[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 62 (Tuesday, April 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S5097]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  PINEY WOODS OPRY IN ABITA SPRINGS, LA, RECEIVES ARTS ENDOWMENT GRANT
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, there have been many articles and 
commentaries about the National Endowment for the Arts in recent 
months. Opponents have complained that the Endowment supports elitist 
institutions and elite audiences. But a recent story on the CBS Evening 
News describes a different and more accurate example of the Endowment's 
role--a grant made to Piney Woods Opry in Abita Springs, LA.
  This grant from the NEA, totalling $14,900, enabled the Opry to 
present performances of local musical folklore from the Depression era. 
The performances entertain the citizens of Abita Springs, and they will 
preserve this important part of America's musical heritage.
  This success story, and thousands of others like it across the 
country, reveal the true mission of the Arts Endowment. Large 
corporations and wealthy donors are unlikely to fund these programs, 
but the Arts Endowment does. Mary Howell of Piney Woods Opry explained 
why:

       When you ask why should the taxpayers want to support this 
     kind of thing . . . Because it's about us. It's about every 
     one of us.

  I urge my colleagues to support the National Endowment for the Arts, 
and I ask unanimous consent that a transcript of this segment from the 
CBS Evening News may be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the transcript was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         [Transcript from the CBS Evening News, Mar. 31, 1995]

 Possible Budget Cuts to National Endowment for the Arts Cause Concern 
                          for Piney Woods Opry

       Connie Chung, co-anchor. In the huge federal budget, $170 
     million may not seem like much, but that's the 1995 budget 
     for the National Endowment for the Arts. Some members of 
     Congress think it should be zero. They call it a taxpayer 
     subsidy for wacky or tacky artists who play to a cultural 
     elite. Is that really where the money goes? John Blackstone 
     has one case in point for tonight's Eye on America.
       John Blackstone reporting. There was a time when Saturdays 
     across much of rural America sounded the way they still sound 
     in Abita Springs, Louisiana.
       Unidentified Announcer: From the town hall in beautiful 
     Abita Springs, the Piney Woods Opry.
       Blackstone. Piney Woods Opry never fails to draw an 
     overflow crowd, though the songs and the sentiment are 
     distinctly out of fashion.
       (Excerpt from Opry performance)
       Blackstone. The musicians, often in their 60s and 70s, are 
     among the last practitioners of a disappearing musical style.
       Mr. Bob Lambert (Evening Star String Band): This is a true 
     American music, and I think somewhere along the line, they're 
     going to appreciate it again.
       Blackstone: The local congressman was invited here tonight, 
     but he didn't come. He's a busy man these days, the new 
     Republican chairman of the budget-cutting House 
     Appropriations Committee, and one of the budgets he's busy 
     cutting could have an impact right here.
       Representative Bob Livingston (Republican, Louisiana): All 
     we're trying to do is trying to bring common sense and sanity 
     to the United States federal budget.
       Blackstone: Congressman Bob Livingston is bringing down the 
     budget ax on federal funding for the arts, particularly the 
     National Endowment for the Arts.
       Rep. Livingston: We're going to be making drastic cuts, 
     because we're going to be looking toward a balanced budget by 
     the year 2002, and NEA has to prove that, you know, it is 
     affordable.
       Blackstone: But ironically, Livingston is calling for cuts 
     just as the Piney Woods Opry, right in his own district, is 
     due to receive its first grant from the NEA, $14,900.
       Mr. Lambert: I don't want to get into politics but for the 
     little bit that we have got, I don't think anybody could be 
     complaining about that.
       Blackstone: Among the new Republican majority in Congress, 
     money for the arts is called welfare of the cultural elite. 
     Is this the cultural elite we're going to be seeing?
       Mayor Bryan Gowland (Abita Springs, Louisiana): Why, I 
     wouldn't call it the cultural elite. I don't know.
       Blackstone: Many of the folks who show up at the Piney 
     Woods Opry remember the hard times and honest music of rural 
     America.
       Mr. Lambert: You know, I--I--I grew up in the Depression, 
     and I--I--I know what hard times is all about.
       Blackstone: Admission to the Opry is just $3 at the door. 
     Producers say the music isn't commercial enough to charge 
     much more. Without financial help to keep the show running 
     and the recorders turning, they say these songs will soon be 
     gone, along with those who play them.
       Ms. Mary Howell (Co-producer, Piney Woods Opry): We could 
     lose our history. And it seems to me that that's when you ask 
     why should the taxpayers want to support this kind of thing? 
     I think that's why, because it's about us. It's about every 
     one of us.
       Blackstone: Lauren Kilgore sings the songs her father 
     taught her.
       Ms. Lauren Kilgore (Singer): (Singing) Grandpa, everything 
     is changing fast.
       Blackstone: While the budget cutters sharpen their ax, the 
     folks at the Piney Woods Opry say the value of this music 
     can't be measured in dollars . . .
       Ms. Kilgore: (Singing) . . . families rarely bow their 
     heads to pray and daddies really never go away.
       Blackstone: . . . it can only be felt. In Abita Springs, 
     John Blackstone for Eye on America.
     

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