from Brooklyn, but I learned to
speak slower. [Laughter.]
And my father was born in Brooklyn, and my family is from
there. And so, watching your documentary on the Brooklyn Bridge
was very emotional for all of us to see that. So I just wanted
to thank you for that and all of the other projects.
What I wanted to ask you about was, I know that you have
anecdotal evidence about how your documentaries are used in
schools. But could you expand on that, please? A lot of people
look at these programs and say, ``Oh, that is nice, but what is
it really doing for this generation? Are they really
educating?''
So could you just tell us what you hear from schools and
administrators around the country?
Mr. Burns. Absolutely, and thank you for that opportunity.
Of course, one of the silent partners here today is our
magnificent Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS itself.
Most broadcast television is sky-writing: It disappears at the
first zephyr. And that is what I think you are alluding too.
The reason why I have stayed my entire professional life in
public television, despite offers that were more lucrative in
one calibration of that, is because these films have an
afterlife.
We enjoy a tremendous response in schools, and PBS Video
distributes these. And I am very happy to say that ``The Civil
War'' is the most watched history video in our school systems
today. And I have had beyond anecdotal evidence that nearly all
the other films are engaged.
Teachers come up to me everywhere I speak and talk about
the way in which the book, still the greatest mechanical device
on earth and yet suffering this day in our media culture, how
they have been able to supplement and interest people by
bringing them in with the stories that we have been able to
tell.
It has just been a fascinating story. I meet with kids all
the time. I went to the National History Day at the University
of Maryland, not too far from here, last spring in advance of
our World War II thing, and I was mobbed like I was a rockstar.
It was terrifying. [Laughter.]
And it was kids who had grown up with these films in
school. And it was interesting to see that they do permit us, I
think, to bridge that gap between an older generation that is
still devoted, understandably and delightfully so, to the book
and the younger generation so distracted by television and
computers, the Internet and video games, that a visual form of
communication is sometimes a way to bring them in.
And I have spent my entire professional career telling
stories that haven't been told, seeking underserved populations
and reaching out to them.
I am finishing a film on the national parks, and one of the
grants I got from the Haas, Jr. Foundation is deliberately
specified to go into underserved populations and to reach out
to them in Spanish-language translation, in reaching into the
inner cities to show them the films and having programs that
bring them to our national parks.
So we have done this in every single film. So just getting
it out isn't enough. We have other responsibilities.
Ms. Shea-Porter. Right. And I want to thank you for that.
I also would like to point out, as you know, that so much
of what passes for history is really entertainment. And to have
actually documentaries that provide facts is very valuable
right now. Because they have crossed the line so many times in
film lately, that to have actual facts for kids to learn, and
in an entertaining manner as well, is terrific.
Thank you.
Mr. Burns. Thank you.
Chairwoman McCarthy. I would like to recognize that the
ranking member on the full committee has joined us to hear the
testimony, Mr. McKeon from California.
Mr. Kucinich?
Mr. Kucinich. First of all, I want to welcome members of
the panel. And thanks to each of you for your commitment to
enriching knowledge in this country, to attempting to keep
American on a more humane path, and to help us, in many cases,
remember who we are, remember the finest sentiments that inform
our humanity. I want to thank you.
I also would like to pick up on a comment that Mr. Burns
just made.
When you look at our heavily mediated culture, with its 24-
hour news cycles, cable television with the--you can be getting
many different messages at once on a screen. You can get a
crawl and, like, a ticker; you can have somebody telling you
one thing, the graphics behind them can say another; the
Internet. There seems to be, kind of, a linearity to our
communications and a truncation, at the same time, which almost
informs or entrains us into a shorter attention span.
Mr. Burns. That is right.
Mr. Kucinich. Would you agree with that?
Mr. Burns. I agree completely, sir. And I have worked--as
you know, the length of my films challenge even the most
attentive. [Laughter.]
Mr. Kucinich. People would say, I am sure you have run into
it, that at times you get into discussions where people would
say, ``Well, this is just--people aren't interested in this
kind of stuff. They can't follow it; it is too long.'' Do you
get that occasionally?
Mr. Burns. All the time, Mr. Congressman. I remember
testifying before a similar committee 15 years ago, and the
great anxiety was about the visual stimulation, the quick-
cutting of MTV, for example. And now it has just gone into this
multiprocessing, multilayered screen that we see on most every
channel.
I think that we begin to understand in the humanities and
in the arts that all real meaning accrues in duration, that the
work we are proudest of, the relationships that we care most
about, have benefited from our sustained attention.
And yet, we live in an environment in which we are so
multitasking that we think that, because we are able to do
that, that we are able to receive them physiologically, that
meaning has accrued. It does not.
Mr. Kucinich. Madam Chair, you know, compare this to the
kind of environment so many of us find ourselves in, where we
are conducting a conversation where we are on a BlackBerry.
Okay? All of us understand this. You are on a phone while you
are driving. We are here in this committee room, and we are
seeing a screen with votes, you know, counting down. And what
happens is there then becomes a lack of attention.
So what I wanted to point out is what many of you already
know, but it bears repeating, that the kind of work that you
do, Mr. Burns, with the documentation, literally documentaries,
has a way of not just holding people to an attention, but also
helping people to be able to make connections that this heavily
mediated society with its truncated messages and skipping from
one topic to another does not often permit.
So I just wanted to thank you for the commitment that you
have had, which, I imagine, in some cases, has been long-
suffering, but to see the product of your work has really been
to experience, in some ways, the miracle of persistence. And so
we thank you.
Mr. Burns. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Kucinich. And I want to thank the chair for her role in
causing this hearing to come forward.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Kucinich.
As you heard, the bells are on. What we are going to do is
go to Mr. Cole. Mr. Platts will introduce you. And then we are
going to try and work it out where we can run back and forth
and get here and get it going.
Mr. Burns, I thank you so much. In record time, you are out
of here. [Laughter.]
Mr. Burns. With your permission, Madam Chairman, I would
like to stick around for as long as my schedule permits.
Chairwoman McCarthy. We would love to have you here. Thank
you.
Mr. Platts?
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair.
And we do appreciate all of our witnesses' understanding of
the juggling today, with the vote schedule as it is going.
But I am pleased to introduce Dr. Bruce Cole, chairman of
the National Endowment for the Humanities. Chairman Cole has
served as chairman at NEH since 2001, when he was appointed by
George W. Bush.
Dr. Cole came to the NEH in December of 2001 from Indiana
University in Bloomington, where he served as a distinguished
professor of art history and a professor of comparative
literature.
As NEH chairman, Dr. Cole has launched We the People, a
program to encourage the teaching, study and understanding of
American history and culture. The program includes summer
seminars at our nation's historic landmarks to enhance
teachers' knowledge of American history. In addition, the
program distributes classic children's books to libraries and
schools across the country.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Cole, and
during this meeting we discussed the newest initiative,
Picturing America. This program aims to teach students about
American history by exposing them to high-quality reproductions
of historic works of art and photographs, as we have here in
the hearing room.
I certainly thank Chairman Cole for his leadership at NEH
and, again, appreciate him being today to share his knowledge
and expertise.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
I know, Mr. Cole, you are also under constraints to leave.
Would you mind giving the 5-minute testimony?
STATEMENT OF BRUCE COLE, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE
HUMANITIES, ACCOMPANIED BY THOMAS LINDSAY, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN
Mr. Cole. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chairman
and distinguished members of the subcommittee. I am honored to
appear before you to speak on behalf of the National Endowment
for the Humanities.
I ask that my prepared remarks be entered into the record.
The NEH's enabling legislation declares that, ``Democracy
demands wisdom and vision in its citizens.'' Since 1965, the
Endowment has fostered this wisdom and vision by promoting
excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of
history to all Americans.
Our relatively small agency supports a variety of grant
programs and special programs. From projects that shed light on
ancient truths to summer workshops that refresh teachers'
knowledge of the humanities, the NEH is deeply engaged in our
nation's cultural life.
During my time as chairman of the Endowment, we have
pursued several new initiatives to fulfill our mandate to
democratize the humanities and bring their benefits to every
citizen.
The most prominent is our We the People program, which
seeks to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study and
understanding of American history and culture. Today I want to
highlight the newest element of We the People, an initiative
called, Picturing America.
This initiative is bringing high-quality reproductions of
great American art to schools and public libraries nationwide
where they can help citizens of all ages connect to the people,
places and ideas that have shaped our country.
So far, for the first round, we have had over 30,000
applications. We will have another round beginning August 4th.
To give the committee an overview of Picturing America, I
would now like to play a very brief video produced by the
Endowment's friends at the History Channel.
[Video played.]
Mr. Cole. Obviously just a brief glimpse of our Endowment's
contribution to our nation's history and culture. And for more
details, please see my prepared testimony.
I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Cole follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bruce Cole, Chairman, National Endowment for the
Humanities
Madame Chairman and Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: I am
honored to appear before you to speak on behalf of the National
Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). I wish to begin by giving you a
sense of the Endowment's overall mission, and then discuss the ways we
are fulfilling this mission through our programs and initiatives.
Our agency's enabling legislation declares that ``democracy demands
wisdom and vision in its citizens.'' The Endowment fosters this wisdom
and vision by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the
lessons of history to all Americans. Since its funding in1965, NEH has
proved to be an effective way for the federal government to promote the
study and understanding of history, literature, philosophy, languages,
and other humanities subjects throughout the nation.
The NEH provides grants for high-quality projects that seek to
preserve and provide access to cultural and intellectual resources in
the humanities; strengthen humanities teaching and learning in the
nation's schools and institutions of higher education; facilitate basic
humanities research and original scholarship; and provide opportunities
for all Americans to engage in lifelong hearing in the humanities. The
Endowment also provides significant support for the projects and
programs of our essential partners, the 56 state humanities councils.
NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums,
archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television and
radio stations, and to individual scholars. In fiscal year 2007, we
received approximately 4,500 applications and awarded nearly 900
grants.
As a taxpayer-funded agency, we believe an essential part of the
Endowment's mandate is to democratize the humanities and bring their
benefits to citizens across our nation. In recent years, we have
pursued several new initiatives to fulfill this mandate. The most
prominent of these is our We the People program, now in its sixth year.
This program seeks to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study, and
understanding of American history and culture.
We created this program to meet a real and significant challenge:
In recent years, numerous surveys and tests have shown that our society
is growing less familiar with our origins and key institutions, and our
citizens less informed about their rights and responsibilities.
The NEH has a crucial role to play in addressing this worrisome
trend. Through We the People, we are leading a renaissance in knowledge
about American history and ideals. Since its inception in 2002, the
program has received over $66 million in support from the President and
Congress. The Endowment has used these funds to provide over 1,400 We
the People grants--and these grants have gone to every state and
territory in the Union.
Today, I want to discuss the newest element of We the People--an
initiative called Picturing America. On February 26, I joined President
Bush and the First Lady at the White House for the national launch of
this initiative, which supports We the People's mission in a unique and
exciting way.
Americans are united not by race or religion or birth. Instead, we
are bound by ideas and ideals that every citizen must know for our
republic to survive. That survival is not preordained: the habits and
principles of our democracy must be learned anew and passed down to
each generation. Picturing America helps us meet this challenge, by
using great American art to ensure that our common heritage and ideals
are known, studied, and remembered. Works of art are more than mere
ornaments for the elite; they are primary documents of a civilization.
A written record or a textbook tells you one thing--but art reveals
something else. Our students and citizens deserve to see American art
that shows us where we have come from, what we have endured, and where
we are headed.
With this in mind, the NEH has chosen notable works of American art
that will bring our history and principles alive for students and
citizens of all ages. Picturing America includes masterpieces of
painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, and decorative arts,
including beloved works such as Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing
the Delaware, Norman Rockwell's Freedom of Speech, and Frank Lloyd
Wright's ``Fallingwater'' house. The featured works range from pre-
colonial times to the present.
Through Picturing America, NEH is distributing forty large, high-
quality reproductions of these masterpieces to tens of thousands of
schools and public libraries across America, including public, private,
parochial, and charter schools, and home school associations. And they
get to keep these reproductions permanently, ensuring that the
initiative's impact will be felt for decades.
Along with the reproductions, schools and libraries will receive an
in-depth teachers resource book, which helps educators use Picturing
America to teach history, literature, and other subjects. The Endowment
has also created a dynamic online resource for all Americans, located
at http://picturingamerica.neh.gov. This site provides access to the
images, resource book, and scores of lesson plans, and also provides
detailed information on the art and artists.
The scope of this program is unprecedented for the NEH. Through
Picturing America, we are extending the Endowment's reach
exponentially. We are broadening public awareness of the humanities by
bringing American history and art to millions of young people and their
families. In January we began accepting applications for the fall 2008
Picturing America awards. By the time we reached the application
deadline on April 15, Picturing America had received more applications
than NEH received for all its grant programs over the past six years.
The initiative also enjoys support from a wide range of federal
partners, including, to date, the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, the Office of Head Start, and the National Park Service. The
Endowment has also forged partnerships with a number of non-federal
supporters who are helping to extend Picturing America's impact,
including the American Library Association and the History Channel, as
well as private philanthropists.
