Obama's NEA: Pushing Artists to Be Political. And Then Lying About It.

Last week, I blogged about Patrick Courrielche's first-person account of a National Endowment for the Arts telecon in which the agency and others implored artists to create work that would further the White House's political agenda.

That was outrageous, and so is the NEA's response to the Washington Times, who called the NEA's media person to find out more about the call. The short version? NEA spokesperson Yosi Sergant said the invites "didn't come from us." Which makes you wonder where this invite came from:

Via Big Hollywood.

Comments

[Tomcat1066]

Dude. Obviously, it came from the OTHER Yosi Sergant with an email address at the NEA but who is otherwise not involved in the government at all.

[Obviously]

Send & Receive every two minutes?

Someone isn't very important!

[jtuf]

Since when did kissing up to The Man become cool?

[Mister DNA]

United We Serve

It's a cookbook!!!

[mark]

How is the NEA constitutional? First Amendment?

[Art-P.O.G.]

What day of AgitpropaGate is this?

[Ska]

Since when did kissing up to The Man become cool?

Since Rock Ridge got a new mayor.

[z]

With Bill Clinton like precision, Yosi truthfully says the invite didn't come from "us". It came from him, not us.

[Xeones]

Yo, fuck the NEA, and fuck any artist who signs on for this bullshit. Unless they slyly turn around and bite the hand that feeds, in which case i will consider it taxes relatively well spent.

[Ska]

Fuck!! Sheriff!!! I can't even make crappy fake racist jokes without fucking it up.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Damn, googled it. Someone else already coined that term. The bastards!

[D-FENS]

Weren't the government-funded (WPA, whatever) photographers sent out in the 1930s for the purpose of documenting the effects of the depression? At first, that seems to be fairly non-political. However, such work could easily be used to promote bigger government programs. Anyone have any information on that? In the present day, I've only seen (and interpreted) the photos as documentation, with no agenda.

I actually enjoy some of the "positive attitude propaganda" produced from that time, like the "Christmas Means More Business" series.

Thanks,

D-FENS

[Joe M]

Anyone that questions the NEA is, um, an artist! Oops. Maybe an artistist.

[DJF]

Mark writes "How is the NEA constitutional?"

The NEA became constitutional many years ago when it was discovered that the Washington "elite" had large numbers of children, cousins, friends of the family, collage roommates who had gotten Art Degrees but were unemployable so the NEA was created to hire them.

[Invisible Finger]

Since when did kissing up to The Man become cool?

When The Man is (part) black.

[Ralph Mouse]

Community service sucks.

[Mike M.]

This Patrick Courrielche is one brave fellow. He'll likely end up having to flee to Mexico or Canada for his own personal safety.

[JB]

You have to question the integrity of any artist that takes government money.

Are they all aspiring to be the next Goebbels?

[JB]

Oh and I wouldn't mind seeing Yosi Sergant crucified and put into a bucket of piss.

[SugarFree]

Weren't the government-funded (WPA, whatever) photographers sent out in the 1930s for the purpose of documenting the effects of the depression?

Yes. I curate numerous examples of that sort of work. In particular, the work of Russell Lee.

[Dagny T.]

A call from the house that is White.

Are they fucking serious?

And also: RACISTS!!!

[Legate Damar]

I was thinking about the NEA just the other day. Now that internet commerce provides us with a long-tail, no overhead solution for matching artists and buyers, is there any justification whatsoever left for this POS? Even the bad justifications are no longer relevant.

[D-FENS]

SugarFree,
Thanks!

[T]

Goddamn. What kind of a moron doesn't realize one of the primary benefits of email? It keeps a trail of evidence for later use.

[Phantom Limb]

Since when did kissing up to The Man become cool?

He's not The Man if your beliefs happen to coincide with his.

[Citizen Nothing]

Wow. This is chilling. Thank God the entire arts community is up in arms over this blatant attempt to politicize their work.
Heheheheheh.

[Mister DNA]

I was thinking about the NEA just the other day. Now that internet commerce provides us with a long-tail, no overhead solution for matching artists and buyers, is there any justification whatsoever left for this POS? Even the bad justifications are no longer relevant.

See DJF's 2:20 post for your answer.

Jesus Christ, I hate publicly funded art.

