[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 90 (Thursday, July 13, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6671-S6672]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  FUNDING FOR THE ARTS IN SOUTH DAKOTA

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I would like to briefly express my full 
support for the funding contained in the fiscal year 2001 Interior 
Appropriations bill for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). 
Yesterday, I joined 72 of my Senate colleagues--Republicans and 
Democrats alike--in defeating an effort to cut the NEA's budget. The 
funding level approved in the Senate version of the Interior 
Appropriations bill is $7 million above that approved by the House of 
Representatives and represents a modest increase from last year's 
budget.
  Opponents of the NEA claim that it simply subsidizes a small number 
of wealthy people in the big cities. The truth is that the NEA supports 
public-private art projects that benefit millions of people across our 
country; young and old, rich and poor, rural and urban. One needs to 
simply look at the NEA's role in South Dakota to see how a small 
percentage of our tax dollars improve the lives of entire communities 
in our state.
  Last year, South Dakota received over $630,000 in grants from the 
NEA. That equates to nearly one dollar for every resident of our state. 
NEA grants are coordinated by the South Dakota Arts Council, and this 
successful federal-local-private relationship supports programs like 
the L. Frank Baum Oz Festival in Aberdeen. NEA funds were instrumental 
in getting the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences constructed in 
Sioux Falls. In fact, the Black Hills Community Theatre and the Black 
Hills Symphony Orchestra provide year-long entertainment as a direct 
result of NEA funds. Residents of Brookings benefitted from NEA funding 
of the Brookings Chamber Music Society, the SDSU-Civic Symphony, and 
the Prairie Repertory Theatre. Restoration of the Historic Homestake 
Opera House in Lead has been supported through the NEA. In Pierre, NEA 
funds have allowed the Capital City Children's Chorus to entertain area 
residents. Vermillion's historic Shrine to Music Museum receives NEA 
support for its annual programs, and Watertown's Symphony Orchestra and 
Town Players theater group also received NEA funds this past year. I 
just returned from attending a performance of ``Spiritscapes'', a South 
Dakota cantata, at the Sioux Falls Washington Pavilion which was 
financed in part by the NEA.

[[Page S6672]]

  However, it isn't just the larger cities in South Dakota that benefit 
from NEA funding. Last year, the South Dakota Arts Council funded over 
220 weeks of Artists-In-Schools residencies conducted by professional 
artists at schools and other educational institutions throughout our 
state. Some of the communities that benefitted from the annual Artists-
In-Schools program include: Arlington, Batesland, Belle Fourche, 
Beresford, Box Elder, Brandon, Buffalo, Canton, Castlewood, Cavour, 
Centerville, Chester, Clark, Doland, Emery, Fairfax, Faulkton, 
Garretson, Gettysburg, Harrold, Hartford, Hitchcock, Huron, Kadoka, 
Kimball, Leola, Madison, Martin, Mission, Mobridge, North Sioux City, 
Piedmont, Pollock, Porcupine, Revillo, Sisseton, Tyndall, Valley 
Springs, Wakonda, Waubay, Webster, White River, Wilmot, Woonsocket, and 
Worthing.
  I am pleased to note that NEA funds have been essential in helping to 
cultivate art on South Dakota's Native American Reservations. Federal 
funds have supported arts education at the Tiospa Zina Tribal School, 
the St. Joseph Indian School, the HVJ Lakota Cultural Center, Lower 
Brule Elementary School, and throughout the Wounded Knee School 
District. The Northern Plains Tribal Arts festival has also grown into 
the region's premiere Native American art show and market, in large 
part to NEA funding.
  The total NEA budget amounts to one one-thousandth of one percent of 
the federal budget. I believe that this extremely modest investment in 
the NEA is overwhelmingly well spent, thanks to the leadership and 
creativity of those within the South Dakota arts community. While I am 
pleased that the Senate was able to once again fight off an attack on 
the NEA, I hope that we will soon be debating expansion of this 
federal-local-private partnership with a proven record of success in 
South Dakota.

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