We are also excited about the role the state humanities councils
will play in this initiative. The councils have been integral to the
success of the We the People program, and we look forward to their
contributions to Picturing America.
By appealing to our young peoples' eyes, Picturing America will
make an indelible impression on their minds and hearts. These
masterpieces will give millions of students and their families a deeper
understanding of American history and principles--and that will help
make them better citizens.
Another way the Endowment is democratizing the humanities is
through our work in the digital humanities. The humanities are a
dynamic enterprise, and NEH has a duty to stay abreast of changes in
the field and provide leadership where it can be most effective.
Digital technology is bringing the humanities to a vast new audience,
and changing the way scholars perform their work. It allows new
questions to be raised, and is transforming how we search, research,
display, teach, and analyze humanities resources.
To focus the Endowment's digital efforts and ensure their
effectiveness, we created an agency-wide Digital Humanities Initiative
in 2006. In the brief time since its inception, the initiative has
instituted several grant categories, attracted many new grant
applicants to the NEH, and funded a wide range of innovative projects.
To date, the Endowment has made 57 awards for projects that are now
exploring new approaches to studying and disseminating the humanities.
More than half of these grantees had never received NEH awards, which
suggests that we have tapped an important unmet need.
Building on the success of the initiative and demonstrating our
long-term commitment to this new frontier in the humanities, we
recently transformed the initiative into a permanent Office of Digital
Humanities. This office will work with other NEH staff and scholars,
and with other funding bodies, both in the United States and abroad, to
pursue the great opportunities offered by the digital humanities.
The international nature of the digital humanities is particularly
important. Digital technology allows scholars from different nations to
collaborate more closely. To this end, the Endowment is actively
pursuing joint efforts with our international peers, which helps to
fulfill the charge in our founding legislation to ``foster
international programs and exchanges.'' For example, we recently joined
with the United Kingdom's Joint Information Systems Committee to
sponsor a program of Transatlantic Digitization Collaboration Grants.
These grants will help build a ``virtual bridge'' across the Atlantic
through support of digital projects that will unify American and
British collections of artifacts, documents, manuscripts, and other
cultural materials.
Last year NEH also entered into a partnership with the National
Research Council of Italy, and we are working on other collaborations
with agencies in Japan, China, Germany, and Mexico. Digital technology
offers the Endowment an unparalleled opportunity to fulfill our mandate
to bring the humanities to every citizen. We are pursuing that
opportunity aggressively.
The Endowment's grant-making programs continue to support high
quality projects in all fields and disciplines of the humanities. These
time-tested and cost-effective programs advance scholarship, education,
preservation, and public understanding in the humanities throughout the
United States. In FY 2007, NEH funds supported nearly 1,100 humanities
projects in all states of the nation, as well as the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. territories. An additional 2,000
awards were made, in partnership with the American Library Association,
to libraries through our annual We the People Bookshelf program. The
products of these grants, as well as the projects funded through the
state humanities councils, annually reach millions of Americans of
diverse backgrounds. In addition to the projects I have already
mentioned, some of our other recent noteworthy grants and
accomplishments include:
More than 4,200 teachers from every state of the nation
participated in NEH-supported seminars, institutes, and workshops in
2007. Summer seminars and institutes were offered on such diverse
subjects as Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, the works of Mark Twain,
World War II and its legacy in France, the plays of William
Shakespeare, the significance of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in
America, and the art of teaching the Italian language through Italian
art. Landmarks of American History workshops were held for
schoolteachers at Mount Vernon, Pearl Harbor, the FDR library and
museum at Hyde Park, and Ellis Island. NEH's education programs are
based on the idea that students benefit most when their teachers have a
mastery of their disciplines and are themselves actively engaged in
learning.
The 56 state humanities councils supported thousands of
high quality humanities projects that reached millions of Americans.
These included reading and discussion programs, speakers' bureau
presentations, local history projects, films, exhibitions, teacher
institutes and workshops, literacy programs, and Chautauqua-type
historical performances. Whether through grant-making or sponsoring
their own programs, state humanities councils strengthen the cultural
and educational fabric of their states by reaching into rural areas,
urban neighborhoods, and suburban communities.
Recent NEH grants to produce authoritative editions of the
papers of notable Americans and other world figures, as well as other
research tools and reference works, include the papers of Abraham
Lincoln; a Documentary History of the First Federal Congress; an
edition of the correspondence of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning; a scholarly translation of a collection of ancient Jewish
writings, including the Dead Sea Scrolls; and an interactive website
featuring the cartographic history of water systems in ancient Rome.
NEH also is supporting a project at New York University to digitize
thousand of pages of Afghan books, serials, and documents published
between 1870 and 1930 that are currently held in public and private
collections in the United States, Europe, and Afghanistan. Serious
works of scholarship such as these are important resources for
scholars, students, and teachers.
We are continuing our special initiative and partnership
with the National Science Foundation to document the world's endangered
languages. This initiative supports projects that create, enhance, and
deepen our knowledge of the estimated 3,000 currently spoken languages
that are threatened with extinction in the near future. Thus far, NEH
has provided 53 awards totaling nearly $4.5 million for projects to
record, document, and archive information relating to these languages,
including the preparation of dictionaries, lexicons, and databases. For
example, recent grants are supporting the preparation of a dictionary
of Klallam, an endangered Salishan language spoken in Washington state
and Vancouver Island; the documentation of the linguistic
characteristics of the Comanche language; and a project at the
University of California, Berkeley that is enhancing access to
linguistic materials that document over 130 endangered American Indian
languages.
Notable NEH-funded television productions that aired on
PBS recently examined key aspects of American history and culture, as
well as the history of other nations. The epic series, The War--a 14-
hour, seven-episode film by noted filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynne
Novick--aired last fall and was watched by nearly 40 million Americans.
The series covered key events of World War II as seen through the eyes
of people in four communities in the United States. The Endowment also
provided funding for a two-hour documentary on Alexander Hamilton,
architect of the modern American economy, champion of a strong central
government, and leader of one of the nation's first political parties.
The prime-time broadcast of this film on PBS was accompanied by an
extensive website with special features that included an interactive
timeline, teacher's guide, and video streaming. Another recent film
NEH-supported, The Rape of Europa, is now being shown through
theatrical release and at film festivals nationally and
internationally. Adapted from a National Book Award-winning history by
Lynne Nicholas, the documentary tells the story of the looting of
European art treasures by the Nazis during World War II and the efforts
to restore these artworks to their rightful owners.
The Endowment also is supporting projects related to the
observance of bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln in 2009. To
date, NEH has invested more than $4.7 million in projects that will be
available to the public during the bicentennial. This includes, for
example, the creation and nationwide circulation of a panel exhibition,
``Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation,'' that
incorporates rare documents and drawings on Lincoln's role in the
emancipation of slaves during the Civil War. The exhibition is
scheduled to travel to more than 100 libraries through early 2010. With
a grant of $345,000 from NEH, the National Trust for Historic
Preservation has created an exhibition and guided tours at the newly
restored Lincoln Cottage in Washington, DC, which was used by Lincoln
and his family as a seasonal retreat from 1862 to 1864.
Building on our support for projects related to our 16th
President, the Endowment has embarked on a long-term initiative to
observe the sesquicentennial of the Civil War in 2011. We have already
supported a number of planning projects, including a broad-based Civil
War Sesquicentennial Project hosted by the Chicago Historical Society;
an exhibition and programs on the war in Missouri; workshops in
Mississippi for community college faculty on ``War, Death, and
Remembrance: The Memory and Commemoration of the American Civil War;
and the preservation of Civil War muster rolls by the Pennsylvania
Heritage Society. In 2009, the interest among cultural organizations to
mount such programs will intensify, and NEH is prepared to invest We
the People funds to support these teaching and learning opportunities.
Today I have only scratched the surface of the many ways in which
the Endowment contributes to the well-being of our nation. We are proud
of NEH's continued role in cultivating the enlightened citizenship that
our national survival requires.
Madame Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you again
for this opportunity to discuss the plans and priorities of the NEH.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mr. Cole.
And I have to say that, being that we are all on the
Education Committee, most of us spend an awful lot of time in
schools. And when we see our young students and how bright and
enthusiastic they are--but we also know that they are into, as
Mr. Kucinich said, their computers and everything else like
that. But when you bring the art into the classroom, it just
certainly brightens their whole world.
And in my former life before I came here, I was a nurse.
And I have gotten very interested in art in dealing with the
mentally ill, on how that changes their world. And we did the
same thing with the children who lost their parents on 9/11. We
brought in an art program back into my district to have them
heal their wounds and certainly express themselves through art.
So I thank you for that.
Mr. Platts?
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Dr. Cole, thanks for your presentation and sharing the
video.
I want to, kind of, echo the chairwoman and especially the
NEH's partnering with teachers and what a critical partnership
that is.
And I know from my own experience, beyond the upbringing of
my mom and dad and their lessons of being engaged in community
service, it was my 8th-grade history teacher, social studies
teacher, that inspired my interest in the political arena and
in public service. And I have known ever since that this very
job I now hold is what I hope to do.
And I think I mentioned when we met recently, my 3rd-grade
son, Tom, when we were looking at the pictures and the George
Washington ones, he just did a term paper in 3rd grade--it is
kind of high-school level from when I was there--on George
Washington.
And your organization, NEH, partnering with their teachers
because of, through them, how you will reach our children in
just such huge numbers.
And you mentioned the number of applications you have. And
I guess that is my one question, is just, if you could expand
on this new Picturing America and the interest. And my
understanding is the outreach to, whether it be urban, suburban
or rural settings, teachers, public schools, charter schools,
private schools, that it is comprehensive. And if you could
expand on that, that would be great.
Mr. Cole. I would be happy to do that.
Let me just talk a little bit about what the chairwoman
said.
I taught, co-taught I should say, in 1st and 4th grade at
Robert Brent Elementary School here. They are a pilot recipient
of Picturing America. We piloted in 1,500 schools. Fifty
percent of those schools were in cities under 25,000.
I really spent a sleepless night before I did that. I said,
how am I going to speak to 1st-graders and 4th-graders? When I
got into that classroom, I was just amazed at the creativity
and enthusiasm and excitement that these pictures generated,
not only on the part of the 1st-and 4th-graders, but on the
part of the teachers. I didn't get a word in edgewise.
This, Picturing America, extends the NEH's reach
exponentially. Hitherto, we have supported an effort that
reached 4,000 libraries. That was our We the People Bookshelf,
which sends high-quality books on American history themes--
courage, freedom, created equal--to public libraries.
We had, in 3 months, over 30,000 applications from public
libraries and schools--schools all over the country and schools
in our major cities. New York City, which was the first large
district to come in, has 1,400 schools. This will reach
1,100,000 students.
We are going to have a second round, which will begin on
August 4th. We hope to reach another 30,000 students.
What I like about this so much is that this is the most
direct way, the way with the fewest barriers, to get our young
people and our library patrons into American history and
culture. And it is especially important, I think, when waves of
new people are coming to this country and they don't have that
good language schools.
And it is not cooked for them, as the teacher said. I love
this video, because you see it at work. It is not cooked for
them. It is a process of discovery.
And the other interesting part of this that I am so
enthusiastic about is that this will introduce kids to art. I
taught in university, a Class 1 research university. Many of my
students, middle-class students, had never been to a museum.
They had no art in their homes.
But just think about the millions of kids who are in inner-
city schools, less privileged schools, who will never get to a
museum, even if a museum is a couple miles away--or rural
areas. This will introduce them not only to their history in
the most direct way, with the fewest barriers, but it will also
give them a sense of the transformative power that art can have
in their lives. And I think that is a great gift.
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
With your indulgence now, we are down to zero time for our
votes, we will run, vote, and come back. So we are in recess.
We will be back.
[Recess.]
Chairwoman McCarthy. The committee will now come to order.
Let us explain what the situation is. They are starting to
do some procedural votes, so we are going to have
interruptions, it seems, continuously. I already have
permission that I will miss the next vote, and then we will
have a recommittal, which will be 15 minutes, 10 minutes of
debate, 15 minutes. So we are hoping that we are going to be
able to get through at least the testimony before I have to
leave.
My colleague has to leave for the 5-minute vote. We are
going to win, so they don't need my vote. [Laughter.]
It is nice being in charge.
Anyway, let us go on.
Mr. Platts. And, Madam Chair, just to express my
appreciation to our witnesses as well and understand the
juggling we are doing. And after this, for the chair, we
probably have about a 45-minute block before the next long
series. But we do appreciate your understanding.
Chairwoman McCarthy. So we should be able to get through
the testimony.
May I introduce next Mr. Gioia. He is responsible for the
agency's national initiatives, a series of programs in
different disciplines that provide excellent and varied arts
experiences for audiences across the country. We look forward
to hearing of this work and other activities at the NEA.
Now it is also my honor to introduce the mayor of Freeport,
New York, William Glacken. The village of Freeport is in my
district, and I was happy to learn that Mayor Glacken attended
the NEA program, which will help improve the quality of life in
his village. I look forward to learning of this program and the
activities that it has spurred.
