Isaac Butler

And those panels then make those choices.

And those panels are made up, you know, in the visual arts, it might be some curators, some fellow artists, some major funder, you know.

Correct.

And the NEA really helps create the 20th century in art.

Like, we talk about it as the American century in art, and a lot of that's due to the NEA.

I mean, if I had it handy, I could read the hundreds of visual artists they sponsored.

They really helped create the national dance movement of the second half of the 20th century.

The regional theater movement really wouldn't exist in its present form without the National Endowment for the Arts.

The number of

symphony orchestras, just exponentially multiplies, etc.

They are funding a lot of traditional stuff, Shakespeare in schools, folk art preservation, all that stuff.

But they're also funding really bleeding edge artists.

And it's really the only place in the federal government where both people of color and LGBTQ Americans have a power base.

And you can see why that's anathema to the right, and especially the Christian right.

And then when government money starts going to art that the religious right is offended by, they see an opening to attack and to build power within the Republican Party.

That's a really fascinating question.

Part of it is that it involves real people and real bodies.

I think really gets under people's skin if it's something controversial, like a guy with a finger stuck in his urethra.

For example, to take one that comes up a bunch in the book or Robert Mapplethorpe's self-portrait where he has a bullwhip stuck up his butt and he's sort of turning to the camera.

He sort of looks like a devil.