Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons^™

The National Endowment For The Humanities: Control Of Funding Versus Academic Freedom, Alvaro I. Anillo

Vanderbilt Law Review

In 1989 government funding for the arts through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)' came under fire. Conservative groups vigorously attacked two controversial exhibits that received funding from the NEA. As a remedy for this supposedly inappropriate funding, conservative groups lobbied Congress strenuously either to dismantle the NEA or to limit its funding on the basis of content. The arts community responded with a vigorous campaign decrying such limits as an affront to artistic freedom and First Amendment rights. Congress placed the NEA, its funding procedures, and its record under close scrutiny when the agency applied in 1989 for …