About 15 years ago, our local gov't shelled out 20 grand for a sculpture at a recently upgraded bus stop. Our city fathers, in all their wisdom, approved some monstrosity sculpture/fountain. I live in an area highly susceptible to drought, so within a year, this ugly-ass fountain had been transformed into a $20,000 ashtray/urinal for the homeless.

[Johnny Longtorso]

this ugly-ass fountain had been transformed into a $20,000 ashtray/urinal for the homeless.

So you oppose art funding because you hate the homeless. Are you racist also? 🙂

[Citizen Nothing]

We don't mind the Aryan bums pissing on statues.

[Abdul]

I prefer to think of Yosi's statement as an artistic expression that deconstructs the ideas of truth and meaning, rendering them incomprehsible in our post-modern age, and creating a mosaic of fictive and non-fictive elements that represent a multi-cultural voice for the voiceless oppressed.

He should get a grant!

[Mister DNA]

A lot of the area homeless are veterans, so I probably hate the troops, too.

[mark]

Obligatory Futurama quote:

Bender: Would you censor the Venus de Venus just because you can see her spewers?
Planet Express Ship: Ugh, it's filthy! Why not create a National Endowment for Strip Clubs while we're at it?
Bender: Why not indeed!
Leela: Bender! Ship! Stop bickering or I'm going to come back there and change your opinions manually!

[Mister DNA]

By the way, wouldn't it be rad if Yosi Sergant suddenly resigned and was replaced by Yosi York?

[Pro Libertate]

Dude, that's backwards. In any case, Yosi York was my favorite Derwood.

[The Angry Optimist]

As a childhood TV Land watcher, I appreciate that back and forth, you two.

[pilight]

Good thing there's no way to fake an email so that it looks like it came from somewhere other than its actual source. Otherwise people might think this was suspicious.

[Nick]

You can't just change Dicks Yosis midstream! Or something like that.

[mitch]

"A call from the top. A call from a house that is White. A call we must answer."

Scary.

[Pro Libertate]

I agree. And it was the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy that injured Dick York's back. They wanted to substitute Dick Sargent to get to Elizabeth Montgomery, a known liberal.

[Schempf]

It Wasn't Me

[Mister DNA]

Damn, I've never really thought about the political subtext of Bewitched before. When you factor in Paul Lynde and Elizabeth Montgomery's alter ego, Serena, that show was a hotbed of subversion.

Serena sings I'll Blow You a Kiss In The Wind. Is that the MC5 backing her up?

[Pro Libertate]

Subversion had a name: Endora.

[Jim Treacher]

Good thing there's no way to fake an email so that it looks like it came from somewhere other than its actual source. Otherwise people might think this was suspicious.

That's what you're going with? Really?

[The Libertarian Guy]

This is propaganda, pure and simple. Goebbels would cream his Nazi pants if he were alive to see it.

[Pro Libertate]

Jim,

Obama is planning to announce that it was his evil twin, not him, who did all that healthcare stuff if his popularity continues to dive.

[Jim Treacher]

"As I've always said..."

[hmm]

I made some healthcare oriented art this morning. It was an experimental piece about the dangers of eating too much cheese the day before. It didn't turn out as well as I thought so I flushed it.

[Sheltiman]

What is also shocking albeit predictable is the lack of reporting on this story from the MSM. I Goggled for news and found only the Boston Globe besides the usual conservative outlets. Same goes for Beck's other story about Van Jones. Scary on so many levels.

[The Libertarian Guy]

Van Jones is a cocksucker.

And WE pay his salary.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I feel clueless asking this, but who's Van Jones?

[The Libertarian Guy]

He's a self-described communist and black separatist, and proud of both tags.

Fuck him with a big piece of steel pipe.

[Pete]

I think what Patrick Courrielche is leaving out is that Yosi Sergant used to work for him. Do you research hipsters and realize this is just a personal attack on Yosi by his bitter old boss. And by the way Patrick Courrielche is owner of a company that takes money from corporate america to make artwork. So basically he is not practicing what he preaches.

[victor]

These people have smoked more than their share of dope and drank way to much Kool Aid. The really can't' think for themselves. aka Michele Moore, Oliver Stone. Van Jones, Woopie Goldberg must I go on.

[Dude]

NEA has no frogs (live or dead).
They thought up something better instead:
"Did you ask for a grant?
Yes, you can! Do the rant,
kiss your Bamster - and you shall be fed!"

[jefcostello]

Yosi Seargant is a PLO supporting propagandist hack. Go here...
http://jef-costello.blogspot.com/