I now yield again to Mr. Platts to introduce our next
witness.
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am very pleased and proud to introduce a constituent,
long-time friend and former coworker. When I was right out of
college, Jeanne Schmedlen and I had the pleasure to work for
Governor Thornburgh way back when.
Jeanne, it is great to see you, and thanks so much for
being here with us.
Jeanne currently serves as the director of special projects
and chief of protocol for the speaker of the Pennsylvania House
of Representatives and has served as a public servant in state
government for many years, as I referenced.
Jeanne has been a life-long supporter of the arts and
humanities and has volunteered her time as a board member of
several state, national and local performing and visual arts
organizations.
Jeanne is the first Pennsylvanian to be appointed to serve
on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Humanities
Council by two successive governors, importantly, of different
parties. In Pennsylvania politics, that is quite an
accomplishment. Jeanne has also served as chairman of the
board, as well as the development committee chair to the
Pennsylvania Humanities Council. And for her unwavering support
of the arts and humanities, Jeanne was recognized as a
Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania in 2005.
So, Jeanne, thanks so much for being here with us. And I
hopefully am going to get to hear your testimony, as well. So
we appreciate your service in Pennsylvania and your testimony
here today.
Thank you.
Chairwoman McCarthy. The next witness is Katrine Watkins.
Holds two master's degrees, including one in library science.
For the past 10 years, she has been the librarian at Shaler
Area Intermediate School. She is a published poet and has
crafted innovative activities and games for young people. She
will tell us today about the Picturing America in her school.
May I apologize for Mr. Altmire; he is on the floor. It is
his amendment that is up next. So that is why he is not here to
introduce you.
Our final witness today is Mr. Ryan Kelly, retired captain
of the Army National Guard. Today Mr. Kelly will share his
experiences working with the NEA program Operation Homecoming,
which helps troops and their families write about their wartime
experiences. We look forward to learning about this program.
For those of you who have not testified before this
subcommittee, let me explain our lighting system--which I did
in the beginning. For everyone, including members, we are
limited to 5 minutes for our presentation or questioning.
We are ready to go.
STATEMENT OF DANA GIOIA, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE
ARTS
Mr. Gioia. Good morning, Madam Chairman and distinguished
Ranking Member. And good morning, too, to the hardworking staff
members here.
I would like to enter my written testimony into the record
and spend this time, which is the first time we have had the
opportunity to speak before this subcommittee, less formally.
The NEA is a 43-year-old public agency that has made
enormous contributions to American culture. Yet, despite its
many accomplishments, in the 1990s the agency became embroiled
in many controversies that weakened its ability to serve the
American people.
When I arrived at the agency 5\1/2\ years ago, the NEA was
still reeling from the cultural wars. Its morale was low. Its
strategies were uncertain and defensive. Its relations with
Congress were problematic. Its reputation with the press was
mixed, at best. And its credibility with the American people
had been compromised. While the survival of the agency seemed
secure, there was a general consensus among all of our
constituents that our best days were behind us.
I am both happy and relieved to report that none of these
issues face us today. The agency is full of renewed energy and
confidence in its mission. We are backed by the enthusiastic
support of both the arts and the educational communities. The
agency's public credibility has never been higher. And we have
won and, we hope with you, maintain broad bipartisan support
from Congress. The once-skeptical press now recognizes and
celebrates our progress.
In essence, what we have done is to build a positive,
inclusive, national consensus about the importance of
supporting the arts and arts education through the federal
government.
We have accomplished this turnaround by focusing on three
core values that are consistent both with the public nature of
the agency and the nature of art itself. Those values are
artistic excellence, fair and democratic access, and, finally,
a belief in the transformative power of art, both in the lives
of individuals and in communities.
Now, I could talk about each of these qualities forever,
but, in the interest of time, I would like to say how they are
embodied in our very simple mission statement, which is to
bring the best of arts and arts education to all Americans. And
we have been committed to this despite our limited budget, our
limited personnel, and, dare I say, 6 years ago, the widespread
expectations of failure.
We have brought this ambitious mission to reality in many
ways, but most dramatically through the new national
initiatives that reach, today, every corner of the United
States. These programs allow the agency to serve millions of
Americans, especially students, in both cost-effective and
artistically effective, powerful ways. And we have been able to
add these ambitious programs without cutting any of our core,
established programs.
Now, most of the issues facing local arts organizations,
individual artists, are national, even global, issues. And the
local situation is most effectively and efficiently solved by
strategic national action brought to a local level.
The nature and quality of these national initiatives is
perhaps best illustrated through our first one, Shakespeare in
American Communities. This initiative helps fund superb
American theater companies to tour and provide high-school
students with the opportunity to see the Shakespeare play that
they are actually studying, supported by prize-winning, free
educational material provided by the NEA to all teachers in
public, private, religious, and home schools.
To date, the Shakespeare program has allowed 77 companies
to visit over 2,300 municipalities and 3,000 high schools
across all 50 states, as well as military installations,
providing employment for 2,000 actors, bringing 1.3 million
students into a professional production of Shakespeare, and,
perhaps most important, reaching 20 million kids in their
classrooms. It would be hard to overstate the impact of this.
We have similar programs in jazz, in poetry recitation. We
have also done programs such as the Mayors' Institute and
Operation Homecoming that will be discussed by other witnesses.
And our American Masterpieces program tours visual, dance,
theater and music programs and has created the largest literary
program in the United States.
And each of these things has been done in partnership with
regional arts organizations, local arts organizations,
individual arts organizations, mayors' offices, libraries, and
schools.
And during these 5 years, we have also been able to address
what I think was a major and real issue with the Endowment: a
perceived elitism, because we did not serve almost 20 percent
of the United States, representing 80 million people in 125
congressional districts. I am happy to report that we now reach
every community in the United States and have had, for the last
5 years, a grant in every congressional district serving these
people.
I look forward to answering any of your inquiries.
[The statement of Mr. Gioia follows:]
Prepared Statement of Dana Gioia, Chairman, National Endowment for the
Arts
Madame Chairwoman and Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: I
am honored to appear before the committee to report on the current
state of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and provide you with
information on our programs and national initiatives.
Over the last six years, the National Endowment for the Arts has
demonstrated what the agency can accomplish with a compelling vision
and exemplary performance. There is a new consensus in Washington and
across the nation that the National Endowment for the Arts makes a
singular contribution to the lives of all Americans. We do this by
fostering artistic excellence and bringing the best of the arts and
arts education to all Americans. I am proud to say that the agency is
now operating with high artistic standards, inclusive partnerships,
improved efficiency, and unprecedented democratic reach.
I. Background
The Current State of the Arts in America
The arts are a reflection of America's identity and civilization--
dynamic, diverse and original. America's artistic achievements
encompass traditional fields like literature, concert music, painting,
theater, and design, and pioneering efforts in newer forms such as
jazz, blues, film, modern dance and musical theater. Over the past
century, no other nation has surpassed the United States in its
creative achievements--from the high arts to folk and popular arts. And
it is not an accident that there is a deep connection between creative
genius in the arts and our nation's success in science, business and
technology.
In other ways, however, we are experiencing an impoverishment of
American culture. Fifty years ago, along with Mickey Mantle, Willie
Mays, and Sandy Koufax, most Americans could have named, at the least,
Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Arthur Miller, Thornton Wilder, Georgia
O'Keeffe, Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Not to mention scientists and thinkers like Linus Pauling, Jonas Salk,
Rachel Carson, and Margaret Mead.
Americans were not smarter then, but American culture was. Even the
mass media placed a greater emphasis on presenting a broad range of
human achievement. Televised variety programs like the Ed Sullivan
Show, featured classical musicians like Jascha Heifetz and Arthur
Rubinstein, opera singers like Robert Merrill and Anna Moffo and jazz
greats like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. The same was true of
literature. Robert Frost, John Steinbeck, Lillian Hellman and James
Baldwin were featured on general-interest television shows. All of
these people were famous to the average American--because the culture
considered them important. Today, no citizen would encounter that range
of arts and ideas in the popular culture. Almost everything in our
national culture, even the news, has been reduced to entertainment, or
altogether eliminated.
This loss of recognition for artists and thinkers has impoverished
our culture in innumerable ways. Our children are not presented with
role models who lead a successful and meaningful life who are not
denominated by money or fame. Adult life begins in a child's
imagination and we have relinquished that imagination to the
marketplace.
The role of culture must go beyond economics. Culture should help
us know what is beyond price and what does not belong in the
marketplace--providing some cogent view of the good life beyond mass
accumulation. In this respect, our culture is failing us.
Arts Education
There is only one social force in America potentially large and
strong enough to counterbalance this commercialization of cultural
values--our educational system. At one time the majority of public high
schools in this country provided a music program with choir and band,
sometimes a jazz band, or even an orchestra. High schools offered a
drama program, sometimes with dance instruction. And there were writing
opportunities in the school paper and literary magazines, as well as
studio art training.
We are sorry to note that these programs are no longer widely
available. This once visionary and democratic system has been almost
entirely dismantled by well-meaning but myopic school boards, county
commissioners and state officials. Art has become an expendable luxury,
and 50 million students have paid the price. Today a child's access to
arts education is largely a function of his or her parents' income.
The purpose of arts education is not to produce artists, though may
be a byproduct. The real purpose of arts education is to create
complete human beings capable of leading successful and productive
lives in a free society.
This is not happening now in American schools. The situation is a
cultural and educational disaster with huge and alarming economic
consequences. If the U.S. is to compete effectively in the new global
marketplace, it is not going to succeed through cheap labor or cheap
raw materials, nor even the free flow of capital or a streamlined
industrial base. To compete successfully, this country needs
creativity, ingenuity and innovation.
Civic Engagement
Marcus Aurelius believed that the course of wisdom consisted of
learning to trade easy pleasures for more complex and challenging ones.
Our culture is trading off the challenging pleasures of art for the
easy comforts of entertainment. And that is exactly what is happening--
not just in the media, but in our schools and in civic life.
Entertainment promises us a predictable pleasure--humor, thrills,
emotional titillation or even the odd delight of being vicariously
terrified. It exploits and manipulates who we are rather than
challenging us with a vision of who we might become.
Recent studies conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, in
partnership with the U.S. Census, have found that our country is
dividing into two distinct behavioral groups. One group spends most of
its free time sitting at home as passive consumers of electronic
entertainment. The other group also uses and enjoys the new technology,
but these individuals balance it with a broader range of activities.
They go out--to exercise, play sports, volunteer and do charity work at
about three times the level of the first group. What is the defining
difference between passive and active citizens? It is not income,
geography or even education. It is whether or not they read for
pleasure and participate in the arts. These cultural activities seem to
awaken a heightened sense of individual awareness and social
responsibility.
Today, there is a growing consensus across the country that
something must be done to fill the vacuum created in many lives with
the dominance of the commercial mass media and entertainment, and the
loss of arts education in our schools. The mission of the National
Endowment for the Arts is to provide national leadership to encourage
and preserve excellent art; to help make it available to all Americans,
especially those who traditionally have not had access to it because of
economic and geographic barriers; and to connect and engage children
and youth with America's distinguished artistic legacy.
II. NEA Goals and Accomplishments
Over the last six years, the National Endowment for the Arts has
refocused its programs to emphasize excellence and service to the
American people. We have piloted and launched successful new approaches
to public outreach and retooled our capacity to develop and deliver
programs that celebrate the best of our culture.
Today, we celebrate America's great artists as recipients of NEA
Jazz Masters, NEA National Heritage Fellows, National Opera Honors
recipients, and National Medal of Arts awards--not only with a one-time
award, but also with national events broadcast on television and radio.
We showcase the contributions of Jazz, Shakespeare and poetry in
classrooms using our multi-media educational toolkits provided free to
middle and high school teachers. And we provide exemplary materials and
programming that make it possible for communities and generations to
come together to read of a literary masterpiece.
The Arts Endowment's programs now reach into every corner of our
nation--bringing the best of the arts and arts education to the
broadest and most varied audiences possible.
NEA grants are producing economic benefits throughout the country
by nurturing local arts groups that enhance local economies. With each
dollar awarded by the NEA generating on average $6-$7 dollars from
other sources, the NEA is triggering an investment of approximately
$600 million for the arts from private donors and non-federal sources.
We welcome this opportunity to showcase the following programs and
national initiatives that exemplify NEA's effort to serve the American
people through commitment to excellence, broad geographic reach, and
arts education.
Challenge America: Reaching Every Community
The creation of the Challenge America program in 2001 marked a
turning point in NEA history by challenging the NEA to broaden its
service to Americans outside established cultural centers. The
Challenge America program enabled the NEA to broaden the geographic
distribution of grants; although initially, it failed to fully realize
its goals of reaching the entire nation. In an average year, NEA direct
grants collectively reached only about three quarters of the United
States (as measured by Congressional districts). Consequently, areas of
the nation representing more than 70 million citizens received limited
direct service from the agency.
