The New NEA: National Emergency for the Arts
If a famous actor does a dance, but no one recognizes the move … Should we all just move on?
Such was Jon Voight’s little maneuver, which made Donald J. Trump smirk, and many of the hundreds gathered at the White House go, huh? What was that from? Midnight Cowboy? A Chabad hokey-pokey? Yeah, that sounds right.
On a pleasant Thursday afternoon, the medal ceremony for arts and humanities awards in the East Room of the White House presented a peculiar scene. Two weeks into the impeachment showdown at the Capitol, it was Trump’s only public event for the day—and his first time awarding accolades for the arts and humanities in the three years of his presidency. Among the honorees were musician Alison Krauss and hit-novelist James Patterson. But no people of color received an arts medal this year, and there were far fewer laureates than were typically recognized by previous presidents. Which should be no surprise, coming from a president who has cut funding for cultural programs, education, and the humanities.
While not quite as garish as Trump’s casinos, the East Room gleamed with the accoutrements of wealth. Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos settled themselves in the front row, perched on gold chairs, in the gold-curtained room, with gold mirrors capped with gold eagles, and gold tassels on the programs, accentuating the gold trim on the military musicians’ dress uniforms.
Read more: https://prospect.org/politics/new-nea-national-emergency-for-the-arts/
(American Prospect)
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co-authored a novel last year with Bill Clinton.
