Page 8-The Michigan Daily-Thursday, September 13,1990
Museum director talks
about value of art
by Kristin Palm
As director of the University Mu-
seum of Art, William Hennessey has
seen controversy before. Still, it is
not something he takes lightly and,
through letter-writing campaigns and
an affiliation with the American Arts
Alliance, an arts awareness group,
Hennessy and others at the museum
are active in the battle to retain fund-
ing for the National Endowment for
the Arts. The endowment is under
scrutiny since a congressional deci-
sion is soon to be made regarding
continuation of its funding.
But Hennessey said it is a battle
that should not have to be fought.
The NEA controversy, Hennessey
claimed, is a result of exceptions
taken with one exhibit, a collection
of Robert Mapplethorpe photos that
critics say represents child pornogra-
phy. Other photos in the display
were deemed offensive by some be-
cause they deal with images of ho-
mosexuality. Hennessy said the en-
tire endowment should not be un-
dermined because some took offense
with this exhibit.
The debate over funding stems.
from a misunderstanding of or a lack
of appreciation for art, Hennessey
believes. "I think more and more
people are beginning to question
things that have the label 'art,"' he
said. "I think what they mean by
that question is not so much 'Is it.
art?' but 'Does it really conform to
my expectations with works of art?'
Hennessey also said he feels it is
his positionto help people decipher
these questions. "I think it's one of
the jobs of museums to help people
feel comfortable with a broader range
of styles of creative expression - to
convince people that just because
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Continued from page 1
Humanities Alliance, testified last
spring at hearings on the National
Endowment for the Humanities, a
project similar to the NEA which is
also being evaluated. Recently, he
agreed that censorship is not an issue
in the NBA debate.
"It is not, as some claim, that
artists are being censored or legally
prevented from creating certain kinds
of art," he said. "The issue really
centers on the kinds of control which
the government can reasonably and
fairly exercise over fedreally-funded
arts projects."
Hennessey concurs, but said the
distortion of the debate has caused
some harmful confusion. "It's not
really an issue about censorship," he
said. "It's an issue about government
support of the arts, which means
that something that is often pre-
sented in moral terms is not so
much a moral decision as a political
one."
Furthermore, Hennessey said, the
debate is frought with misleading
terminology. "It's not so much
about censorship, it's not so much
about morality, it's not so much
about pornography and obscenity,"
he said. "These are all concepts that
are used in the political arena, but
we're talking about a political
monologue; or a judicial one."
Sen. Jesse Helms (R-North
Carolina) is being credited with
spearheading the congressional attack
on the NEA. Helms was unable to
be reached for comment on his drive
to de-fund the project, but his oppo-
nent in the upcoming election,
democrat Harvey Gantt, issued a
statement illustrating his position:
"The attack by Jesse Helms on
grants by the National Endowment
of the Arts is an effort to stop federal
funding of a program that benefits
millions of Americans," the state-
ment reads. "NEA grants provide
support critical to artists and to
American appreciation of the arts."
Other senators are also being
brought into the debate, perhaps un-
wittingly, as Hennessey explains:
"This is a very, very hot political is-
sue and I think that people have
seized this issue and are using it in
ways that are a little false," he said.
"If people evaluate the issue in
itself, on its own merits - if people
are allowed to evaluate the issue on
its own merits - I think the NEA
will be reauthorized. But there are
very ambitious PR campaigns going
on right now that make it hard,
often, for senators and congressmen
to make a clear decision."
Wednesday, a bi-partisan Con-
gressional committe issued a report
suggesting the NEA be re-authorized
without restrictions.
Opponents of the NEA often say
members of congress who support
the grants are in favor of govern-
ment-sponsored pornography, Hen-
nessey said.
This is an inaccurate representa-
tion of a federal asset, said D'Arms.
"The arts endowment has really done
a wonderful service, I think, and
especially for artists at the beginning
of their career, at a time when no-
body else is prepared to give an
emerging artist any financial sup-
port," he said. "The National En-
dowment for the Arts ought to play
this role.
And, Hennessey added, "because a
certain group of people happen to
have taken exception to one exhibi-
tion out of 9,000 projects that the
NEA supports, that they found of-
fensive to their sensibilities, that
does not mean that one should throw
out the NEA, cancel all funding and
that we want you to equate the
agency with pornography. It just
does not follow," he said.
Furthermore, D'Arms said, the
endowment has not existed long
enough to be utilized to its full po-
tential. "We need to have some faith
that ultimately good work will
outweigh and outlast less good
work," he said. "But it takes time to
be discriminating. We need to be pa-
tient and be prepared to support
many kinds of projects to allow the
system to play itself out."
And, in the name of tolerance,
said Todd Shanker, a summer legal
intern with the Michigan chapter of
the American Civil Liberties Union,
Americans need to realize that not
everyone can support everything tax
dollars finance.-
"If I could, I would love to deduct
my funds for defense," he said.
"There's a lot of things I'd like to
deduct"
Wildmon does not agree and said
he anticipates his group will meet
with success. "There will be restric-
tions," he said. "If there's no restric-
tions there won't be an NEA."
Tomorrow: observers give reasons
for the uproar.
The
Michigan
b
istoreor yd
Hennessey
it's strange that doesn't mean that
it's pernicious or dangerous or diffi-
cult, just different," he explained.
While he said it is not his inten-
tion to offend museum-goers, Hen-
nessey also said he believes patrons
of the arts should be mentally chal-
lenged. "I think we would be a very
poor museum, a very boring mu-
seum, if everyone approved of every
work of art we showed all the time,"
he said.
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