Five years ago, we set the goal of awarding at least one direct
grant to a deserving arts organization in every Congressional district
in the United States. In fact, we even changed the name of the program
from Challenge America to Challenge America: Reaching Every Community.
More than just a name, this change reflected a renewed commitment to
public service and outreach. In 2005, in 2006, and again in 2007, the
NEA realized 100% coverage with direct grants awarded in all 435
districts. In 2008, the NEA will again achieve its 100% coverage goal.
The Arts Endowment considers the new Challenge America program one of
its central achievements.
Partnerships
Everything the NEA does it does in partnership. This is most
obvious in the agency's basic grant matching requirements whereby the
NEA leverages federal dollars by achieving private sector matches. Less
evident but equally important this partnership strategy strengthens
local arts organizations and builds communities. NEA's project grants
develop partnerships in a direct way by encouraging local investment in
arts organizations. Our national initiatives create partnerships of
enormous range and diversity--uniting government, non-profit, and
private sector organizations in support of arts and arts education
across the nation.
A Big Read grant, for example, originates from the Arts Endowment
but is administered by Arts Midwest, a regional arts organization. Each
grant is then awarded to a local applicant (usually a library, museum,
or literary organization) which uses it to build local partnerships
that can easily involve more than a hundred organizations, including
schools, newspapers, public radio and television stations, cultural
institutions, chambers of commerce, private business, and mayors'
offices. Multiply these local networks across hundreds of Big Read
cities in all 50 states, and one finds tens of thousands of partners
all focused on celebrating literature. Such programs help realize the
initial vision of the NEA by its founders 43 years ago to be a catalyst
of American creativity in every corner of the nation.
III. National Initiatives
American Masterpieces
Many Americans are unfamiliar with the significant artistic and
cultural achievements of our nation. They have few opportunities in
school or daily life to learn about the arts or acquire skills to
appreciate or participate in them. To address this challenge, the Arts
Endowment established American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of
Artistic Genius. It vividly embodies the goals of excellence and
outreach by featuring educational programs along with presentations of
artistic works themselves.
Now in its fourth year, American Masterpieces has added chamber
music and presenting to visual arts, dance, choral music, musical
theater, and literature. American Masterpieces grants have enabled 31
museums in 16 states to tour exhibitions to 142 cities across the
nation, reaching an estimated audience of 12 million. Choral music
grants have supported the creation of eight regional festivals
celebrating American choral music in 12 states and the District of
Columbia. Fifty-four grants are helping dance companies and college
dance programs revive and tour American choreographic masterpieces. In
musical theater, 13 theater companies in 18 states are reviving and
touring significant American musicals. All these programs are reaching
underserved rural and urban communities and introducing new generations
to their rich artistic legacy.
The Big Read
In November 2007, the NEA followed its widely discussed 2004 report
Reading at Risk with a comprehensive new study To Read or Not to Read:
A Question of National Consequence. This new report presents the
results of governmental and private sector studies on reading. The data
in To Read or Not To Read paints a simple, yet sad, portrait of reading
in America today--Americans, especially teenagers and young adults, are
reading less. Because they read less, they do not read as well. This
decline in reading ability has a measurably negative impact on their
educational, economic, personal, and civic lives and our nation's
future.
Challenged to stem the decline in reading, the NEA has expanded the
literary component of American Masterpieces called The Big Read. With
Mrs. Laura Bush as its honorary chair, the Endowment is uniting
communities and generations through the reading and discussion of a
common book. To make The Big Read work, communities are creating new
partnerships involving schools, libraries, literary centers, arts
councils, dance and theater companies, symphony orchestras, museums,
and television and radio stations, as well as mayors' offices and
chambers of commerce--all with the common goal of broadening the
reading of quality literature in every segment of the community.
In 2008, The Big Read will provide grants to cities, large and
small, across all 50 states. The goal is to reach a total of 400
cities, touching every U.S. Congressional district. Widely covered in
the press, The Big Read has become a national symbol of the importance
of reading in a free society.
Poetry Out Loud
Meanwhile, the NEA's high school poetry recitation contest, Poetry
Out Loud, is currently completing its third national year in 2008.
Cosponsored by the state arts agencies, this highly popular program
reaches all fifty states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District
of Columbia. Since it began as a pilot program in 2005, nearly 450,000
students have entered the competition. This program combines literary
education and practical training in public speaking with the thrill of
competition.
One unexpected development in Poetry Out Loud has been its enormous
popularity with the press, which often covers this arts program as if
it were local sports. The NEA takes special pride in seeing young arts
participants recognized publicly in their own communities on a par with
local star athletes.
Shakespeare in American Communities
The NEA's Shakespeare program is now in its fifth year with
Shakespeare for a New Generation, a program that focuses on providing
American students an opportunity to see a live professional performance
of Shakespeare. By the end of 2008, some 175 grants will have been
awarded to 77 theater companies to bring productions of Shakespeare to
more than 2,300 communities in mostly small and mid-sized cities,
including18 military bases. Nearly 2,000 actors have performed for 1.2
million students attending 3,600 middle and high schools.
The award-winning NEA Shakespeare in American Communities classroom
toolkit has now been distributed free to 55,000 schools (32% of which
are located in rural communities) reaching 20 million students. The
NEA's Shakespeare program has reached deeply into all 50 states with an
overwhelmingly positive response from teachers and students alike.
NEA Jazz in the Schools
The Arts Endowment's long-standing support of jazz was broadened in
2006 with the NEA Jazz in the Schools program, an engaging and
substantive introduction to jazz created for high schools. Developed
with Jazz at Lincoln Center, an academic tool-kit, made available in
January 2006, proved so popular that every kit was quickly requested by
teachers across the U.S. The NEA's recent budget increase allowed us to
create more kits to meet thousands of unfilled backorders. The NEA Jazz
in the Schools kit is now used by over 11,000 teachers in 8,100 schools
across all fifty states.
Used by teachers during Black History Month, as well as throughout
the year, the program reaches some 5.6 million students, introducing
students to jazz as a distinctively American art form as well as a
powerful and positive force in African-American social history. This
educational program was added while the agency maintained its NEA Jazz
Masters touring, radio, and awards programs.
Operation Homecoming and Other Programs for the Military
The NEA concluded the first phase of its historic Operation
Homecoming program last year. Supported by The Boeing Company, the
program brought 55 writing workshops to U.S. military bases in five
countries, involving 6,000 troops and their spouses. The program
climaxed with the publication of wartime writing by U.S. troops in The
New Yorker and a volume by Random House, as well as the production of
two films, one of which became a finalist for the 2008 Academy Award
for best full-length documentary.
The program was so meaningful to U.S. troops that we initiated a
second phase focusing on the servicemen and servicewomen most deeply
affected by the war. Phase II of Operation Homecoming will sponsor
extended writing workshops led by noted American authors in 25 Veterans
Administration and Department of Defense medical facilities as well as
V.A. centers across the nation.
International Initiatives
When I came to the NEA in 2003, I was dismayed to learn how little
was done in international cultural exchange. Over the past few years,
the NEA has focused on developing several programs that showcase
America's artistic creativity and excellence abroad. We now provide
assistance to U.S. music and dance ensembles invited to perform in
international festivals, and we have joined with the Open World
Leadership Program to support short-term residencies for Russian
artists and arts administrators with U.S. arts groups.
As a partner in the State Department's Global Cultural Initiative
launched in 2006, the NEA has begun a series of international literary
exchanges with Russia, Mexico, Egypt, Pakistan, and other nations. The
State Department has recognized the potential of The Big Read to serve
as an effective vehicle for cultural diplomacy. Big Read programs have
now been initiated as mutual cultural exchanges between the U.S. and
Russia, Egypt, and Mexico. American novels are featured in civic
reading programs in those nations while classics of Russian, Egyptian,
and Mexican fiction have become part of the U.S. domestic program.
These bilateral literary programs also provide the basis for
unprecedented exchanges as groups of writers, teachers, and librarians
visit the host cities in each nation.
IV. Looking to the Future
As we look to the future, at least two major challenges face the
NEA and the citizens it serves. The first is the diminished state of
arts education in the nation's schools. There is now an entire
generation of young Americans for whom the arts have not played a
significant role in their intellectual and personal development. This
trend is not merely a cultural matter but a social and economic one. As
these young men and women enter the new global economy of the twenty-
first century, many of them will not have had opportunities to develop
the skills of innovation and creativity they need to succeed. American
schools need help to better realize and achieve the full human
potential of their students. While we are proud of our current arts
education programs, we are also deeply conscious of the millions of
students, especially in the earlier grades, whom we do not reach at
all.
The second challenge speaks to an even broader issue, namely
America's place in the world. The United States needs to expand its
cultural exchanges with other nations. This investment in cultural
diplomacy would not only benefit American artists by providing them
with greater opportunities, but more important, it would help the
nation itself more effectively communicate with the rest of the world
in ways that transcend political and economic issues. The arts have the
potential to represent the best aspects of a free and diverse democracy
in a way that speaks to the hearts and minds of people everywhere. It
would be an enormous missed opportunity if the United States did not
use the creativity of its own people in addressing the rest of the
planet.
The arts offer us an irreplaceable way of understanding and
expressing the world--equal to but distinct from scientific and
conceptual methods. Art addresses us in the fullness of our being--
simultaneously speaking to our intellect, emotions, intuition,
imagination, memory and physical senses. There are some truths about
life that can be ex pressed only as stories or songs or images. Art
delights, instructs, consoles. It educates our emotions. And it
remembers. Art awakens, enlarges, refines and restores our humanity.
As we contemplate the future of the National Endowment for the
Arts, we remain confident in the continuing relevance of our mission to
bring the best of the arts--new and established--to all Americans. The
Arts Endowment's goal is to enrich the civic life of the nation by
making the fruits of creativity truly available throughout the United
States. In a dynamic nation with a growing and diverse population, this
goal will remain a constant challenge: a great nation deserves great
art.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
Next, Mayor Glacken?
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM F. GLACKEN, MAYOR
Mr. Glacken. Madam Chair, Ranking Minority Member and
members of the subcommittee, I thank you for the opportunity to
address the House of Representatives' Committee on Education
and Labor Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities
hearing on the National Endowment for the Arts and the National
Endowment for the Humanities, scheduled for this morning, May
8th.
I have been the mayor of the incorporated village of
Freeport, New York, a highly culturally diverse community of
44,000, situated on the south shore of Long Island,
approximately 29 miles east of Manhattan, since 1997.
In December of 2006, I had the privilege of attending the
Northeast Mayors' Institute on City Design, held at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. The institute is a program of the United States
Conference of Mayors and the National Endowment for the Arts
with collaborating universities, in this case MIT.
And each organization provided personnel who actively
participated in the conference. The NEA's design director at
that time, Jeff Speck, was one of the most active and valuable
members of the resource team.
The Mayors' Institute program provides a very unusual
opportunity for a small number of elected officials, academic
experts and design professionals to spend time together,
focusing on and applying their expertise to real-world problems
that affect the future of the communities that each mayor
represents.
At MIT, I was one of eight mayors participating. One of the
unique elements of the program is that mayors are asked to
attend without their planning or other supporting staff and to
present in their own words the specific design or planning
problem facing their communities. Then the problem is opened up
to analysis and feedback, not only from the resource team
professionals, but especially from the other mayors, who speak
the same language and understand the challenges and
opportunities of real-world governance as no one else can.
The case history sessions are alternated with presentations
by the resource team on general aspects of urban design. These
presentations were a valuable part of the whole experience and
reinforced the message that community design is a critically
important process and that mayors need to be directly involved.
When my turn came, I presented the problem of revitalizing
Freeport's North Main Street corridor, a one-mile corridor
running north from the Long Island railroad station in downtown
Freeport, which has resisted positive change for decades and
which remains the worst-looking, most run-down portion of what
is otherwise an attractive, stable, middle-class, residential
community.
In the course of the 3-day conference, an intense
examination of the problem by all of the participants pointed
the way to some very positive solutions, which I found highly
encouraging. In fact, at one point during the conference, one
of the participants remarked, in referring to the North Main
Street corridor, ``What you have here, Mayor Glacken, is a gold
mine.''
I left the conference feeling both enthusiastic and greatly
encouraged, and with a focus on implementing the recommendation
that we pursue a full, comprehensive plan for the corridor and
develop the zoning changes that would be needed to make real
change.
The process of assembling the necessary funding took over a
year, but with our own resources from the Community Development
Block Grant program, assistance from Nassau County, and a
special appropriation obtained through the efforts of
Congresswoman McCarthy and Senators Schumer and Clinton, we are
now in a position to hire a smart-growth planning firm with a
regional or national reputation to complete the North Main
Street corridor plan, including a form-based zoning code, which
the village of Freeport will adopt some time next year.
I am sure that every mayor in this country could tell you
about the increasing limitations we have on the resources
available to apply to the challenges we face. There is never
enough time or money to do all that needs to be addressed.
At the Mayors' Institute, there was time to learn from
outstanding professionals and to discuss common problems with
fellow mayors. What a luxury that seemed during the weekend,
and what a positive outcome it is now producing for Freeport.
