[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 124 (Thursday, September 29, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10718-S10719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, 40 years ago today, President Lyndon 
Johnson signed landmark legislation into law creating the Foundation on 
the Arts and Humanities. I was privileged to be one of the cosponsors 
of this measure, which created the National Endowment for the Arts and 
the National Endowment for the Humanities and bring a new nationwide 
focus to the creative community across America in the fields of 
literature and history, the visual arts, and the performing arts.
  Throughout these four decades, the Endowments have provided 
impressive leadership in enhancing the cultural life of the Nation. The 
budget for the two agencies is relatively small, but they have 
distributed Federal grants to a wide range of deserving educational and 
cultural organizations in communities in all parts of the country.
  The best of our cultural heritage has broad appeal to peoples 
everywhere. The scholarship, the history, and the arts of America are 
admired around the world. Each generation of scholars and artists has 
much to share with the rest of the world, and with the generations to 
come as well. The important role of the Endowments is to support the 
museums, the galleries, and the theaters in our communities, and assist 
them in presenting these artistic achievements so that audiences, 
students and scholars can study them, and learn from them.
  Down through the ages, the arts have inspired generations after 
generations with their beauty, tolerance and understanding. They enable 
individuals to reach beyond their own experience and know something of 
other peoples and other cultures. In this shrinking world, it is even 
more important to respect our neighbors, and build cultural bridges to 
reach out to one another in our shared world. The arts and humanities 
offer indispensable opportunities to achieve this important goal.
  The Endowments help disseminate the creative work being done at the 
local level. In Massachusetts, we are privileged to have an 
extraordinary range of cultural institutions that document the story of 
our Commonwealth from its earliest days to the present. We are very 
proud of the cultural landmarks that tell of our history, so that 
future generations too will understand the challenges that faced the 
Pilgrim settlers in Plymouth, the struggle for independence that began 
in Boston Harbor and at Concord Bridge, the harrowing era of one stop 
on the Underground Railroad, the rugged life in the fishing community 
of New Bedford, and the early years of the China trade.
  So, too, in every other State in our Nation, the story is told of 
discovery, development and achievement, the continuing story of the 
American journey.
  The important task of the Endowments is to honor and preserve this 
legacy. Over the past four decades, they have compiled an impressive 
record of vital support for both the arts and humanities. The Arts 
Endowment has funded major arts exhibitions, dance tours by large 
national companies, and performances by smaller regional companies. The 
Humanities Endowment has provided vital research and educational 
support in colleges and universities across the country. It has 
supported a national effort to preserve important documents, brittle 
books and important artifacts. Its public programs have underwritten 
brilliant documentaries on topics ranging from the story of the Civil 
War to the story of baseball.
  These two great Endowments have amply fulfilled the early hope that

[[Page S10719]]

they could improve the quality of the arts and humanities and expand 
their reach, and we in Congress are very proud of all they have 
accomplished.
  There have been times of controversy and criticism as well, but the 
Endowments have clearly earned the bipartisan respect and support that 
they now enjoy. The arts and humanities are an essential part in the 
life of the Nation and in all of our lives, and the Endowment's mission 
is to ensure that they always will be.
  I commend the current chairmen of the Humanities Endowment and the 
Arts Endowment, Bruce Cole and Dana Gioia. They follow in impressive 
footsteps of their illustrious predecessors, through Republican and 
Democratic administrations alike. We are grateful for all that they and 
their outstanding staff members do each day to fulfill their important 
mission.
  It is gratifying on this 40th anniversary of the creation of the 
National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities to recognize their 
superb record of achievement, and I congratulate all those who have 
done so much to make it so.

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