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Negative Essay : The National Endowment For The Arts

Decent Essays

The National Endowment for the Arts was created by an act of the U.S Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government of the U.S. Congress created the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) to support and fund projects displaying artistic excellence. The grant money that the NEA receives comes from American taxpayers, furthermore that money has been used to fund art and more that are labeled “controversial”. In March of 2017, the Trump administration made a proposal to eliminate federal funding for the program. The NEA is a wonderful program that helps bring light to controversial subjects, creates regulations, and free speech. The grants that are given to artist helps them create unique pieces of work, creating a light upon controversial subjects being hidden in the dark. A controversial piece of art that has gotten huge amounts of attention is “Chris Ofili’s “Holy Virgin Mary” a representation of the Virgin Mary with elephant dung on her breast”, it offended may religious people across the U.S (David). Ofili’s reasoning to creating this certain piece of work was to attract attention and starting conversations about the current health of politics, religion, and Pop culture. This creation brought so much disgust by a catholic named Rudolph W. Giuliani who in addition is the Mayor of New York tried to cancel NEA funding to the museum showcasing Ofili’s art. This action made by the Mayor was so controversial that it went all the way to the Supreme

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