Planning is the key to the successful revitalization of
aging downtowns across this country, because great places don't
happen by accident. The active participation and funding of
agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts ensure
that the Mayors' Institute program remains a rich, multifaceted
experience, one that includes the elements of beauty and
delight, along with utility and functionality.
I urge you to support NEA's continued involvement in this
and other programs that have a real impact on communities like
mine across the country.
Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Glacken follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. William F. Glacken, Mayor, Freeport, NY
Madame Chair, Ranking Minority Member and Members of the
Subcommittee: I thank you for the opportunity to address the House of
Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor Subcommittee on
Healthy Families and Communities Hearing on the National Endowment for
the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, scheduled for
this morning, May 8th. I have been the Mayor of the Incorporated
Village of Freeport, New York, a highly culturally diverse community of
44,000 situated on the south shore of Long Island, approximately
twenty-nine (29) miles east of Manhattan, since 1997. In December 2006,
I had the privilege of attending the Northeast Mayors' Institute for
City Design, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute is a program of the United
States Conference of Mayors and the National Endowment for the Arts
with collaborating universities (in this case MIT), and each
organization provided personnel who actively participated in the
conference. The NEA's Design Director at that time, Jeff Speck, was one
of the most active and valuable members of the resource team.
The Mayors' Institute program provides a very unusual opportunity
for a small number of elected officials, academic experts, and design
professionals to spend time together focusing on, and applying their
expertise to, real world problems that affect the future of the
communities that each Mayor represents. At MIT, I was one of eight
Mayors participating. One of the unique elements of the program is that
Mayors are asked to attend without their planning or other supporting
staff, and to present in their own words the specific design or
planning problem facing their communities. Then the problem is opened
up to analysis and feedback, not only from the resource team
professionals, but especially from the other Mayors, who speak the same
language and understand the challenges and opportunities of real world
governance as no one else can. The case history sessions are alternated
with presentations by the resource team on general aspects of urban
design. These presentations were a valuable part of the whole
experience, and reinforced the message that community design is a
critically important process, and that Mayors need to be directly
involved.
When my turn came, I presented the problem of revitalizing
Freeport's North Main Street Corridor, a one-mile corridor running
north from the Long Island Rail Road station in downtown Freeport,
which has resisted positive change for decades, and which remains the
worst looking, most run-down portion of what is otherwise an
attractive, stable, middle class residential community. In the course
of the three-day conference, an intense examination of the problem by
all of the participants pointed the way to some very positive
solutions, which I found highly encouraging. In fact, at one point
during the conference, one of the participants remarked, in referring
to the North Main Street Corridor, ``What you have here, Mayor Glacken,
is a goldmine!''
I left the conference feeling both enthusiastic and greatly
encouraged, and with a focus on implementing the recommendation that we
pursue a full comprehensive plan for the corridor and develop the
zoning changes that would be needed to make real change.
The process of assembling the necessary funding took over a year,
but with our own resources from the CDBG program, assistance from
Nassau County and a special appropriation obtained through the efforts
of Congresswoman McCarthy and Senators Schumer and Clinton, we are now
in a position to hire a smart-growth planning firm with a regional or
national reputation to complete the North Main Street Corridor plan,
including a form-based zoning code, which the Village of Freeport will
adopt some time next year.
I am sure that every Mayor in this country could tell you about the
increasing limitations we have on the resources available to apply to
the challenges we face. There is never enough time or money to do all
that needs to be addressed. At the Mayors' Institute, there was time to
learn from outstanding professionals, and to discuss common problems
with fellow Mayors. What a luxury that seemed during the weekend, and
what a positive outcome it is now producing for Freeport.
Planning is the key to the successful revitalization of aging
downtowns across this Country, because great places don't happen by
accident. The active participation and funding of agencies such as the
National Endowment for the Arts, ensure that the Mayors' Institute
program remains a rich, multi-faceted experience, one that includes the
elements of beauty and delight along with utility and functionality. I
urge you to support NEA's continued involvement in this and other
programs that have real impact on communities like mine across the
country. Thank you.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mayor.
Ms. Schmedlen?
STATEMENT OF JEANNE H. SCHMEDLEN, DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS
AND CHIEF OF PROTOCOL OFFICE, SPEAKER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES
Ms. Schmedlen. Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Congressman, for asking me to be here today.
Appreciate it.
In delivering the Nancy Hanks Lecture in March, modern
philosopher Daniel Pink spoke of society's required shift to
creativity and innovation for the United States of America to
remain a leader in the new global economy.
Bob Lynch of Americans for the Arts, in recent testimony,
said that, ``Art is a pillar of creativity and innovation.''
So, too, are the humanities.
Together, the arts and humanities have become our 21st-
century keystone for the future in our economy, in education,
and enlightenment.
I am Jeanne Schmedlen, as Congressman Platts said. I am
director of special projects and chief of protocol for the
speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Dennis M.
O'Brien. Previously, I have held senior staff positions with
two speakers, a first lady, and a governor. And I think I know
the commonwealth well.
I am a life-long supporter of the arts and the humanities.
And I greatly value the contributions of the National
Endowments to the well-being of Pennsylvania over the past 40
years.
The Endowments elevate, educate and stimulate like no other
federal agencies. And they do this through direct grants and,
more importantly, through support of their state counterparts.
Today I would like to talk about how our partnerships with
the Endowments allow us to reach some of whom I consider
underserved populations in Pennsylvania, those living in the
vast regions between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and in our
northern and southern tiers.
As the former chair of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council,
I know the value of state councils in extending the reach of
the humanities to underserved populations. Across the country,
councils use their funding from the NEH's federal-state
partnership to do this. And this means starting and developing
relationships that last over many years, and building the
capacity of rural organizations to do high-quality programming,
connect better to their surrounding communities, and expand
public participation in the humanities.
In Pennsylvania, I have seen the council devote enormous
staff effort to reach into every county in the commonwealth.
And we have 67 counties. Just last December, in making
decisions on grants, we were delighted that the application
judged to be the highest quality was from the Northern Tier
Cultural Alliance. It was for ``2008: The Year of the Barn,''
and it was a project on the importance of agriculture in the
heritage and culture of Pennsylvania's north country.
We shaped our speakers bureau, Commonwealth Speakers, to be
the strongest in presentations rooted in state heritage and the
arts and made this a 67-county program every year.
One of our speakers gave a presentation in remote Cameron
County on ``Bagpipes: A Historical Perspective.'' Sixty people
showed up, and he said, ``As always, rural areas are starving
for more cultural programs. An audience such as this was rather
large for such a small community, which indicates the need.''
In the 19th Congressional District, Congressman Platts's
district, where I live, which serves Adams, Cumberland and York
Counties, I know that there has been an abundance of
Commonwealth Speaker presentations. In the 2-year program
between 2006 and 2007, there were 31.
The PHC also has forged a splendid partnership with the
Pennsylvania General Assembly. And together, we annually host
the Speaker's Millennium Lecture at the Capitol, just across
the river from Cumberland County.
Most of our live audience for the free public lecture by
prominent historians, academics and authors come from the 19th
District, and our Pennsylvania Cable Network broadcasts the
lecture far and wide across the state, reaching millions in
rural areas as well as urban. Speakers have included historian
David McCullough and author John Updike.
The PHC systematically promotes humanities programs to
county historical societies in rural counties and has achieved
amazing results there. I would like to refer to my written
testimony for other examples of arts and humanities programs in
rural areas.
And I would just like to conclude--here we are. I would
like to repeat my opening statement: The arts and humanities
truly are our keystone for the future. The ingenuity of the
mind cannot be computerized or outsourced. The power to create
and learn is in all of us. And through every citizen's
continued access to arts and humanities programs, we can
cultivate and unleash the innovation and creative spirit that
will sustain our country's leadership and enrich and enhance
our lives through the 21st century and beyond.
I am sorry I went so long, ma'am.
[The statement of Ms. Schmedlen follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jeanne H. Schmedlen, Board Member and Former
Chair, Pennsylvania Humanities Council; Former Speaker's
Representative, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: In delivering the
Nancy Hanks Lecture in March, modern philosopher Daniel Pink spoke of
society's absolutely required shift to creativity and innovation for
the United States of America to remain a leader in the new global
economy. Bob Lynch of Americans for the Arts, in recent testimony said
that ``art is a pillar of creativity and innovation.'' So are the
humanities. Together, the arts and humanities have become our 21st
century keystone for the future, in our economy, in education, in
enlightenment.
I am Jeanne Schmedlen, Director of Special Projects and Chief of
Protocol for the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,
Dennis M. O'Brien. Previously, I held senior staff positions with two
Speakers, a First Lady and a Governor. I know the Commonwealth well, I
am a lifelong supporter of the arts and humanities and I greatly value
the contributions of the National Endowments to the well-being of
Pennsylvania over the past forty-plus years. The endowments elevate,
educate and stimulate like no other federal agencies and they do this
through direct grants and, more importantly, through support of their
state counterparts. Today I will talk about how our partnerships with
the endowments allow us to reach some of whom I consider underserved
populations in Pennsylvania--those living in the vast region between
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and in our northern and southern tiers.
As former chair of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, I know the
value of the state councils in extending the reach of the humanities to
underserved populations. Across the country, councils use their funding
from the NEH's Federal-State Partnership to do this. And this means
starting and developing relationships that last over many years, and
building the capacity of rural organizations to do high quality
programming, connect better to their surrounding communities and expand
public participation in the humanities.
In Pennsylvania, I have seen the council devote enormous staff
effort to reach into every county in the Commonwealth, and there are
67. Just last December, in making decisions on grants, we were
delighted that the application judged to be the highest quality was
from the Northern Tier Cultural Alliance for ``2008: The Year of the
Barn,'' a project on the importance of agriculture in the heritage and
culture of Pennsylvania's north country.
We shaped our speakers bureau, Commonwealth Speakers, to be
strongest in presentations rooted in state heritage and the arts and
made this a 67-county program almost every year.
One of our speakers, Paul Ferhrenbach, gave a presentation in
remote Cameron County on ``Bagpipes: A Historical Perspective.'' Sixty
people showed up. He told us: ``As always, rural areas are starving for
more cultural programs. An audience such as this was rather large for
such a small community--which indicates this need.''
In the 19th Congressional district, where I live, which includes
Adams, Cumberland and York counties, I know that there has been an
abundance of Commonwealth Speaker presentations. In the two-year
program period of 2006-2007, there were 31. The PHC also has forged a
splendid partnership with the Pennsylvania General Assembly and
together, we annually host the Speaker's Millennium Lecture at the
Capitol, just across the river from Cumberland County. Most of our live
audience for the free public lecture by prominent historians, academics
and authors come from the 19th district and our Pennsylvania Cable
Network (PCN) sends the lecture far and wide across the state, reaching
millions more. We hosted John Updike and David McCullough for these
lectures, among others.
The PHC systematically promotes humanities programming to county
historical societies in rural counties and has achieved amazing results
there with groups such as the Warren Historical Society and the
Jefferson County Historical Society, variously embracing Native
American history, family histories, the heyday of the timber industry,
the Depression, World War II and the New Deal. Empowered by the
council's support, the Jefferson County group also achieved a major
direct grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The PHC also formed a partnership with the state arts council to
expand arts-related programming into rural areas. The council linked
art to heritage and this had strong appeal in rural regions. The PHC
awarded a grant to the Community Education Council of Elk and Cameron
Counties for ``Young Mark Twain,'' a presentation by the Pittsburgh
Civic Light Opera's Gallery of Heroes program. The presentation at five
elementary schools meant, for many children in this remote rural area,
the first time that they had seen a performance by a professional
theater company.
The council has worked intensively with public libraries in rural
districts to expand their programming for adult and inter-generational
audiences, especially in literature, through its book discussion
series, Read About It! Since 2000 41% of these discussions have been in
rural counties.
The council also has developed special projects with NEH funds, and
then leveraged its success to raise private money for specifically
rural projects. An example is ``Technology and Community,'' developed
with NEH funds and then expanded with a grant from the Heinz
Endowments, and, later, ``Schools and Communities,'' a public
engagement project for schools in southwestern Pennsylvania, also
funded by the Heinz Endowments.
In addition, the council has taken the initiative to shape the
behavior of large institutions located in rural areas, in order to make
them more responsive to local needs. An outstanding example of this is
the partnership with the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at Penn
State. Together, we developed ``Public Humanities Scholars'' to match
Penn State faculty from its main and branch campuses with local
organizations to both plan and conduct public programs in16 mostly
rural counties.
I greatly value my close association with the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts (PCA). Here I have seen a deep commitment to outreach to
previously underserved regions which has been greatly expanded during
recent administrations.
Just last month, 20 Pennsylvania communities across the
Commonwealth participated in PCA's American Masterpieces, a four-week
tour of the works of American master choreographer and Pennsylvania
native Paul Taylor's dance companies. Students in small cities across
the state gained an unsurpassable experience and creative opportunity
in their own Pennsylvania hometowns that would not have been available
to them otherwise.
