A few years ago I wrote a book about a particular program within the National Endowment for the Arts (American Folk Masters: The National Heritage Fellows
New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992T), and my sense of urgency grows out of what I learned in writing that book.
The NEA is a very small federal agency. One of the smallest programs within it (in terms of its budget) is the Folk and Traditional Arts Program. And one of the rather small activities in Folk Arts is the National Heritage Fellows Program. This program is a microcosm of the endowment generally: A great deal of good comes out of a very small expenditure of tax dollars.Each year the National Heritage Program identifies, through an eminently fair and unbiased process, a dozen major living practitioners of traditional folk arts in America. These people represent the magnificent diversity of American vernacular traditions - quilters, fiddlers, cowboy poets, blues musicians, Navajo weavers, shape note singers, klezmer and norteno musicians, and many others, each a delight merely to mention.
Since 1982, more than 150 of them have received the hard-earned and well-deserved honor of being recognized in their nation's capital as "National Heritage Fellows." Each September a new group is brought to Washington, D.C., for a special ceremony in the Senate, a concert and a $10,000 cash fellowship.
With the termination of the NEA, this high-level recognition (and thus reinforcement) of our best traditions would end. Can this program be privatized? I think not. Can the Congressional Medal of Honor be given by IBM? Can the Purple Heart be bestowed by the AMA? No. There are certain honors that can only be given by a country through its government to citizens who have achieved things of great worth.
When our government honors our best traditional artists, we honor our country's past and future because we demonstrate our belief that our pluralistic heritage really is important to the nation. Only the national government can do this. To not perform this function is to abdicate an important, ancient and honorable role of government.
Steve Siporin
Associate professor of English and history
Utah State University