Federal arts funding also flows to benefit Pennsylvania's school
students and help build the workforce of the future through the PCA's
Arts in Education Partnership. NEA funding in partnership with state
dollars assists hundreds of Pennsylvania's schools to support
curriculum, enrich the important work of art educators and provide
additional opportunities for students to explore and develop their
creative abilities.
Other arts education projects in previously underserved regions
undertaken by the PCA include:
Aliquippa Middle School in Beaver County, where 7th and 8th grade
students worked with textile artist Cathleen Richardson Bailey on a
collaborative quilt project, ``From Our Hands,'' designed to stimulate
creativity, cognizant and tactile abilities.
Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 in the Lehigh Valley's RESOLVE
program hosted a residency by ensemble members of Touchstone Theatre.
RESOLVE serves 12 school districts in Monroe and Northampton counties
and is part of the intermediate unit's work with students from Partial
Hospitalization Program sites and Emotional Support program classrooms.
A sculpture garden was created by an artists and students at the
Bentworth Elementary School in rural Bentlyville.
South Brandywine Middle School in Coatesville developed a residency
with The People's Light & Theatre Company as part of their social
studies curriculum in exploring Underground Railroad history with 8th
grade students.
As a result of its groundbreaking work with 17 Bradford-Tioga Head
Start centers across Pennsylvania's north central region, the rural
Northern Tier Partnership for Arts in Education/Bradford County
Regional Arts Council was named one of three international models for
its Learning Communications Skills through the Arts program in early
education.
Yet another outstanding example of educational excellence fostered
by federal and state arts dollars took place just yesterday in the
Chamber of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives during our state's
annual Arts in Education Day celebration. Pennsylvania State Poetry Out
Loud Champion, Francesca Fiore, a West Chester Area School District
student recited a poem to enthusiastic response from the House members.
Her performance was carried ``live'' across the state by PCN, to
communities large and small.
The arts and humanities truly are our keystone for the future. The
ingenuity of the mind can not be computerized or outsourced. The power
to create and learn is in all of us and through every citizen's
continued access to arts and humanities programs we can cultivate and
unleash the innovation and creation that will sustain our country's
leadership and enrich and enhance our lives through the 21st century
and beyond.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. It is quite all right. Thank you very
much.
Ms. Watkins?
STATEMENT OF KATRINE WATKINS, LIBRARIAN, SHALER AREA
INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
Ms. Watkins. Good morning.
Nine hundred 8th-and 9th-graders attend Shaler Area
Intermediate School in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, a community
bordering on Pittsburgh. On a cold and snowy day this past
January, we unpacked the Picturing America posters. We oohed
and aahed, and then made John J. Audubon's ``American
Flamingo'' the unofficial mascot of our school library.
Since then, the Picturing America grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities has truly enriched our lives. The
Picturing America posters dovetail perfectly with our American
Cultures courses. This semester, we have used the poster images
in research projects on topics such as the Industrial
Revolution, Pennsylvania Folk Art, and the Jazz Age, as well as
for a display in our library during February for Black History
Month.
Art teachers have also used the Picturing America posters
to highlight the American art in our district curriculum,
especially those artists with a regional connection, such as
Mary Cassatt and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Both the Picturing America Web site and the teachers'
resource book have been described by our staff as ``visually
and logically organized, allowing quick access to background
information, activities and meaningful questions.''
In the coming year, we hope to promote the Picturing
America program beyond our school. Our students' parents will
be able to view a month-long display of the posters in our
school district's administrative offices.
We also plan, as an outreach to our community this
November, to invite veterans who are honored at an annual
celebration at our school to visit the Picturing America
exhibit and speak with students who will volunteer as experts
about the images on display.
Valuable as the Picturing America posters are to teaching
our curriculum, however, perhaps their greatest worth is their
limitless potential to teach us all--students, staff and
parents--about ourselves. Yes, the posters may be checked out
of the library and used to broaden students' knowledge of a
particular place and time. But even when they are displayed on
an easel, for no reason other than their power as works of art,
they change our lives.
An industrial arts teacher, looking at the desolation of
Edward Hopper's ``House by the Railroad,'' asked me, ``Do you
know this place?'' A lanky 14-year-old 8th-grade boy does a
double-take when he walks past the photo of Frank Lloyd
Wright's inventive masterpiece, ``Fallingwater.'' He asks,
``How do you do that?''
Last week I pulled out the photo of the ``Selma-to-
Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965,'' which Dr. Cole
has brought with him today, for a friend teaching a novel set
during the civil rights movement. I looked at that storm cloud,
real and metaphorical, printed the accompanying description
from the Web site, and read about those who ``face human and
natural obstacles that stand in the way of heroic action.''
Before I carried the poster up the hall, I was compelled to
ask of myself, as my colleague did, ``Do you know this
place?'', and to ask of myself, as my student did, ``How do you
do that?'' And finally, these many years after the march to
Montgomery, I was compelled to ask of myself, ``Are you someone
who would walk with them?''
Norman Cousins said, ``A library should be the delivery
room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to
life.'' The Picturing America grant makes it possible for
history to come to life at Shaler Area Intermediate School, in
our classrooms and in our library, and for its lessons to come
to life in our hearts.
Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Watkins follows:]
Prepared Statement of Katrine Watkins, Librarian, Shaler Area
Intermediate School
Nine hundred eighth and ninth graders attend Shaler Area
Intermediate School in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, a community bordering on
Pittsburgh. On a cold and snowy day this past January, we unpacked the
Picturing America posters, oohed and aahed, and made John J. Audubon's
American Flamingo the unofficial mascot of our school library. Since
then, the Picturing America grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities has truly enriched our lives.
The Picturing America posters dovetail perfectly with the scope and
sequence of our district's Social Studies curriculum. In our American
Cultures courses, eighthgraders study the Colonial Period through the
Civil war; ninthgraders learn about the Westward Movement through the
Cold War and take a one--term history course on the Sixties through the
present day. This semester we have used the poster images in research
projects on topics such as the Industrial Revolution, Pennsylvania Folk
Art, and the Jazz Age, as well as for a display in our library during
February for Black History Month.
Art teachers have also used the Picturing America posters to
highlight the American art in our district curriculum, especially those
artists with a regional connection, such as Mary Cassatt and Frank
Lloyd Wright. In addition, they plan to use the posters to supplement
the teaching of various media, such as acrylic and oil painting,
collage, pottery and sculpture, and stained glass. Several of the
posters, such as Copley's Paul Revere and Lange's Migrant Mother, may
be used to complement lessons on portraiture.
Both the Picturing America web site and the teachers resource book
have been described by our staff as ``visually and logically organized,
allowing quick access to background information, activities, and
meaningful questions.'' As the school librarian, I frequently have used
both supplemental resources in making crosscurricular connections as I
plan lessons with my colleagues.
In the coming year, we hope to promote the Picturing America
program beyond our school. Our students' parents will be able to view a
monthlong display of the posters in our school district's
administrative offices. We also plan, as an outreach to our community
this November, to invite veterans who are honored at an annual
celebration at our school to visit the Picturing America exhibit and
speak with students who will volunteer as ``experts'' about the images
on display.
Valuable as the Picturing America posters are to teaching our
curriculum, however, perhaps their greatest worth is their limitless
potential to teach us allstudents, staff and parents--about ourselves.
Yes, the posters may be checked out of the library and used to broaden
students' knowledge of a particular place and time, but even when they
are displayed on an easel, for no reason other than their power as
works of art, they change our lives.
An Industrial Arts teacher, looking at the desolation of Edward
Hopper's ``House by the Railroad,'' asks me, ``Don't you know this
place?''
A lanky fourteenyearold eighthgrade boy does a doubletake when he
walks past the photo of Frank Lloyd Wright's inventive
``Fallingwater.'' He asks, ``How do you do that?''
Last week I pulled out the poster of Karales' ``SelmatoMontgomery
March for Voting Rights in 1965'' for a friend teaching a novel set
during the Civil Rights movement. I looked at that storm cloud, real
and metaphorical, printed the accompanying description from the
Picturing America website, and read about those who ``face human and
natural obstacles that stand in the way of heroic action.''
Before I carried the poster up the hall, I was compelled to ask of
myself, as my colleague did, ``Don't you know this place?'' And to ask
of myself, as my student did, ``How do you do that?'' And finally,
these many years after the march to Montgomery, I was compelled to ask
of myself, ``Are you someone who would walk with them?''
Norman Cousins said, ``A library should be the delivery room for
the birth of ideas a place where history comes to life.'' The Picturing
America grant makes it possible for history to come to life at Shaler
Area Intermediate School, in our classrooms and in our library, and for
its lessons to come to life in our hearts.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you very much.
Captain Kelly?
STATEMENT OF CPT RYAN KELLY, U.S. ARMY, RETIRED, PARTICIPANT IN
OPERATION HOMECOMING, A PROJECT SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL
ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS
Captain Kelly. Good morning. And thank you, Madam
Chairwoman and staff, for having me here today. It is my
profound honor.
I first became involved with the National Endowment for the
Arts through a program called Operation Homecoming. The NEA
initiative brought distinguished writers, including Tobias
Wolff, Tom Clancy, Jeff Shaara, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Mark
Bowden, to conduct writing workshops at 25 military
installations from April 2004 to July 2005.
It also offered an open call for writing submissions to
troops who had served since 9/11 and for their families. And
that call resulted in more than 10,000 pages of submissions to
the NEA.
I first heard of the project when I was serving as a
company commander and Black Hawk pilot in Iraq. I was stationed
up by Tikrit. And, as you can imagine, in Iraq, the days are
incredibly long, the weather unbearably hot and the missions
unrelenting and oftentimes unforgiving. There is an
undercurrent of fear and tension that runs through every day in
Iraq, coursing though the air like an invisible stream,
chilling every decision, every act, and every thought.
So you can imagine my reaction when my soldiers came to me
and said, we have heard about Operation Homecoming; what do you
think? And, frankly, I didn't know what to tell them, because
it had never been done before. I didn't know what the arts had
to do with the military.
But after participating in the workshops and taking part in
Operation Homecoming, something remarkable and wonderful
happened to them. They let down their guard, dropped their
preconceived notions, and started writing.
And I did, too. I used to sit in my office late at night
and pound out letters home. The ability to share my experiences
with my family kept me sane. Many of the soldiers kept
journals, wrote poems, composed stories or essays. What the NEA
has done with Operation Homecoming is to record those writings,
unvarnished, unfettered, uncensored by distance and the
reflection of time.
This is truly a historical initiative. The NEA's Operation
Homecoming informs into the American consciousness the
individual experience of war that has never been done before.
A letter from a soldier comes home, and it arrives to the
family members, and it is passed from hand to hand and saved in
an album or tied with a ribbon and put in a shoebox or saved in
the family Bible. It is saved because there is a truth--a
painful, tearful, joyful truth--in it, and that truth makes the
writing more than a living record of separation and sacrifice;
it elevates it to art.
The NEA has brought the voices of the soldiers and their
experiences and their families into the living rooms of
America. The NEA has allowed us, as a people, as a nation, to
understand, or at least come closer to understanding, what war
is and what it is not.
This project has shown us the unimaginable sacrifices of
war and its impact, not only on families and soldiers, but on
communities, on states and our nation. It has illuminated the
humor and insanity of the war, but, above all, the NEA has
revealed the humanity of the people in it. And this is its most
powerful revelation.
Personally, the project gave me and still gives me a sense,
as a soldier, as a writer, as a man and as an American, that
what I was doing mattered; that, regardless of politics or
feelings about the war, people back home cared about me and
about my soldiers. It reinforced the message that America
wanted to hear from us, hear our voices, share our experiences
and remember them. For what is sacrifice worth if it is
forgotten or ignored?
Throughout history, soldiers have written about their
experiences in war and combat, and some of the world's greatest
works of fiction have been told by veterans, from Cervantes to
Hemmingway to Heller. If the quality of work in Operation
Homecoming is any indication, there will be a whole new crop of
writers to emerge directly because of the NEA.
I urge you to continue your support of the National
Endowment for the Arts. It is imperative that programs such as
Operation Homecoming survive and flourish because a great
nation does deserve great art. And the pursuit of that art,
ma'am, is noble and it is right and it is just. It is not only
who we are, but it is who we strive to become.
Thank you.
[The statement of Captain Kelly follows:]
Prepared Statement of CPT Ryan Kelly, U.S. Army, Retired
Madame Chairwoman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee:
My name is Ryan Kelly, and I come before you today to speak in
support of the National Endowment for the Arts. I first became involved
with the N.E.A. through its program called Operation Homecoming.
The N.E.A. initiative Operation Homecoming brought distinguished
writers--including Tobias Wolff, Tom Clancy, Jeff Shaara, Marilyn
Nelson, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Mark Bowden--to conduct writing workshops
at 25 domestic and overseas military installations from April 2004
through July 2005. Operation Homecoming also offered an open call for
writing submissions to troops who had served since 9/11, along with
their spouses and families. That call resulted in more than 10,000
pages of submissions.
I first heard of Operation Homecoming while I was serving as a
Company Commander and Black Hawk pilot in Iraq in 2005. I was stationed
with the 1-150th General Support Aviation Battalion near Tikrit, Iraq.
In Iraq, the days are incredibly long, the weather unbearably hot and
the missions unrelenting and often, unforgiving. There is an
undercurrent of fear and tension that runs through every day in Iraq,
coursing though the air like an invisible stream, chilling every
decision, every act, every thought.
Soldiers do many things to while away the time when they are not
working. I used to sit in my office late at night and pound out letters
home to my wife Judy, and my mother Lynn. Writing helped me shed the
fear of death, the fear of making the wrong decision, of getting my men
and women killed, of killing someone else, of getting shot down, or
blown up, the fear of ending up in one of the black-rubber body bags we
carried in the rear of the helicopters.
Many of my soldiers kept journals, wrote poems, composed stories or
essays. Some kept them private, others made them public. But the work
they created had one commonality: it captured the essence of war and
more importantly, the experiences of the people fighting it--in Iraq
and at home. The work generated by this anthology spans the gamut. In
my own letters, I wrote about everyday life in Iraq and hero missions:
* * * And they are the worst kind. It's the body bag in the back
that makes the flight hard. No jovial banter among the crew. No jokes
of home. No wisecracks about the origin of the meat served at the chow
hall, just the noise of the flight--the scream of the engines, the whir
of the blades clawing at the air, the voice crackling over the radio
and the echo of your own thoughts about the boy in the bag in the back
* * * if it weren't for the army uniforms and the constant noise of
helicopters taking off and landing, and the Russian 747-like jets
screaming overhead every hour of the day, and the F-16s screeching
around looking for something to kill, and the rockets exploding, and
the controlled blasts shaking the windows and the `thump, thump, thump'
sound of the Apache gun ships shooting their 30mm guns in the middle of
the night, and the heat and the cold, and the hero missions and the
leaking body bags and the stress, and the soldiers fraught with
personal problems--child custody battles fought from 3000 miles away,
surgeries on ovaries, hearts, breasts, brains, cancers, transplants,
divorces, Dear John letters, births, deaths, miscarriages and miss-
marriages--and the scorpions and the spiders who hide under the toilet
seats, and the freakish bee-sized flies humming around like miniature
blimps, and the worst: the constant pang of home, the longing for
family, the knowledge that life is rolling past you like an unstoppable
freight train, an inevitable force, reinforcing the desire for
something familiar, the longing for something beautiful, for something
safe, to be somewhere safe, with love and laughter and poetry and cold
lemonade and clean sheets, if it weren't for all that, Iraq would be
just like home. Almost.
Peter Madsen wrote about the struggles at home. His wife,
Specialist Juliet C. Madsen, was an Army Medic stationed in Iraq. After
she deployed to war, he was left to care for their three children. The
following is an excerpt of his letter.
I am a single father of three, a sometimes retail and distribution
manager, and a husband. When I first thought about my wife going over
there, in the desert, I had to smile; even she will admit that she
looks a little funny with all her gear on. Juliet is tiny and childlike
buried beneath a mound of fatigues and body armor. Blonde wisps of hair
escape from under her Kevlar helmet. I could never have imagined this
very attractive, blonde waif of a girl going to war, but there she is *
* * I have learned what our soldiers' wives have lived for generations:
hope and grief and perseverance. I find humor with my children every
day. When you are seven, two wrongs really do make a right. Seventh-
graders can be cruel to one another, but fathers can make it better.
Why would you wash the minivan with a steel-wool brush? I don't know,
but her heart was in the right place. Each morning when I wake up, I
kiss my children and hold them close. We talk about Mom and the war,
but we leave CNN off. We go to bed each night and all say one prayer:
``God, please bring our mommy home safe.'' She is always in our hearts
and in our thoughts and we can hardly wait to have her home with us. I
say an extra prayer, too, just for me: `Thank you, God, for giving me
this time with my children.' I don't know where our story will end. I
just know that we make it through each day with love and laughter, and
that is good enough for now.
What the National Endowment for the Arts did with Operation
Homecoming was record the experience of war. Unvarnished. Unfettered.
Uncensored by distance and the reflection of time.
This is truly a historical initiative. The N.E.A.'s Operation
Homecoming informs into the American consciousness the individual
experience of war in a way that has never been done before. When a
letter from a soldier at war arrives in the mailbox, it is passed from
hand to hand, from one family member to the next, read by friends and
associates and co-workers, and ultimately, saved in an album, put in a
shoe box or placed in the family Bible. It is saved because there is a
truth in it--a painful, tearful, joyful, soulful, heart-breaking,
humorous, truth. And that truth makes the writing more than a living
record of separation and sacrifice of honor and death. It elevates the
writing to art.
Operation Homecoming brings the voices and experiences of soldiers
and their families into the living rooms and dining rooms of ordinary
Americans; it serves up the soldiers' experiences at the family dinner
table and in the classroom. Operation Homecoming allows us, as a
people, as a nation, to understand--or at least come closer to
understanding--what war is and what it is not. It lets us see war's
terrible costs, paid in bone and blood and tears. It shows us the
unimaginable sacrifices of war and its impact, not only on our families
and our soldiers, but on our communities, our states and our nation. It
illuminates the humor and insanity of war. But above all, it reveals
the humanity of the people fighting in it. And this is its most
powerful revelation.
I never heard the boom-CRUNCH, only imagined it later. There was
strong braking, followed by a great deal of shouting * * * somebody was
wailing in Arabic, hypnotically, repetitiously. He was an older man
with a silver beard, a monumental, red-veined nose, and a big, thick
wool overcoat. He was hopping like a dervish, bowing rapidly from the
waist and throwing his arms to the sky, then to his knees, over and
over again in a kind of elaborate dance of grief. I walked to the car
with an Air Force sergeant and moved the older man aside as gently as
possible. It's hard to describe what we found in the car. It had been a
young man, only moments earlier that night. I put my arm around him and
guided the old man to the road.
`Why can't he shut up?'
`You ever lose a kid?' This is a pointless question to ask a
soldier who's practically a kid himself.
They had been on their way back to Sinjar, just a few miles away.
The younger man had been taking his father back from shopping. They
were minutes from home. We didn't find any weapons in the car--either
piece of it. There was no propaganda, nor were there false IDs. If we
had stopped these people at a checkpoint, we would have thanked them
and let them go on. The young man had been a student. Engineering. With
honors. Pride of the family. What we like to think of as Iraq's future.
Finally, I had to ask: ``What does he keep saying?''
The terp looked at me, disgusted, resigned, or maybe just plain
tired. ``He says to kill him now''--excerpted from Sergeant Jack Lewis'
Operation Homecoming narrative.
Personally, Operation Homecoming gave--and still gives--me a sense
as a soldier, as a writer, as a man, and as an American, that what I
did mattered. That, regardless of politics or feelings about the war,
people back home cared about me, and about my soldiers. It reinforced
the message that America wanted to hear from us, hear our voices, share
our experiences and remember them.
For what is the value sacrifice if it is forgotten or ignored.
Throughout history, soldiers have written about their experiences
in war and combat. Some of the world's greatest works of fiction have
been created by veterans. From Miguel de Cervantes to Leo Tolstoy, from
Ambrose Bierce to Ernest Hemmingway, from Joseph Heller to Tobias Wolf.
Operation Homecoming includes nearly 100 personal letters, private
journals, poems, stories, and memoirs of service and sacrifice on the
front lines and at home. A whole new crop of writers will emerge from
this war.
I urge you to continue and increase your funding of the National
Endowment for the Arts. It is imperative that programs such as
Operation Homecoming survive and flourish because `a great nation
deserves great art'.
I leave you with a poem from the Operation Homecoming by Captain
Michael Lang, titled Reflections.
In the desert, there is sand
and space, filled up by wind
and heat. It's black at night,
lightless, aside from the stars.
When the storms came one night,
I smoked out in the sand.
And glowed within the world
the lighting revealed.
Thank you for your time and attention.
______
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Captain.
Mr. Cole. Madam Chairman? I have to leave, with your
permission. But may I ask Tom Lindsay, who is the deputy
chairman, to come to the table?
Chairwoman McCarthy. Absolutely.
Mr. Cole. Thank you very much for this opportunity. I
appreciate it greatly.
Chairwoman McCarthy. And thank you for taking the time to
educate all of us.
Mr. Cole. I am sorry I have to leave, but thank you.
Chairwoman McCarthy. And I thank everybody for their
testimony.
I think with the education through all of you--and believe
it or not, this will be on C-SPAN, so people, you know, at
different times of the day and night will see this. Because,
unfortunately, we see, especially with the economy that we have
today, that a lot of our schools that have arts classes, have
humanities programs, we are going to start seeing cuts, because
those are usually the first place. So, with the work that you
are all doing, we will still encourage and be in our
communities. And I think that is important.
I guess what I am going to first do, because I am hoping
Mr. Platts will be back--he is going to run, vote, and be
back--but as to authorization, we don't get to hand out the
money. However, we do know everyone wants as much funding as
everyone can provide.
Support for the arts and the humanities is critical for our
nation and our culture. The programs you have spoken about
today clearly have impact on the lives of our citizens across
the country on a daily basis.
Beyond financing these agencies, what role do you think
that Congress is playing in supporting both Endowments and
their missions?
And I will throw that out to you, because it is important,
as we go through our committees--it goes from the subcommittee,
it goes to the full committee--obviously, you know, we will be
looking to see hopefully for reauthorization.
But what other kind of help do you possibly need to make
sure that the program is spread throughout the country?
Mr. Lindsay. Well, I would say, more of the same. We have
been very grateful for the support that we have received during
this chairman's tenure. We think that it is a just amount. We
think that we have used it with discretion and with good
judgment. The NEH is known for only the best of the best
projects.
And I would say, on behalf of the chairman, on behalf of
the entire agency, we are grateful for the support that we have
received, and look forward to continued support. And I think
the chairman's attitude would be expressed as, if it is not
broke, don't fix it. And we don't think it is broke.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
Anyone else?
Mr. Gioia. Madam Chairman? You have asked a philosophical
question, and I would like to give you a philosophical answer,
which is, our agencies are actually quite small in the context
of the American economy, in the context of American culture.
What we provide is not only funding, but it is a kind of
symbolic leadership. The strength of our symbolic leadership is
that our agencies are extensions of the U.S. government, which,
in a sense, try to portray the best values of the U.S.
government.
So I would say that what we would look to from the
authorization process--and I think it is not inconsistent with
what my colleague from the Humanities just said--is the
creation and support of a consensus about the importance of
these things, about the importance of arts in education, the
importance of arts in communities. So that, as we go forward
and we give what are really, actually, quite small grants,
those grants maintain their catalytic ability, so that every
dollar that we give generates seven, eight and sometimes as
much as 12 additional dollars.
What we look forward to is working together with you to
portray and present this national consensus about the
importance of these endeavors. And we thank you for your
support.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
Captain Kelly, as you described the program and how it
helped your unit and the soldiers that you worked with, what do
you think should be the next phase of Operation Homecoming?
Captain Kelly. Thank you for the question.
I think the next phase of Operation Homecoming should be
writings from soldiers who were injured in the war. And I
understand that the NEA has already taken up that project.
But I do feel passionately about this particular project in
the NEA. And the reason is because I have seen what it can do.
I have seen that the arts have penetrated into a community that
they hadn't before, and that is the U.S. military. And I have
seen the transformation of soldiers who were dubious at best
about the impact of arts in their lives transform and now
become writers, and some want to become painters, et cetera.
So, to answer your question, whatever the decision is that
the NEA makes, I think that this is a project worth continuing.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you.
Ms. Watkins, did the NEH encourage you to incorporate the
community in the Picturing America program? What sort of
activities outside of the standard classroom do you use the 40
images of Picturing America? And what other community members
are impacted by that?
Ms. Watkins. Yes, there is encouragement to use it beyond
the school.
We have a program every November for veterans that I
addressed in my comments. And we always do something arts-
related for them on a day in November. So we plan to have an
arts show using these posters and have our students take on an
image and take charge of that image and explain to the veterans
who walk through the show what the image is about, how it
relates to their American Culture courses and what their
interest is in it.
Most of the veterans that come to our school are World War
II veterans, very elderly men and women. And they really look
forward to seeing one another and to seeing our students and
talking to our students about their experiences. And I think
that they would really appreciate hearing student involvement
with American history and would feel good about the new
generation, I think.
Chairwoman McCarthy. One of the things that we have found,
especially with our World War II veterans, obviously they are
getting a lot older, and we had started a program called Oral
History. And we have gone to our World War II veterans, and we
didn't how difficult it was to get them to talk about their
history. We actually started asking the grandchildren to ask
grandpa to talk about World War II, because we should have that
history.
My particular district, we actually started looking into
those that were prisoners of war. And when we presented them
for the archives, they did not have any of those stories.
So, Captain Kelly, what you are doing, you know, hopefully
we can reach out to our younger members so their history is
recorded, whether it is through drawings, writings. Because I
think all our military, for future generations, need to know
the history of what our people go through to defend this
country, and I think it is important.
So I thank both of you for your work.
Mr. Platts?
Mr. Platts. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am getting my
exercise here today, running back and forth.
Jeanne, I would like to start with you. And with your
wealth of knowledge for Pennsylvania, if we did not continue
NEH and NEA funding at the level we are at and there was a
reduction or even, with inflation, not increases to keep up,
what would it do to the efforts at the state and local level in
Pennsylvania if you didn't have that access to federal funds?
Ms. Schmedlen. Actually, I think it would be devastating.
We are trying to get out to all 67 counties now with programs,
so that those that are underserved can have opportunities.
And with the money that we have now, I think we have been
very frugal and very effective, and I think that we could even
be equally as frugal but more effective if there was an
increase. I am not asking for an increase; I am just telling
you where that might go. [Laughter.]
Mr. Platts. Your examples you gave, both in your oral
testimony as well as your written, does highlight the ability
to reach into a lot of these smaller communities. If I remember
correctly, the 60 people was Cameron County.
Ms. Schmedlen. Yes.
Mr. Platts. And for those not from Pennsylvania, to get 60
people out at an art-related event in Cameron County is quite a
turnout.
Ms. Schmedlen. It was. It was amazing.
And, you know, with the new technology, we are even
reaching more communities. I mean, with Webcasts and with PCN,
we are reaching many, many more folks than we have in the past.
And so we welcome a marriage between, you know, the right brain
and the left brain, as well, here.
Mr. Platts. What happens at the state level with the
schools? You know, obviously there are some national programs,
NEH and NEA partnering with schools and teachers. You know,
does the Pennsylvania Humanities Council play a role in that,
or complement it, or doing some things in addition to it?
Ms. Schmedlen. Both the state arts agencies have strong
education programs. The Artists in Schools Program, the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, brings artists into work with
children in every community, including rural communities.
Just recently, we had a Poetry Out Loud competition in
Pennsylvania, and Francesca Fiore, who was from West Chester,
won the competition in Pennsylvania. And we spread that word
far and wide through the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. We
had 7,000 young people that participated this year.
But the best thing that happened was, just yesterday, we
celebrated Arts in Education Day at the Capitol. We brought 700
kids from 14 different schools in to perform in different areas
of the Capitol. And many of those performances were carried by
PCN.
And Francesca came to the House floor, the House chamber,
was introduced by the speaker of the House, and she performed
her poem before a live audience of over 3 million subscribers
to PCN. So, again, we were getting out.
Anyway, that is an excellent program through the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Mr. Platts. Great.
And, kind of, a follow up on that, Chairman Gioia, the
outreach to the schools--and, in your testimony, you listed two
big challenges, one international and the other in our schools,
and the diminished state of arts education in our nation's
schools.
And I think in our previous conversations--and I know with
Dr. Cole I had talked about how blessed our family considers,
in the public schools that we are in in York, that both of my
children, 3rd grade and 5th grade, have great exposure. In
fact, the school art show was yesterday after school.
Unfortunately we were here voting until about 10:00 last night,
so I wasn't there. But my office, my sanctuary here, is kind of
a private art gallery from my children because of all the art
they do in their school setting, as well as at home.
One of the challenges is getting school boards to
understand that, you know, cutting art education may save a few
dollars in the budget, but it will have a much greater negative
impact on the overall education of the students in that
schools.
Has there been any effort to outreach to the National
School Boards Association, to make presentations?
And what I am envisioning, how passionate Mr. Burns, of
when they have their national conference here, to see if they
would allow the NEH and NEA to maybe make a presentation as
part of their program during the national conference each year,
to really help get across to school board members who are
struggling with how to make ends meet but to understand that
this investment is up there with the other curriculum
investments as well.
Mr. Gioia. Yes, there has been. The NEA and myself are
constantly traveling, constantly giving talks at national,
regional, state and local meetings. We have hundreds and
hundreds of these events.
The problem, really, is not their receptivity. They are
very interested in participating in all of the programs we
have. You could see that simply by the enormous level of
participation at Picturing America or the fact that now the
majority of high-school students in the United States are now
using our Shakespeare material. I mean, this is unprecedented
reach.
The problem, really, is a broader thing. When I talk about
a national consensus, I talk about public opinion, these are
not, to me, empty issues. There was a breakdown during the
culture wars of the relationship between the state, federal and
local governments and education and the arts. The arts suffered
from this in some ways, but who really suffered are the 60
million American schoolkids who have had their arts programs
systematically removed from their schools.
I was a poor kid in a poor neighborhood, but it never
seemed to me that it was possible that there could be a school
that didn't have a band, didn't have some kind of theater
program, some kind of choir, some kind of arts programming.
This is now the rule in American middle schools and high
schools. A child's access to arts education has become a
function of his or her parents' income.
We are trying to address this with our limited means, and
the NEA is doing it in three ways: by taking arts and
introducing them into other subjects, like English, history,
civics, et cetera, et cetera, as appropriate; secondly, by
providing high-quality after-school programs and summer
programs, which are limited basically by our funding but can
play decisive roles in a child's life; and thirdly, by trying
to get kids actually into a museum, a play, a concert.
Somewhere around 70 percent of high-school seniors have never
seen a spoken, professional play. Consequently, it is not
surprising they find Shakespeare challenging.
So we are trying to take leadership in this, but it is a
huge issue because it is a large nation. My sense, though, is
that the educational community is passionately interested in
finding a solution to this, but it feels as if it is beyond
their control.
Mr. Platts. Well, and I think that passion is there in the
education community with teachers and administrators. I think
the greater challenge is maybe, in Pennsylvania, with 501
schools districts, the elected school board members to
understand the benefit. Because the programs that you are doing
are outstanding, but they can't replace the school having its
own art program.
And that is the suggestion of trying to, kind of, inspire
or capture--and, Mr. Chairman, not that you are not inspiring
or captivating in your presentations, but that average school
board member having a Ken Burns make a presentation to them or
others in the art community that have that national recognition
may capture a few more school board members to say, ``Hey, we
have to tighten the belt, but in the long term it is going to
hurt us, not help us, if we cut art education.''
Mr. Lindsay. Yes, I just wanted to add to that--you raised
the question earlier about the effect of a cut in funding. The
chairman mentioned during his testimony the We the People
program, of which Picturing America is the capstone. And the We
the People program is aimed at enhancing the teaching and study
of American history and culture, and not simply as knowledge
for its own sake, as good as that is, but toward the end of
producing better-informed citizens.
And if you go back to the enabling legislation for the NEH,
its mandate declares, democracy demands wisdom, wisdom in its
people. And survey after survey for the last 20 years--and I
don't have to tell you folks; you know this--shows that young
people today and not-so-young people today, native-born as well
as newly arrived immigrants, do not understand the principles
that define American democracy. And it has been said that we
can't defend what we can't define.
So my worry would be, if funding were to be cut, that this
program, We the People, which really represents a renewal of
our fundamental commitment to provide a better-informed
citizenry, would have a destructive impact on what is already a
dangerous situation as regards citizen knowledge.
Mr. Platts. Yes, and that engaged citizen is critical in
the work you are doing and from a democratic standpoint. And
then I know several of you mentioned in your testimony
creativity and innovation, which in today's marketplace is
essential to our nation's ability to compete. And, you know, it
may be innovation and creativity in engineering, but, kind of,
building that foundation of innovation and creativity begins
very early on.
With my 9-year-old, the hardest thing is, at the end of the
day--and they are always trying to push the bedtime back
further and further. And my 9-year-old knows that he will get
extra time when I walk into his room and say, ``Lights out,''
but he is sitting there sketching in bed, with his sketchpad,
or writing in the journal, you know, that, ``Yes, you get a few
more minutes,'' because I don't want to cut him off from that
creativity that, you know, he is showing. And, long term, in
the economic community, challenges of the world economy today,
that is going to be critical.
So, Madam Chair, if I could have the indulgence of one more
question with Captain Kelly.
I apologize for missing your testimony, getting the vote
in. One, I want to first thank you for your service, as one who
has not worn the uniform but grew up with an amazing mom and
dad who instilled in five of us kids why we are so blessed, it
is because of those who do and have, to you and all who wear
the uniform in all of our military families.
And that is my question on the Operation Homecoming, is,
any insights from your family's perspective of what this
program has meant? Because they are kind of the unsung heroes
on the homefront that are holding down the fort, whether it be
spouses and children or parents, siblings. Your perspective on
how this has helped your family maybe deal with the challenge
of your deployment?
Captain Kelly. It helped them immensely, sir. And I say
that because it gave them a voice, it gave them an opportunity
to write about what they were feeling and what they were going
through.
The beauty of the program is that it not only captures
stories from soldiers but also from the soldiers' families. And
that is another dimension that the NEA has brought to the
military. For a long time, the focus of the military, frankly,
has been on the soldier. But, as you said, the unsung heroes of
the military is the military family.
And to include them in the project has been amazing and
transforming. I have seen families of my friends who were
writing because of this project become more healthy because of
it. And so, that has been my personal experience with it.
Mr. Platts. Well, you know, I returned a few weeks back
from my sixth trip to Iraq visiting troops. And each time I
have the chance to, whether it is Afghanistan or Iraq or
elsewhere, with troops in Iraq, at any length, with soldiers,
Marines, sailors, offer to touch base with their family.
And this trip, we were at the 101st Airborne in Yusufiyah,
just south of Baghdad. And a young, 32-year-old Army captain,
Michael Starz, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--and when I got
back, I touched base, talked to his mom and I talked to his
wife, holding down the fort with a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old and
a 10-month-old. And the conversation with her was truly
inspiring, that unsung service at home that she and her
children were making.
And so, empowering families through this project is one
more example of the great outreach that, you know, these
programs are achieving, and that blessing to our nation. So
thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman McCarthy. You are quite welcome.
I just want to ask one follow-up question to the mayor.
With the program, through the Mayors' Institute, have you
been talking to other mayors in Nassau County? Because Nassau
County is obviously one of the oldest suburban areas in the
country; we were one of the first. But with that being said,
also your constituents, with the program that you are going to
be instituting, what is going to be the impact on your
constituents through what you have learned?
Mr. Glacken. First of all, the plan process is going to
begin with a charrette, which is going to bring together many,
many different stakeholders within the community who are
affected in one way or another by the revitalization of the
North Main Street corridor. And this includes not only
residents in both northwest and northeast Freeport, but also
clergy, local businesses, local civic organizations, the
chamber of commerce, many of the service organizations that
provide services in one form or another to the community.
It is going to be a very, very inclusive process. And it is
intended to build a consensus, so that the final plan that
people come up with is something that the entire community will
support.
And once it is in place, then we are in a position to not
only seek funding from the federal government, but there will
also be a great deal of interest on the part of the private
sector that will come in and say, ``They have a comprehensive
plan in place. This makes a great deal of sense. It has
widespread community support, and it has the local government
backing it to the hills. So that creates a very healthy climate
for investment and revitalization.''
So one of the biggest results of this whole planning
process and design process is that it brings the entire
community together. And it was sparked by this program. And I
can't say enough in praise of it; it is really a wonderful
program.
And incidentally, you can't just sign up for it. I mean,
you sign up for it, but you wait to be called. So, it is sort
of by invitation. I had expressed an interest in this program
through the U.S. Conference of Mayors. And one of the founders
of the program, Mayor Riley of Charleston, South Carolina, who
has done an outstanding job revitalizing Charleston, that I
would very much be interested in having the opportunity someday
to participate. And it finally happened in December of 2006.
So I brought a certain level of enthusiasm to it, to the
conference, to begin with, and I am very glad that I was able
to participate. It was a very positive experience, and it is
now leading to some very concrete results that are going to
benefit our entire community.
Chairwoman McCarthy. Thank you, Mayor.
That concludes--because we do have another vote going on,
so we are not going to torture you all to keep staying here
while we go vote, because we don't know how long we are going
to be down on the floor.
But I want to thank each and every one of you. I think it
is important that, you know, people, the American people,
understand, you know, why it is so important and how NEA and
NEH have actually brought the arts and the humanities to our
communities and to our children.
Captain Kelly, I thank you for the work that you have done
with our military. Our military have gone under great
constraints over the last several years. And, certainly, I
think with all the programs that are put together, it does show
what we as Americans are, what our communities are, and where
we came from and we are going to go. So I thank you for that.
I want to thank each of the witnesses for sharing with us
some of the wonderful programs that NEA and NEH implement. I
think that it is clear that the programs discussed here today
add to education and the experience of the arts and humanities.
By the way, just to let everybody know, I have a learning
disability, so sometimes reading out loud is extremely
difficult for me.
We should remember that the arts and the humanities serve a
role in our lives in both good and challenging times. The human
experience and its expression are critical to the growth and
advancement of our nation. The NEA and NEH reflect the
importance of the arts and the humanities to the lives of every
citizen of our country, and their programs mirror the diversity
and creativity that is the strength of our nation.
As previously ordered, members will have 14 days to submit
additional materials for the hearing record. Any member who
wishes to submit follow-up questions in writing to the
witnesses should coordinate with the majority staff within the
required time.
Without objection, this hearing is adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:57 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]